Posts by Bobko

Bobko

13 Mar 2017

News / Tusk or Hollande -- a Salomonic dilemma? What will be better for Poland? [180]

maybe you should speak for yourselves huh? whats fkng wrong with someone expressing his view?

gregy741 - I'm sorry if I came across as rude. I certainly don't think there is anything wrong with Mr. Crow expressing his views - everyone is entitled to their opinion. Rather than silence anyone, I wanted to point out that he may be "barking up the wrong tree" - as in, the majority of Poles (as I'm sure you would agree), as well as the majority of foreign policy decision-makers in Poland - are not at all concerned with the views of Serbia on Poland-EU issues.

Also, since when do Serbia and Poland share borders? Last I remember there were two countries in between, and quite some distance.

In terms of history, I believe the two would have been on opposite sides more often than not. Whether it be Polish knights facing off against Serbian-born Janissaries in medieval times, or in modern times Poland being the first Slavic nation to recognize Kosovo (after also being the first Slavic nation to endorse the NATO operation).

Though I am absolutely neutral in this question - I would have to say that Russia is likely the only "friend" Serbia has right now. And even in this case, I think the Serbians are unfortunately being used by the "big brother" for his own purposes, rather than out of any true concern for Serbia's interests.

Bobko

13 Mar 2017

News / Tusk or Hollande -- a Salomonic dilemma? What will be better for Poland? [180]

Crow Its above Catholicism-Orthodoxy. Its Sarmatian connection.

Come on now. Sarmatism is nothing but a form of Magnate-era Polish upper-class fascism. If Poles and Serbs are Sarmats then I am a monkey's uncle.

Sarmatism was a convenient way for the szlachta to separate themselves from the peasants they ruled (avg poles, rusyns, ukrainians, etc).

Why look for conspirological links between the two people, when there is already a real, genetic connection between them as fellow Slavs?

Bobko

13 Mar 2017

News / Tusk or Hollande -- a Salomonic dilemma? What will be better for Poland? [180]

Crow

You conveniently skipped over that part of my comment, which referenced actual AND recent Polish actions which ran counter to Serbian national interests.

On a separate note - if I was Serbian I would be proud of the Janisseries. As a small nation, Serbia could not hope to resist the Ottomans alone for any length of time - nothing shameful in that - but as soldiers within the Osman empire they constituted the elite. Those dudes were badasses - no two ways about it!

Someone should make a movie about the Janisseries.

Bobko

13 Mar 2017

News / Tusk or Hollande -- a Salomonic dilemma? What will be better for Poland? [180]

@Crow

Again, I don't understand why this fantastic Sarmatian connection is necessary when there are other, more established connections between the two peoples.

I don't want to derail this thread, which is intended to discuss the recent epic fail of the PiSlamists, with discussions of Sarmatism.

Bobko

13 Mar 2017

News / Tusk or Hollande -- a Salomonic dilemma? What will be better for Poland? [180]

mafketis But that's all Crow has.

I'm new to PolishForums (created an account this morning, because I enjoyed the commentary from some, yourself included, on the recent developments surrounding the EU Council president elections).

I found it curious, however, how much Serbia seemed to figure in the discussion. It's only now that I realize it's just 1-2 posters who account for all this. Looking at Crow's profile now, I see he is somewhat of a veteran here.

Bobko

13 Mar 2017

News / Tusk or Hollande -- a Salomonic dilemma? What will be better for Poland? [180]

mafketis

I'm curious what you think about the latest re: last week's vote.

theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/13/poland-fumes-at-cheating-eu-for-keeping-donald-tusk-in-top-post

This comment from Waszczykowski in the above article has me confused:

"We must adapt our policies and adjust our behaviour concerning the EU. Certainly, we must lower our level of confidence in the EU. We will have to start following a negative policy," he continued, saying that could include "blocking" various European initiatives."

Are they planning on going full-retard? Don't they know that you should never go full retard?!

retard

Bobko

13 Mar 2017

News / Tusk or Hollande -- a Salomonic dilemma? What will be better for Poland? [180]

@delphiandomine

Coming on the heels of Hollande's statement from two weeks ago that a "multi-speed" Europe is the only alternative to a full-scale implosion of the European project (which the PiS cry-babies immediately denounced, although I think its clear to everyone now that this is the only way), I think these recent outbursts from the PiS government will do their job of convincing the core EU countries that something needs to be done and ASAP.

Bobko

13 Mar 2017

News / Tusk or Hollande -- a Salomonic dilemma? What will be better for Poland? [180]

I think it may be interesting for some forum members what Ukrainians think about all this. Seeing as they view Poland as their torpedo inside the EU (without Poland, it would have certainly been harder to keep Ukraine at the top of the EU agenda, what with Brexit, and the refugee cataclysm among other things). And now it seems like there may not even be an EU when the Ukranians are ready to join, thanks to their Polish brothers' hard work on the inside.

This article in Korrespondent (#1 Ukrainian news portal) covers the Tusk re-election:

korrespondent.net/world/3825287-tusk-razdora-pochemu-polsha-zahovoryla-o-krakhe-es

The comments under the article can be summarized as Ukrainians being confused who is the Putin agent here - Tusk or Szydlo? Hahaha

Bobko

14 Mar 2017

News / Tusk or Hollande -- a Salomonic dilemma? What will be better for Poland? [180]

Serbia was forced to give up it's ancient history, the way it was once taught, as a condition for it's recognition.

Why do I get this feeling, that Crnogorac3 and Crow are the same crazy Serb?

Back on topic, here's something I had missed, personally. It's rather old news, seeing as it came before the Tusk re-election, but given the events of the past week I think is more relevant than ever:

wort.lu/en/politics/jean-asselborn-poland-could-be-eu-member-no-longer-says-luxembourg-foreign-minister-58b3f150a5e74263e13ab365

The article is short, so I will quote it here in its entirety:

Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn has questioned Poland's place within the EU, telling German newspaper Tagesspiegel that "today's Poland under Jaroslaw Kaczynski could be an EU member no longer".

He went on to argue that Poland "no longer respects the Copenhagen criteria that the country had to meet before EU accession".

"The government in Poland is more and more involved in restricting the rule of law," he said, adding that the country may have been emboldened by the recent actions of Hungary.

"But there is something else in Poland," he said. "Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the head of the PiS government division, is an ideologue. He believes the EU is a brake-pedal for Poland.

"He wants to create a right-wing conservative social order based on nationality."

This is not the first time Asselborn has publicly criticised a fellow member state.

In September, he called for Hungary to be suspended from the EU for violating democratic "core values" and treating refugees like "animals".

Bobko

14 Mar 2017

News / Tusk or Hollande -- a Salomonic dilemma? What will be better for Poland? [180]

He's a little fish in an even littler pond...

Perhaps.

This also allows him to say things that would be more difficult for Hollande or Merkel to pronounce out loud.

P.S. - Speaking of Montenegro and Russian trolls - interesting things happening there:

telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/12/boris-johnson-claims-russia-behind-plot-assassinate-prime-minister/

Bobko

5 May 2017

News / Which French candidate for president will be best for Poland? [512]

As he seems to be headed for a comfortable win in Sunday's run-off elections, I wanted to hear what forum members think about these comments Macron had made on the 2nd of May:

"We all know who Le Pen's allies are: the regimes of (Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor) Orban, Kaczynski, Putin. These aren't regimes with an open and free democracy. Every day they break many democratic freedoms"

reuters.com/article/us-france-election-poland-russia-idUSKBN17Y1IE

This comes on the heels of his threat last week, that if elected, he would impose sanctions on Poland for violating democratic norms.

Looks like following the loss of its ally-within-the-EU, Great Britain, Poland is heading for increased isolation in Europe in the coming years. Daddy Trump who lives across the sea will be of little help, as it seems Frau Merkel and M. Macron are both intent on ignoring him.

Thoughts?

Bobko

5 May 2017

News / Which French candidate for president will be best for Poland? [512]

My post did not imply a bias towards Le Pen or Macron, I think.

In fact, I started by saying that he is headed for a "comfortable win" - the latest is that it will be something on the order of 20-25% (albeit, there's a chance that Macronists will get complacent and not show up at the polling booths in the right numbers).

I'm utterly confused by this last sentence:

Don't worry, we promise to laugh all the way at you Americans come Sunday night. Your Russian ideology is failing miserably.

What do you mean? That I'm a pro-Russian American?

Bobko

10 May 2017

Language / How Polish sounds to other Slavs [32]

I stumbled upon this little joke on-line.

The translation from Russian of the tweet is pretty much:
- Hello? Who is this?
- pshhhhhh pshzzshhh
- I can't hear you. Who's calling, hello?
- [continues speaking Polish]

IDK why, but I just couldn't stop laughing.

Does anybody know how other Slavs hear Polish?

Thanks!

Bobko

13 May 2017

Language / How Polish sounds to other Slavs [32]

I understand Russian fairly well, although I think that in order to translate this piece all one needs to know is how to read the Cyrillic alphabet - the language here is so simple.

Regardless, in the days since the original post I've found some other things on topic. It would seem that Russians have a peculiar brand of Polonophobia, which revolves to a great extent around the language itself.

It's purported that Catherine the Great (a German), whilst upset about something the Poles had done shortly after the first partition (second?), remarked that God had cursed the poles with a serpent tongue for their devious ways.

Vladimir Mayakovsky, in the 20th century said something very similar: "Змеиному народу - змеиный язык."

I found a few other Russian takes on Polish, but not from such august persons. Overall I'm afraid that Russians pretty much unanimously seem to think that Polish is a rather silly-sounding language. And as much as I looked for other genres of Russian jokes about Poles, they seemed to be few (when compared with jokes about Ukrainians, Georgians, etc).

I think this is because as a large country Russians can be self-absorbed and with a somewhat short attention span (like Americans), and thus just don't know enough about the Poles to personalize the humor more.

Does anybody know any good Russian jokes about Poles? Also vice versa?

Bobko

15 Jun 2017

Travel / Finding molly or coke in Poland [3]

Whenever in a new place - cab drivers, bouncers, and hotel concierge's are your best friends. However, this requires being able to read body language and eyes well, and having not a little amount of charm.

Bobko

19 Jun 2017

Classifieds / Sony Ericsson A1018s Polish Manual for sale [9]

Are you aware that the manual is available on-line?

I must say I'm very intrigued by this post. Both by the seller and who a potential buyer may be.

Very good condition, at it was never used, comes from 1999.

This is a hoot! "Very good condition"! Are there collectors of old phone manuals out there? The low offering price seems to indicate the answer is "no", as otherwise I would have expected the collectibility factor to produce an appropriate mark-up.

Could one ask the OP to please post an update later if someone did indeed reach out and purchased the manual?

Bobko

20 Jun 2017

Classifieds / Sony Ericsson A1018s Polish Manual for sale [9]

@Nathans

I would think old phones are definitely easier for intelligence services to monitor since it's only unencoded traffic, with no option to use What'sApp, Skype, Telegram, etc.

Also, even if you did have this phone and desperately needed a manual - it is STILL online.

I remain mystified by this post.

Bobko

20 Jun 2017

Classifieds / Sony Ericsson A1018s Polish Manual for sale [9]

SIM-card could be tracked only by the mobile network operator company, and still not precisely

I'm by no means trying to get in the way of a successful sale here, but I must say that this is precisely what I meant when I said old phones are easier to monitor. Most any mobile operator will cooperate with the state, even in the freest of countries, and there is nothing simpler for them than to provide call recordings or SMS traffic whether be it to the police, or intelligence services. Now if you were using a VoIP application on a smartphone which encoded the conversation, the mobile operator can be of much less help to the government, and they will be forced to take other avenues to get to your data. Not impossible, but certainly harder.

You're absolutely right regarding the location tracking however.

Bobko

13 Jul 2017

News / Poland being the powerhouse of Europe [40]

Merged:

Poland the Next Economic Powerhouse

The article's just a few days old, and there shouldn't be a paywall - so please read and discuss:

nytimes.com/2017/07/05/opinion/poland-economy-trump-russia.html

The Times rarely write about Poland, or at least not as much as I feel they could (more coverage of the PiS government would be nice). So it's nice to see an article like this.

Some excerpts for the lazy-bones out there:

"Now Eastern Europe is rising, just as quietly, with small nations like the Czech Republic leading the way. Poland is close on its heels. With a population of nearly 40 million and a half-trillion-dollar economy that is already the world's 24th largest, it is now big enough to put all of Eastern Europe on the global economic map."

nytimes.com/2017/07/05/opinion/poland-economy-trump-russia.html

Bobko

14 Jul 2017

Law / Roof Access in Poland - what is the law? [9]

It depends on your building by-laws, or in the absence of a "homeowner's association"-type entity it would depend on local-level ordinances. However, I imagine this issue could be solved without being litigious.

It's also not clear from your post how the damage is occurring. Is the roof door being left unsecured, and then rain is blown in, or are people trampling on old shingles allowing cracks to form?

Bobko

15 Jul 2017

News / Poland being the powerhouse of Europe [40]

Poland will continue to dwarf all of its neighbors as an investment opportunity

Not to be too pedantic, but that statement is factually not true. Poland neighbors Russia directly, as well as Germany. If Germany is to be considered an unfair comparison, then Russia should be comparable.

This data from 2014 shows Russia high above Poland in FDI per capita (it would not make sense to compare absolutes):

What's curious from this data is that Poland is in fact an investor nation. Russia has an FDI per capita of $492, while Poland is negative with -$119. At face value this indicates that Polish businesses find it more profitable to acquire/invest in foreign assets than deploy the capital at home. It's possible that if you strip out investments into energy projects from the mix, that Russia will have a profile more similar to Poland's, with money earned in Russia leaving the country, but as it stands it looks more attractive by the numbers. Slovakia and the Czech Republic are also far ahead of Poland by this measure. The New York Times article said as much in one of the paragraphs. The argument the author laid out there was not about large infusions from abroad, but rather a steady build up at home in traditional sectors that have disappeared or are close to disappearing in most other OECD countries, i.e. manufacturing.

FDI per capita (Europe - 2014)

Bobko

17 Jul 2017

Law / Roof Access in Poland - what is the law? [9]

it is a wspolnota! I now understand how bad this is.

pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wsp%C3%B3lnota_mieszkaniowa

Read the wiki article on Wspolnota. Seems the legal entity that is the homeowner's association can in fact be sued. As I understand it, if someone falls off the roof his family would be suing all of the owners at once - haha!

Bobko

18 Jul 2017

Classifieds / Looking FUN in Warsaw [7]

Druzenje is not a Russian word.

back on topic please

Bobko

1 Aug 2017

News / Poland's Lost Generation [172]

I was thinking of visiting Poland and maybe start a couple of new companies there.

Curious phrasing.

Sounds like everyone is leaving though.

Where do these sounds come from?

Bobko

16 Aug 2017

News / Stateless ex-President of Georgia and ex-governor of Odessa is in Poland [8]

Mikheil Saakashvili is a tragic figure. Once a universally praised reformist president, he had to leave Georgia after his party lost elections in 2013 and the new folks in power opened criminal investigations against him. He was soon granted Ukrainian citizenship personally by President Petro Poroshenko in 2014 (the two went to university together), and was quickly appointed to governor of Odessa Oblast with extraordinary powers. These powers included local customs officials reporting directly to him, rather than to Kiev (ostensibly to combat graft), as well as the power to appoint the local state prosecutor (in all other regions he/she is appointed by prosecutor general in Kiev). By receiving this new Ukrainian citizenship, Saakashvili automatically lost his Georgian one.

After two years of epic squabbling and finger-pointing, Saakashvili had completely fallen out with his buddies in the government. Two weeks ago, while Saakashvili was in New York, President Petro Poroshenko stripped Saakashvili of his Ukrainian citizenship - officially turning him into a stateless person.

Somehow, he has managed to arrive in Poland, and has recently spoken at an event where he threatened to enter Ukraine in the coming days and begin actions aimed at forcing snap elections and replacing the current government. The Ukrainian immigration officials said that if he attempts to enter the country this will be considered a breach of the law, and he will be arrested.

Why is Poland allowing this person to be in the country, while it is officially friendly with the current Kiev regime?

eurasianet.org/node/84661
intellinews.com/stateless-saakashvili-resurfaces-in-poland-georgia-petitions-warsaw-for-extradition-126759

Bobko

22 Aug 2017

History / For what the Germans owe Poland one trillion U.S. dollars? [299]

Everything was already settled with the Potsdam Agreement, I don't know why people even bother going to 1953.

loc.gov/law/help/us-treaties/bevans/m-ust000003-1207.pdf

Section III of the above-linked protocol of proceedings approved on August 2, 1945 at the Berlin (Potsdam) Conference, titled "Reparations from Germany", begins by addressing the very subject of this thread:

"1. Reparation claims of the U.S.S.R. shall be met by removals from the zone of Germany occuppied by the U.S.S.R., and from appropriate German external assets.

2. The U.S.S.R. undertakes to settle the reparation claims of Poland from its own share of reparations."

Later, the Soviet occupied portion of Germany became the GDR, which officially announced a status of non-succession. However, this did not prevent the USSR and Poland from extracting further reparations from the GDR between 1949 and 1953. On August 22nd, Moscow announced it was waiving its claims to any further reparations from the GDR, and on the next day Warsaw did the same.

Finally, in 1990 the Final Settlement was signed, where the FRG accepted upon itself the obligations of the former GDR, and the next year Germany and Poland signed their own agreement. Case closed.

Though the agreements of 1945 should be enough to make this a mute discussion, the agreements from 1953, 1990, and 1991 surely seal this matter.

For those interested there is a whole book on the matter of state succession to international responsibility that also specifically discusses Polish reparations as a case study:

books.google.com/books/about/State_Succession_to_International_Respon.html?id=52kd9sU-Pf4C

Unfortunately it is a limited preview and the full book is $250

Bobko

22 Aug 2017

History / For what the Germans owe Poland one trillion U.S. dollars? [299]

Just wanted to add to my previous post, by saying that it would be pretty ironic if Poland brought a non-succession argument to international courts to void the previous agreements (a odious debt-type argument, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odious_debt) after completely ignoring the GDR's identical argument in 1949 in relation to the Third Reich.

@Tacitus

That's great regarding the library access. I miss mine so much... Make use of it!

The good news for the non-students, is that it seems the free preview shows the Polish-related pages. I'll try to link it here:

books.google.com/books?id=P-mwCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA166&lpg=PA166&dq=poland+gdr+reparations&source=bl&ots=RxFtoThIsI&sig=qiCvL73alyifUCrfjFZtH8C9cI8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjUjcmTvevVAhUCmoMKHRHkA1IQ6AEINjAC#v=onepage&q=poland%20gdr%20reparations&f=false

Bobko

22 Aug 2017

History / For what the Germans owe Poland one trillion U.S. dollars? [299]

It need to be remember that GDR doesn't exist today and Poland hasn't waived any claims towards Germany.

Poland was only ever able to make claims from the GDR, because that is what the Soviet government agreed to at the Potsdam Conference. Seeing as the Soviets were the ones supposed to be cashing out the Poles, then the GDR is the only one that could pay, and you forgave them in 1953!

Bobko

22 Aug 2017

History / For what the Germans owe Poland one trillion U.S. dollars? [299]

Small correction to above. It's not just the GDR strictly speaking that paid.

The U.S.S.R. was entitled to reparations from it's zone of control, and relevant German external assets... but also:

"(a) 15 per cent of such usable and complete industrial capital equipment, in the first place from the metallurgical, chemical and machine manufacturing industries as is unnecessary for the German peace economy [....]

10 percent of such industrial capital equipment as is unnecessary for the German peace economy and should be removed from the Western Zones, to be transferred to the Soviet Government on reparations account without payment or exchange of any kind

This doesn't change much however. Because lower in that same section it says:

The Soviet Government renounces all claims in respect of reparations to shares of German enterprises which are located in the Western Zones of Germany as well as to German foreign assets in all countries except those specified in paragraph 9

The countries specified were Bulgaria, Finland, Hungary, Rumania, and Eastern Austria.

And finally, lets not forget who pays Poland:

"2) The USSR undertakes to settle the reparation claims of Poland from the zone of Germany occupied by the USSR, and from appropriate German external assets"

loc.gov/law/help/us-treaties/bevans/m-ust000003-1207.pdf

Bobko

22 Aug 2017

History / For what the Germans owe Poland one trillion U.S. dollars? [299]

One is a book which deal in theory.

Sure it deals in theory. It also takes a broad survey of available precedent. The verdict is that non-succession arguments very rarely win. In 9 cases out of 10 they fail. Not a single state has succeeded.

Also, Poland enjoys the benefits of many other treaties signed by the Polish-People's Republic. You can't pick and choose which ones you honor.

In the end, international courts will look very, very, very sceptically at any such claims, if at all.

As for the Potsdam agreement it doesn't say anything about waving Poland's right to ask for reparations from a German state.

Dude... the Potsdam Agreement is THE agreement to look at when talking about Polish reparations from Germany. It is the agreement signed by the three most powerful of the victorious countries at the conclusion of a great war. What else can there be?