delphiandomine 86 | 17823
13 Jun 2011 / #31
You are genuinely or ironically stating the newspapers here do not lie or spin in favour of one party over the other? Seriously? :o) In the UK, much of the Press has party bias, that is well-known, and I would not put it past any UK papers to tell porkies (porky pies, slang for lies) to favour who they back.
Quite normal in Poland. Generally speaking, by comparing different sources (and definitely where source material is provided) - you can ascertain the truth. For instance - Gazeta Wyborcza tends to let the leader of PiS hang himself by simply providing the video where he says stupid things.
Truth is, the Prime Minister is simply trying to repair the damage done by the last Government. It's true, he's on good terms with Germany and Russia - but this is simply common sense when you're located at the crossroads of Europe. The last Prime Minister had diabolical relations - probably the worst they'd ever been since WW2.
Selling Polish assets? Well, there has been some privatisation - but the Government has retained strategic shares in many industries, as well as loading the rules against private investors. I don't recall what company it is, but at least one large company is minority-owned by the Government, yet the Government has the majority of votes.
Generally speaking, the key industries are still very much in the vice-grip of the Government while less important ones (couple of banks, an insurance company) are being slowly privatised.
It's worth pointing out that older people in Poland tend to be brainwashed by simple slogans. Many of them spent so long opposing (even passively) that they simply cannot see that Poland is free nowadays - hence why they believe such idiocy like "TUSK IS A RUSSIAN SLAVE" and so on.
Also - PO do threaten many of them, especially the ones who enjoyed quite privileged positions under Communism and who now lost their way in the free market.
One other reason not to vote PiS - their President has publicly declared that anyone who says "the wrong thing" should be punished. What that means, I don't know and don't want to know.