POLAND: EASTERN or CENTRAL European country?

I would say geographically, countries such as Poland, Slovakia or Hungary are Central European countries. Consider a parallel line originating in Ural mountains and ending in western Ireland. I'd say its middle point lays within, or even east (albeit close), to Poland's boundaries. Considering the political aspect in determining Poland's location, these countries used to be a part of Eastern Bloc. Hence, one could easily say they were in Eastern Europe. However, today, when all these countries are part of the EU and Schengen, you can say they belong to the West.

Whatever silly opinions the notoriously unemployed Hudsonhicks may diffuse here on the PF, the one about the gulf between East and West seems to be true. This gap exists and it exists more on the political and cultural plan than on any other one. The so-called "social capital" is much lower in the countries of the eastern part of the continent than in those of the western part.

Once I met a couple of Dutch people who were amazed, after having stayed in Gernany on holiday, that the the Wessis were always capable of distiguishing between themselves and the Ossis. And it was not the matter of language, but rather of general behaviour, manners and that something which were not perceived by the Dutch eye, but was obvious for the West German one. In the light of the above, shouldn't the border between East and west be placed on the river Elbe rather than on the river Oder?

Finally, a personal remark: if I myself were to qualify Hudsonhicks to one camp or the other, I would definitely describe him (and some other "Western" members of the PF) as an Ossi rather than a Wessi in terms of culture, behaviour and manners. This means that the true border really runs between our hearts and not our lands.

[********************** has destroyed many other cultures with deepest contempt so you shouldn't expect too much of appreciation. [/quote]

right, because eastern cultures, over the past thousand years, have done nothing but sing kumbaya and give back massages to all who they've encountered.


the real question is, is their language going to change, will they start eating completely different food, will their culture take an about face, will people on the streets stop looking like their dog just died.....

Isn't it a good thing that we don't eat so many hamburgers and don't drink so much coca-cola as the Americans do, and as a result we are not in general so obese as the Americans are?

"The United Nations Statistics Division developed a selection of geographical regions and groupings of countries and areas, which are or may be used in compilation of statistics. In this collection, the following ten countries were classified as Eastern Europe: Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, and Ukraine."

Wikipedia

And that ends up the whole discussion. The UN simply cannot be wrong, nor can be Wikipedia.

Except perhaps for the fact that most of Russia's territory is in Asia, not in Eastern Europe.

Really, the whole discussion has only actually proved one thing. Namely, that there are wildly differing opinions on the issue.

German people are like that and also have reputation of having no sense of humor. Here in England.


What about CIA? xD........... We're going round and round...

Russians too....

There are many countries with people like that which you would not clasify as Eastern Europe or even Europe.

Or even Central...

Ever been here?? There are no single stray dogs in Germany, while Poland is full of them .. when I was in Beuthen, 6 dogs tried to steal my shopping bags when I get out of the supermarket.

A other thing is, that Germans adore dogs .. a dogs life is in many cases more worth than a humans one. They are crazy over dogs. If you punch a dog, you go to jail.

And is the English "humor" even humor??

What do you do with them?

Calling the Police, giving it back to the owner or to special animal homes.

eat them poor creatures

Says a lot about you, feckers.

You don't need to be sorry, the more we know about the West the happier we are to be Eastern Europeans

And it seems to me that the West of Europe recently has been becoming more and more Eastern too, hasn't it?

By the way, what is your culture - the xfactor?

One of the richest in the world - though people acknowlege that it is impossible to classify - as I would say Polish culture is.

If georaphy of the country is defined by its culture then Western Europe soon to become part of
Middle East.Somebody could think of it as a something worthwhile...

I bet I know more about it than Hudsonhicks

I bet you do too ;-)

CIA`s look at Central Europe

Poland is located not in the west or east but in the very heart of Europe. Classification of Poland as Eastern sounds always derogatory as it brings always cold war era naming to my mind.

Well-read person will always know that we are central European country.

central2013.eu

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  Central_Europe_in_CI.png
  

But fist you have to convince Germans,Swiss and Austrians to become
part of Central Europe instead of Western as they accustomed to be.


This link you provided cuts in half some countries.

I am not German, you Tommy-Pole :D:D I am inhabitant of Germany .. but not German :D:D

no matter you are a dickhead and dumb-ass you don't need any other label

Everyone who has critique must be that in your eyes .. same like everyone who dont finish his Bigos in a Polish restauarant is a racist and everyone who thinks that the Polish national 11 in football is weak, must be a nazi ..

Thats Polish logic!

most of polish people claim that Polish national football team sux, how does this work with your logic xD

No, it doesn't. Why do you think the word eastern is derogatory? By saying something like that you are showing disrespect for all the great cultures and nations from Ukraine to Japan. It is just a name and it's neutral. I don't understand what's the problem with Poland being a part of Eastern Europe, it actually is, it's not Western Europe for sure, and I'm fine with that, why can't you be?

Not even talking about Australia!

what it has to do with anything? You are just internationally acclaimed dumb-ass of the year!