Poland - Third World Country??

hey, if you're as easy as I'm then we don't have anything to argue about, lol
have a good 1

just chill (:

Don't worry, being defensive doesn't make you a third world country ;) ;)

Think Twice has a point and I tried earlier to flesh out what a 3rd world country is. Saudi Arabia, for example, is classed as one. It shows the value we attach to human rights here, one of the 5 areas. It is super wealthy as we know but still classed as 3rd world. Just look at the case of Turkey, a country that has gotten wealthier through time but still needs some work on its human rights record.

Matteroftaste was just making observations above. If he can class Ukraine as being in the 2nd world, Poland most certainly is there too based on their roads. However, as Jimi Hendrix would say, 'it goes a lot deeper than that' (Highway Chile).

considering that I never say kitchen chefs in restaurant to wear gloves in Poland, it is sure way to get HEPATITIS B and C from restaurants in third world country poland...

That doesn't make Poland third world at all.

And you think it's a common practice in Norway, Germany, the USA and the UK?

Hah.

Where on earth have you seen kitchen chefs wear gloves??? Hospitals??

Poland - Third World Country.

My sides hurt, let me pick myself up off the floor.

Lodz is much better than Derby.

Note. Poland is Central Europe and not Eastern Europe. There is no East / West division of Europe since the Iron Curtain collapsed.

yea, but that's comparing a city in a third world country to a city in another third world country.


note:the UN uses the designation Eastern Europe. despite the wall coming down, the countries of "eastern europe" are still in the eastern half of the continent.

And Lodz is clearly the worst city in Poland ;)

(having said this, Lodz is clearly the Liverpool of the late 80's/early 90's of Poland)

so where is portugal in relation to poland ?

got it. i face north and it is to my left.

now the european compass reads: north, right, south, left.

That's wishful thinking. The division might not be physical, but it's in the heads of the people.

Frankfurt-Slubice being a great example of this - how many Germans actually speak Polish there?

Poland is Central Europe like Germany is Central Europe. Look North, West, South and East from these and tell me they are not the centre.

Northern Europe, Southern Europe, Western Europe, Eastern Europe and Central Europe.

now remove central europe, can you still split the map up?

Why remove Central Europe?

You can be pedantic all you like, I'm not fussed.

Theoretically you can - but in such situation, when you are on the imaginary West/East
division line, you can stand with your one leg in Western Europe and the other in Eastern
Europe.

To avoid such paradox, some countries like Poland or Germany are considered Central Europe:



en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Europe

Just to make sure that when you're in those countries, your both feet are always
in a single geographical region ;-)

*of course then you can stand one leg in Central Europe and the other
in Eastern Europe... hmmm... too much beer today I guess :-)*

likewise. it's a good way of describing location on the map. and if you read the posts here, it's a good way of instantly associating a certain block of countries based on their struggle under communism for nearly 50 years, and the repercussions of that struggle.


Don't drink too much next time you're in Russia, being in the same country and two continents will really mess with your head :)

UN likes the term eastern europe
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Europe_subregion_map_UN_geoschme.svg

Yeah! Well, at least acknowledging the existence of Central Europe would
make the abberration of standing one feet in Eastern Europe and the other
in Western completely impossible :-)


That's political division which is outdated right now after the fall of Soviet block.
Geographically it's nonsensical with Czech Republic having half of the territory
futher west than Austria and still being considered "eastern europe" and Austria
"western" or Bulgaria being further south than Slovenia for example, but it is
Slovenia being considered "southern" country.

So - neither geographically nor politically that map doesn't make much sense.

And just as a side note, I personally use the term Central Europe when I'm not in Eastern Europe (like yesterday) :)

never mind the arbitrary divisions and fashions of the day, countries like Poland are east of Europe's core so in terms of relative location they are "Eastern" Europe in the consciousness of most Europeans. Get over it. There are parts of South Korea farther north than certain parts of North Korea but that does not make them North korea. Thank you.

By the way this whole silly discussion is similar to when people from Ohio are lumped together with the US eAST coast but to people from Arizona, for example, they are very much "easterners"...whats the big deal?? Poor Poles, it hurts so much when they hear themselves refered to in the same category as Belorussians and Ukrainians. Ouch. Be tough that is the Juche way.

Central Europe is Switzerland,Austria and maybe northern Italy.Not much more.Generally Mittleeuropa is a vague term and if sb wants to expand it it should include all places under austrohungarian rule.

Remember that Scandinavia is also a part of Europe. Then you can't say that northern Italy is Central Europe. Strange map.

Centrl Europe is more of a cultural term.For example nobody speaks of northern Europe.

Lodz is a hole but it is not unrepresentative of Poland - there are plenty of worse towns. Try Bytom, Zabrze, Legnica, Opole, Kielce and then literally hundreds of depressing smaller towns.

The parts of Poland that are closing the gap with Europe are co-incidentally the ones where everyone on this forum lives - Warsaw, Poznan, Krakow, Gdansk, Wroclaw and to a lesser extent Katowice and Lublin. Lodz and Szczecin are being left behind.

Let's question the logic here. Why is Russia described as Eurasian? The answer really is quite simple.

Poland is also a big country so why the need to label it? I live in the SW of Poland and it isn't really that far from the Czech Republic which is slap bang in the middle of Europe. Making my point even more clearly, imagine you are standing on the Polish-German border. Taking a few steps doesn't change geography to that extent. You are still in Central Europe.

Poland is borderline third world. This is due to their relatively low wages and extremely high prices for day to day goods. The average job in Poland pays about 2000 zloty a month which translates to about 700 dollars a month. Food, and other basic necessities in Poland costs about 30% more than in the United States and gasoline costs twice as much in Poland as it does in the United States. To add to all of this, taxes in Poland are about 40% compared with the United States' 24%. Health-care is another problem. To get gall stones removed, my Uncle had to wait 6 months just to have the surgery! Perhaps the worst part about Poland is the rampant dishonesty and corruption. Everybody in Poland is trying to rip another person off, steal something, or try to manipulate the system in their favor. Then when these people come to the United States and try to manipulate the system in the United States, they get labeled "Dumb Polak". Poland is a borderline third world country because the people living there allow it to be that way. They can't seem to understand that doing things "na lewo" only makes their own country weaker and more pathetic.

Poland, as any other country, consists of first, second, third, forth and other worlds down to the very bottom rung of the social ladder. A wealthy Pole has much more to do with a wealthy German, American or any other wealthy man in the world than with his/her fellow citizen. In fact, Poland in some modern trends is ahead of Germany: for example so-called gated communities, 'getta dla bogatych' - in Warsaw there are over 400 of them; in Berlin only one; in America, you have over 150 000 of them; and America is not a backward country.

I wouldn't call that 'ahead'. The problems associated with them are well known and some local authorities in the UK have banned them.

What are the problems with them?

If people want to lock themselves up, what difference does it make?