News / An article: NATO is the American occupation of Poland and Europe, by Mateusz Piskorski [233]


I never, ever heard about that. That's probably something Serbians are told in school.
Are you going to respond to my post #33 ?

News / An article: NATO is the American occupation of Poland and Europe, by Mateusz Piskorski [233]


Yet it has to be said Jacek Bartosiak is skeptical of NATO and EU, he called them "Sick mom and father who's lost a leg". He's a really smart guy from NCSS (Narodowe Centrum Studiów Strategicznych) and I highly recommend his lectures on youtube and articles at Nowa Konfederacja website. Long story short Bartosiak says Poland can't rely much on NATO and EU and should find it's way - but it can be done, and Poland has potential to be stronger in Europe than Germany.


Russia never stopped being an aggressor. They have very strong imperial mentality, and toothless babushkas might not have money for medicine and food but they cheer like crazy that Crimea has been captured. Recommended reading: "Imperium" by Ryszard Kapuściński.

News / An article: NATO is the American occupation of Poland and Europe, by Mateusz Piskorski [233]

Intermarium may be a pipe dream, but keeping good relations with neighbors is a good idea in general. When Russia decides to invade, Lithuania and/or Czech Republic might want to use the opportunity to even their scores with Poland! Animosities like these bear bad fruit in times of strife. Think in the long term.

And treat neighbors with respect. Stop calling Czechs "pepiczki" (a derogatory term). As for Lithuanians, this is a photo from 2015:



It reads: "LITEWSKI CHAMIE KLĘKNIJ PRZED POLSKIM PANEM"
It translates to: "Lithuanian oaf, kneel before Polish sir!"

That's right, the commonly used word "pan" has strictly feudal etymology. Poland has tried pretty hard to polonize Lithuanians during the times of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Apparently Poles still feel superior to Lithuanians.

News / An article: NATO is the American occupation of Poland and Europe, by Mateusz Piskorski [233]


Intermarium.
In Lithuania, Poland is liked as much as devil in Częstochowa. (hint: hated). This is partially because Poland is still trying to polonize Lithuania.

Czech Republic - Czechs dislike Poland, for example because it cooperated with Nazi Germany just before WW2 and captured some Czech land. Czechs also call Poles crude and arrogant. While Czechs may share Poles' general dislike of refugees and foreigners, they would never accept Polish hegemony in the region.

Ukraine - love it or hate it, many Ukrainians dislike Poles and feel Poland betrayed Ukrainian cause (independence). Those sentiments are especially common in western Ukraine. As for the eastern parts, those are far from Poland, close to Russian Federation and therefore easy to shower with Russian propaganda.

Serbia - if you ask a Polish high school kid, he will say: "Where is Serbia ?"
Hungary - far from the geopolitical crashzone. When Russia attempts to expand west, it doesn't need to go through Hungary, but through Poland. That's why Hungary can afford to get in bed with Russia.

So, Crow. Do explain how is Poland supposed to improve its relations with Lithuania, Czech Republic and Ukraine ? Those are Poland's neighbors who dislike Poland quite a lot. How is Poland supposed to find common interests with countries like these, especially Serbia and Hungary ? Intermarium won't stick if it has no reason to stick. And what's the reason to keep it ? Sweden is a better case, because we do share geopolitical interests with Sweden, but the two countries are VERY different. Sweden prides itself as a leftist, inclusive, diverse, feminist (...) state.

It's really sad PiS is promoting the idea of Intermarium, because it has no future.

News / How would Poland change for the better (or worse) under a PiS government? [257]

I'm (re)posting this here, because my thread was deleted, possibly the post was moved to an existing thread. I have no way of knowing which one, and overbearing activity of moderators thwarts Google's attempts at indexing polishforums.com

In Gdańsk, town councilmen of PiS protested against awarding Andrzej Wajda a honorary citizenship. Andrzej Wajda, 90, has received an Oscar for a movie and 4 Academy Award nominations, and has produced a number of movies of about Gdańsk and Solidarność. He is also apparently pro-PO and anti-PIS, but the fact remains he's one of most famous Poles, and PiS despises him.

Andrzej Wajda is not the only famous Pole PiS is trying to discredit. Others are:
Lech Wałęsa - former president, recipient of Nobel prize (peace). He's accused of cooperating with secret police (SB, UB...).
Wisława Szymborska - poet (deceased), recipient of Nobel prize in literature (for praising PRL - the comunist times)
Czesław Miłosz - literary Nobel and Neuestadt in literature, poet, writer, historian (of literature), translator, diplomat. Also hated by PiS, accused of cooperating with communists and "anti-Polish" works.

PiS complains about people who give Poland bad name abroad, and tarnish Poland's image. So why is PiS destroying reputation of some of most famous Poles ?

News / How would Poland change for the better (or worse) under a PiS government? [257]


So because of his political views he must not be awarded anything ? What about his movies, and promotion of Gdańsk and Solidarity ?

News / How would Poland change for the better (or worse) under a PiS government? [257]

Merged: PiS town councillors from Gdańsk to protest honorary citizenship of Andrzej Wajda

1. Andrzej Wajda is one of most known Polish film directors, recipient of an Oscar and four Academy Award nominations. He's 90 year old and has a bunch of works to show.

2. Paweł Adamowicz, president of Gdańsk and councilmen from PO proposed to award Andrzej Wajda with honorary citizenship of Gdańsk. Their argumentation - Wajda promotes Gdańsk and "Solidarność" in his movies.

3. PiS councilmen in Gdańsk are protesting this. They say the award is for his political activity (Wajda actively supported the former president Bronisław Komorowski, and supports KOD - manifestations in defense of democracy after PiS won the elections). In practice, their votes won't be enough.

What's interesting here is that PiS is so angry at the most known film director of Poland. Like with everything else, they're trying to rephrase it in terms of political allegiance. It doesn't matter that yes, Wajda did make movies about Gdańsk, and yes, movies about Solidarity, and yes, he's a very good director. I can find only one explaination: envy.

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]


But in Poland there's seething hatred towards people who can take care of themselves, and are successful. It's part of the culture. Anyone who's above the crowd needs to be taken down and smeared. It's not just businessmen, but anyone with above average intelligence, creativity, or insight.

News / Poland's democracy defenders in Brussels turned out to be EU employees. [62]


The burden of proof is on the accuser. Innocent until proven guilty.
I said 2 pages ago, the journalist should post some photos, label the supposed EU employees, list the bureaucrats by name. She did none of that. All she said was "there are many... among them". Many ? How many ? Is 5 among 30 people many ? Is it 20 among 30 ?

We'll never know.

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]

Kaczyński is a fan of Victor Orban, among others.

Orban's party got constitutional majority - enough of parliament to change the Constitution legally.
Kaczyński's party got a majority in Sejm - but not enough to change the Constitution legally. That's why they paralyzed TK - so it's unable to rule PiS laws are unconstitutional. PiS can't change the Constitution, but now it can completely ignore it.

In practice they're going to pass Constitution-breaking laws without having the required majority. Clearly, the voters didn't like them enough to approve of their meddling with Constitution. Do you think Kaczyński cares ?

News / Pope Francis' anti-Polish encyclical? Criticism of coal burning in Poland. [67]

I don't feel like creating a new thread for relatively minor thing.

Szyszko, minister of Environment, decided to take down some waste sorting "advertisment" videos. The offending videos not only promoted waste sorting, but also showed a prominent gay man / culinary critic Maciej Nowak. Naturally, he was outraged and said ministry of Environment won't spend money on promoting "gender" ideology.

It's nice Polish minister of Environment knows his priorities.

News / World's 'most wanted man' (a Pole) found working at British Subway restaurant [43]


Many Poles who are fed up with their country migrate. They're probably not the Poles who are scared of refugees.

Why UK ? It's fairly close. Transport is good. English is the most commonly learned language in Poland. Many Poles despise Russia, have grudges against Germany, but nothing against UK. Czech Republic doesn't have so nice wages. And yes, there are already plenty of Poles in UK.

News / Poland's democracy defenders in Brussels turned out to be EU employees. [62]


He meant "wishfulthinkedly".

Every single government increases the number of penci-pushers in Poland. Sad but true. PiS is doing it, too, to reward vassals of Jarosław Kaczyński. And I think no law will ever be passed that reduces the rights or wages of members of Sejm. They're szlachta - gentry.

News / Poland's democracy defenders in Brussels turned out to be EU employees. [62]

There are more EU employees in Brussels than (other?) Poles, so I'm not surprised. In any case, I would appreciate if she didn't use weasel words like "w dużej mierze" (largely). How many ? Not even a rough estimate like 2/3 ? If she recognizes them, she should take several photos and label those she knows by name.

And no, it's not Targowica because I don't see any Catholic bishops.

A simple way to fix it in Poland would be cutting down bureaucracy. There are about 500,000 bureaucrats in Poland.... a 38,000,000 country.


Maybe they're in the Warsaw marches ? I haven't seen any leader on any KOD demonstration. Just a formless mass of people.

News / Do you believe that western Europe (ie EU) won`t punish Poland if Poland try to go out of EU? [44]

Crow, have you read and watched lectures with Jacek Bartosiak ? He clearly says why Intermarium isn't a bright idea.

News / Adam Michnik awarded for integrity, professionalism and high standards. Poland's No. 1 fascist? [321]


The article in Newsweek is about the plagiarism in the form of the book, and it got that right. Aside from the ethics related to plagiarism, we could talk about the ethics of describing a ruling president using language straight from crime fiction books. It's a cheap attempt at playing on reader's emotions, and influence him not by strenght of arguments but subconsciously.

News / Is Jarosław Kaczyński the new Lech Wałęsa? [74]

One explanation - why PiS tries to trash Lech Wałęsa and others - is that PiS is trying to write its founding myth.

History / "Poland's Concentration Camp" ?? [570]

Poland's Concentration Camp was Bereza Kartuska, not Auschwitz/Oświęcim.

News / Is Jarosław Kaczyński the new Lech Wałęsa? [74]


This came naturally as a result of staying in power for long (8 years), and except for the last 2 judges in compliance with existing law.
In any case, PO wasn't capable of forcing a judge through on its own, it needed at the very least PSL (which was in coalition with PO). The coalition meant PO couldn't go bats**t insane.

And many of the judges were approved by PiS as well. For example Jarosław Kaczyński voted for Andrzej Rzepliński, the current head of TK.

News / Is Jarosław Kaczyński the new Lech Wałęsa? [74]


No, I mean it. The quote "Przez młodego wyjdziemy na starego" proves it. It translates to: "We'll hit the old one through the young one".

A single person accused Jarosław Wałęsa, son of the former president, of having contacts in criminal world. ABW launched investigation twice, despite very flimsy evidence (accusations by 1 person), and failed to find anything at all. That's when Jarosław Kaczyński said: "Przez młodego wyjdziemy na starego". It clearly shows his way of thinking - the goal was to discredit Lech Wałęsa, and hitting his son was just a means to it. Like, JK wanted a proof so badly that he launched a second investigation despite the first one finding nothing at all.

News / Is Jarosław Kaczyński the new Lech Wałęsa? [74]


You should really, REALLY attend a KOD protest and see for yourself! All the people I've seen were calm or smiling. In fact, if you start looking for hate-filled, frustrated, resentful faces you will find the PiS cultists. But in the last few meetins in my city counter-protesters were absent.

On the last gathering there were rainbow flags, but even they failed to spark any hatred. Here and there people were giggling, pointing and laughing.

News / Is Jarosław Kaczyński the new Lech Wałęsa? [74]


Much better than the alternative!

I apologize for staying on topic, but why do you think Jarosław Kaczyński hates Lech Wałęsa so much ? The way I see it he tries to discredit Wałęsa and other PRL opposition activists in order to become the only true heroes of PRL. And it's not just about Wałęsa, there are other examples like "Inka".

News / Police in Poland admits spying on journalists. [11]


Remember the quote "Przez młodego wyjdziemy na starego" by Jarosław Kaczyński ? It popped up when investigating spying on journalists in 2007, back when PiS was in power. PiS was desperately hunting for evidence that Jarosław Wałęsa has criminal connections. That would let them smear Lech Wałęsa.

News / Is Jarosław Kaczyński the new Lech Wałęsa? [74]

Lech Wałęsa is very different from Jarosław Kaczyński.

Lech Wałęsa is just a simple man. He was a worker, an electrician. He's become much more well rounded and worldy, but still a simple person at heart. He's straightforward but rational. Traditional, Catholic, likes Polish values but relatively tolerant and not a fanatic. Yup, he had his share of brainfarts, some out of stress likely, and he probably tried to say something remarkable... too hard.

Jarosław Kaczyński is irrational, cynical and scheming. Not so much intelligent as cunning. He's also ruthless ("Przez młodego wyjdziemy na starego") and makes a judgement first, then scraps the bottom of the barrel to prove them.

Another difference is how they handle criticism. Lech Wałęsa has recently become fed up about accusation that he collaborated with secret police during communist (PRL) era. To prove that he's not "Agent Bolek", he's calling for a public debate/trial with 10-15 of his most determined enemies. He wants to settle the matter by discussing with his opponents, show proofs and even previously hidden documents.

Back to Jarosław Kaczyński. He just said: "Jesteśmy atakowani za nic." (We're attacked for no reason). Complete denial. So he's sending diplomats and buying sponsored articles in Western press. Not to discuss facts, but to present his spin, blame opposition and previous government.

"A u Was biją Murzynów!" - "And you beat black men!"
That's the mentality. Not address criticism, but deflect it.

Life / Buying UK brand cigarettes in Poland? [11]

UK cigarettes aren't needed, because Poland already has the most polluted air in EU.

News / An article: NATO is the American occupation of Poland and Europe, by Mateusz Piskorski [233]

This idea is crazy. Poland currently can't build anything close to Intermarium because it's pretty weak. You need a strong state, like Germany, to form a lasting alliance around it. The moment Poland leaves EU and NATO is the moment Russia decides to defend its minority in Poland. And by 'defend', they mean' attack'.

News / An article: NATO is the American occupation of Poland and Europe, by Mateusz Piskorski [233]


But that keeps Russia in check, so that's good.

News / Adam Michnik awarded for integrity, professionalism and high standards. Poland's No. 1 fascist? [321]


Care to elaborate ? What makes a vote not true ?

As for that journalist/writer Sumliński, the list keeps expanding. He also plagiarized Albom, Larsson, Steinbeck, Coelho. They found this out by talking to a translator. Unfortunately, three other translators who translated MacLean are already dead.

polska.newsweek.pl/kolejne-plagiaty-w-ksiazce-wojciecha-sumlinskiego-o-komorowskim-,artykuly,377715,1.html
He even plagiarizes in his blog posts.

News / An article: NATO is the American occupation of Poland and Europe, by Mateusz Piskorski [233]

Disband NATO just because Russia says so ? NATO was formed to keep USSR in check, and Russian Federation is much the same thing - a country with strong imperial ambitions. Putin gets lots of support for the Crimea and Donbas attacks, and for his proclamations to rebuild the Soviet empire. Therefore, existence of NATO is more than justified. A whole bunch of countries don't want to be Russian colonies.

News / PiS to impose blanket retail tax in Poland [291]

The page only lists the new fees. How do I compare it to the old fees ?