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Posts by Bobko  

Joined: 13 Mar 2017 / Male ♂
Last Post: 1 hr ago
Threads: Total: 28 / Live: 24 / Archived: 4
Posts: Total: 2939 / Live: 2863 / Archived: 76
From: New York
Speaks Polish?: A
Interests: reading, camping

Displayed posts: 2887 / page 10 of 97
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Bobko   
10 Sep 2025
News / Polish-Russian war? Drones entering Polish airspace. [252]

The Turks and Italians look at us as if we were retards and can't believe how much we pay

Same when Russia under Medvedev began buying Western equipment, especially that huge French piece of sh*t that we never received - the Mistral Class helicopter carriers.

Also Iveco fleeced us on the armored patrol vehicles.

Thales sold us thermal vision sights for our tanks, at prices that rivaled the price of the whole tank.

Medvedev was an idiot for more reason than one.
Bobko   
10 Sep 2025
News / Polish-Russian war? Drones entering Polish airspace. [252]

Both Germany and Ukraine treat Poland like a silly younger cousin to be always taken advantage of

Ukraine definitely does not see Poland as a "silly younger cousin".

It sees Poland as an "avaricious Pan", who sees in Ukrainians only niewolniki and czeladz.
Bobko   
10 Sep 2025
News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 25 [1150]

@Torq

Nawrocki is definitely a politician in the Putin mold. Putin was the first guy (out of those actually at the wheel) who made friends with ultras, biker gangs, and trade unions.

When I listen to Nawrocki, I feel like I am listening to a young Putin. Romania also had a guy like that, who got barred from running after he won in his first try.

I think Nawrocki and Putin speak the same language.

Working class boys, into healthy living and fitness, and adepts of the traditional societal order.

Nawrocki is constrained by the strait jacket of EU norms and regulations, so he appears a little less unhinged than Putin - but fundamentally it's the same guy, just 25 years younger, and without a spy background.
Bobko   
10 Sep 2025
News / Polish-Russian war? Drones entering Polish airspace. [252]

what if this was indeed a Ukrainian operation? Do we attack Ukraine?

You will never prove it - because Russian UAVs were used.

Germany has literally, right now, in their custody the man that masterminded the Nord Stream explosions. They still don't want to tie it Ukraine.

Poland had one of the divers, and Germany demanded extradition, but Poland didn't do anything - until the man peacefully left in the vehicle of the Ukrainian military attache in Poland. Unfortunately, the man died afterwards on the frontlines...

Your governments are not stupid. They see Zelensky's game, and they tolerate it - because right now Russia is the bigger threat.

The hope is that you are carefully taking notes, and formulating some pragmatic way of dealing with Ukraine in the future. They are slippery f*ckers...
Bobko   
10 Sep 2025
News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 25 [1150]

It will be dense when the anti-drone systems are fully operational

Poland can actually become "dense", unlike the United States or Russia.

This is why anybody who can do maths, knows that Trump's "Golden Dome" is a joke of an idea.

You cannot cover a continent-sized space with air defenses - as Ukraine has been proving with its refinery bombing campaign.

But Poland... Poland can become a big Israel if it invests enough.

Right now it seems very far away from it, given that a drone the size of a Volkswagen Beetle flew through 300 kilometers of airspace without being shot down.

Hm... that actually makes sense.

Makes less sense, when you remember the structure of Tusk's coalition, and the fact that PiS has a president now. What we do, makes not only Tusk look weak, but Nawrocki also.

I'm not sure that Nawrocki is drinking champagne tonight - as President, this is an infraction that happened on his watch.
Bobko   
10 Sep 2025
Off-Topic / Random Chat Thread [611]

[login to read]
Bobko   
10 Sep 2025
News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 25 [1150]

That's why it wouldn't be wise to act hastily

I will try to play devil's advocate... and imagine why Russia would do this - though this is hard to do.

1) The Kremlin senses that Donald Trump's patience is running out, and that he soon may throw in his support with the Europeans. Then, this is an attempt to raise the temperature, and simultaneously give pause to Trump (who's actually a very cautious person when it comes to these things), while making Poland doubt the credibility of America's assurances post-Nawrocki visit.

2) Demonstrate to Poland how full of holes their air defense is, and why they should sit down and shut the f*ck up, while various European crazies like Macron and Starmer are putting together stupid coalitions. Why? Because without Poland, any European operation in Ukraine will be a joke. Hungary and Slovakia have already ruled out making their airbases available. This leaves only the Romanians.

3) Put pressure on the Donald Tusk government, as "weak on defense" and "weak on Putin". Thereby providing a boost in the arm, for our conservative-aligned friends in Poland during the next elections. Tusk and Sikorski are annoying, and it would be much nicer to have friendlier people in power - maybe more like Fico and Orban.

4) in a truly 4D chess fashion - show the French and British why they got no business being in Ukraine. If Poland, with some of the densest air defenses in Europe - strengthened since the George W. Bush days, cannot stop a drone from flying 300 kilometers all the way to the Lodz Voivedstvo - then what can France or Britain do?
Bobko   
10 Sep 2025
News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 25 [1150]

Attempts to confuse the issue by introducing irrelevant excuses.

How is this non-relevant?

Ukraine possesses eye-watering electronic capabilities - far superior to Poland's, or in the rest of NATO. Of this you can be sure.

As you may know, the majority of Western drones supplied to Ukraine are useless on the battlefield. The lion's share of damage is done by Ukrainian systems, which are often updated on a WEEKLY basis to keep abreast of the pace of progress.

It has become a routine thing, to hack into a drone's video feed - allowing you to see exactly what the enemy sees, in real time.

It's a routine thing, for both sides, to hijack the controls and "land" an enemy's drone. So far, only fiber optic drones are resistant to these kind of takeovers.

It's fully plausible, that Ukraine could take control of 10-20 Russian drones and steer them in Poland's direction.

They have a million and one pragmatic reasons to do this. Russia has no reason to do this, except for very fanciful and imaginative ones.
Bobko   
10 Sep 2025
News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 25 [1150]

r**SSia however have carried out all sorts of confirmed provocations, fires, attacks, murders.

I'm not saying it's not us, because I don't know this for a fact, but I would argue that if it is us - then it is either:

A) Accidental

B) A result of Ukrainian GPS/Cell tower spoofing, or other electronic counter measures (some other means of hijacking the drone controls).

The prevailing Ukrainian explanation of what happened, of course a sinister one, is that these drones were "probing" Poland's airspace to better plan potential future attacks.

The debris on the ground, however, does not support this. The Gerbera drones found so far are dummy decoys largely made out of foam, and contain no payload capable of collecting the type of intelligence Ukraine is claiming. The damage they've done, like punching through the roof of a small house, is consistent with a simple kinetic impact.

Why would Russia probe Polish airspace using drones that are not capable of optical/signals/measurement intelligence? Just watch from space, where Polish anti-air sites come online? I'm sure we know already, exactly where each Polish anti air battery is located. It's peacetime Poland, not wartime Ukraine.
Bobko   
10 Sep 2025
News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 25 [1150]

English speaking social media is in a state of panic as if WW3 was about to start ;D and Poles are like:

Ukrainian influence operations... They have hundreds of thousands of accounts under their control.

Today, their main newspapers have been discussing NATO's "impotent" response. On Twitter, all their bots are out in force, condemning Polish cowardice - and all the American and European Shiba Inu dogs bark in their support.

The country's leading newspaper, has a front page article discussing the meaning of Article V, and coming up with reasons for Poland's "pathetic" behavior.

Source: eurointegration.com.ua/articles/2025/09/10/7219899/

Last week, Ukrainians were fuming at Duda, because he admitted in an interview that Zelensky attempted to coerce him into admitting the earlier missile strike was Russian (when it was clear to all within 5 minutes that it was Ukrainian).

And before that, they were angry at Germany, for arresting in Italy the Ukrainian captain of the schooner used in the attack on the Nord Stream pipeline. Surprising this... since the Germans are such trembling weaklings that they still refuse to officially tie the two together. Ukraine executed a terrorist attack on Germany's vital national infrastructure, the culprits are in custody, and yet still Germany does nothing. If I was Ukraine - I'd be happy and keep quiet.

The only party that benefits from a Russian attack on Poland - is Ukraine. Follow the money.
Bobko   
9 Sep 2025
News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 25 [1150]

students from all over the country, including tiny obscure villages that were 10 or more hours away by train. Talent in Poland is scattered and you needed a system like that to make sure you can find it.

One of the nice aspects of the system that collapsed.

Along with the total detachment from economic reality when planning state investment (like building a high power voltage line for some reindeer herders in the Arctic), the total meritocracy of opportunity was what made the country "great".

Now, America is mostly eating the fruits of our investment, through various tech founders and neurosurgeons.

It's also why China is set to be a greater power than America.

The Soviets, and the Chinese in their own country, empowered hundreds of millions of people that in the former system would never get a second glance.
Bobko   
9 Sep 2025
News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 25 [1150]

seems 20 times bigger than the gap between the top and bottom in Poland

Russia, since time immemorial, was a place of two separate countries. One for the "Muzhiki", or "average man", and one for the "Gospoda" (gentry).

The type of hatred and derision reserved for the "average man", was worse than the Southern plantation owners had for the Negr0es.

We literally kept our own kin in chains of slavery, until 1861. Not blacks from Africa, or Jews from Spain - but our own people.

Many Russian authors wrote about this disgusting aspect of national life, from Saltykov-Shedrin, to Tolstoy.

It's why the Bolsheviks could storm into power, and use past sins as a catch-all excuse for the horrors they unleashed in turn.

-----

As you probably know, Russia's literate classes for a long time didn't even speak Russian at home. Only French and English and German.

It's good, that Poland did not absorb at least this aspect of the Russian way of organizing society.
Bobko   
9 Sep 2025
News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 25 [1150]

Your who?

Since August 21st, yes :)

Writing that word, was a bit weird for me.

A lady from the motherland. Never lived in America (though speaks English quite well).

since Crow called Poland the Real Sarmatia and Great Mother of All Slavia

He was too good for this forum, and we didn't cherish him enough.
Bobko   
9 Sep 2025
News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 25 [1150]

I'm lucky to get an hour of personal reading time a day

Two things, from my experience:

1) Audiobooks are not half as terrible as I thought they would be. Recently finished listening to Dostoyevsky's Demons, after about 10-12 long walks. It works nicely - walking around, and listening to a book.

2) Since you are an American - again audiobooks - but also in the car. During those long road trips, it works nicely to keep you awake, and it's easier than having to flip through podcasts every 20-30 minutes.

Most of my reading still happens at night. During my private time.

My wife calls it my "revenge insomnia". That is, I suffer from insomnia, because I am a person that absolutely needs his personal "alone" time - so I get my alone time after everyone else goes to sleep - as revenge.

As a result - I'm a perpetually irritable person, and always angry. People don't give me the freedom I need, so I get it anyway, at the expense of my sleep and my health.

In this way - I read from 11 PM, to about 2:30-3:30 am. I always promise myself - one hour and no more, but then I end up reading for 3-4 hours.

It's when I feel happiest.

In the morning, morning Bobko of course hates the night Bobko. But what can be better than reading a book?! It's a chance to live a whole life, through different eyes, in a matter of a few hours! Who in their right mind would refuse this kind of magic?
Bobko   
9 Sep 2025
News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 25 [1150]

This means that either they are genetically superior to Poles or they come from a Jewish-like culture, where books are cherished and read widely from early age. Something tells me it's the latter.

My little brother, with whom I have a 16 year difference (same mom, same dad), is in his second year at NYU now - in their engineering school. His friend, and the smartest guy in the class (according to my brother), is a guy named Antony from Gdansk.

This guy destroys even the Chinese and Indians with his math skills.

So at least within the tiny example of my own family, Poles are certainly not "inferior".

they more often than not receive above average grades in both sciences and humanities.

You are dealing with the children of Russia's intelligentsia. These are the only people that might move to Poland, to avoid the war and provide better opportunities for their kids.

I'm fairly certain you don't have the kids of plumber San Sanych, or cab driver Pal Palych.

Their parents were probably already pretty smart folks, and their kid is a product of that upbringing.

At the same time, your Polish students probably represent a more true cross section of Polish society.

So not fair to compare kids of Russian dissidents, with average Polish kids.
Bobko   
9 Sep 2025
News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 25 [1150]

Russians have libraries in their dachas?

They used to say Russia was the most reading nation in the world. I believe that since then countries like Thailand and China have taken us over.

Still, 9/10 Russians report that they read regularly.

Source: themoscowtimes.com/2018/10/01/9-in-10-russians-read-books-poll-says-a63038

My dacha library is the typical Soviet library:

1) A huge series of ZhZL books (ЖЗЛ - Жизнь Замечательных Людей). These books always make me laugh. They write about people like Timurlane or Martin Luther, on the large part seriously, but then every few paragraphs they will write something like:

"As Timur looked over his assembled troops, he thought of the challenges ahead", or "On that day, Martin Luther walked to his home, consumed in thought."

Never understood these unnecessary belletristics, but they seem to be a feature of Soviet biographies.

2) A 200 book series, called "World Literature Library" (Всемирная Библиотека Литературы). I think most Soviet houses own this collection, if they hadn't used it for kindling in the 1990s. This is quite good - and features translations by people who were great authors in their own right.

3) Great Soviet Encyclopedia. Many books, also written by committees of famous academicians and professors.

4) Collected works of Lenin.

5) Marx and Engels, and like ten books which provide commentary on those books.

Nobody wanted this stuff in the house anymore, so it went to the Dacha, which is a perfect place to read anyway. There's never time in the city, to sit down with a book for 10-12 hours.
Bobko   
9 Sep 2025
News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 25 [1150]

I'm amazed how some places gravitate to certain writers, musicians, etc

I was at my parents' lake cabin this August, and was browsing the library - and saw a book I loved when I was a kid - "The Headless Horseman" by Mayne Reid (Майн Рид).

I then thought, for the first time ever - why the hell are there two books about headless horsemen? Washington Irving's "Legend of Sleepy Hollow", and then this guy's book? Could they not come up with more original material? Is it maybe, even the same story, just adapted for different audiences?

I immediately googled Mayne Reid, and realized he's not some German, but an Irishman that spent most of his life in the United States. His full name was Thomas Mayne Reid.

Started reading his Wikipedia profile, and was surprised to read the following:

"While Reid's novels have become almost completely forgotten in the Anglosphere, they have remained popular in Eastern Europe and particularly in Russia (ever since the Tsarist era), being considered a part of the canon of Western literature and being published under the category of "World Classics" along with Jack London and James Fenimore Cooper."

Fascinating... how that works. In the former Soviet Union, every person has heard of Mayne Reid, but in America nobody has. Why?

Steinbeck is at least considered a giant in both places, but with this Reid fella - it's very lopsided. Part of the school program in Russia, but completely forgotten in America.

To a lesser extent, I think it applies to Jack London as well. In Russia, White Fang and Call of the Wild are mandatory reading for young people. Whereas in America I don't hear him being discussed as much.
Bobko   
9 Sep 2025
News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 25 [1150]

its hard to go against these instincts!

I think this is the last war in white countries where you could ride that wave.

It works only on people from 16 to 40 years old.

When the white world reaches an average age of 50, no amount of hysteria will get people excited about war.

I'm 36 now, and one of the last things I want to do, is leave everything behind and go sit in a trench with water up to my ankles.

War is a young man's game.
Bobko   
9 Sep 2025
News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 25 [1150]

three years at least before the general population catches up

War releases all sorts of endorphins. It's very hard to resist the initial emotional barrage, and the hysteria.

For a generation that grew up without war (Georgia, and Syria don't count), it felt almost welcome.

But now it's back to that eternal realization that this is a sh*t business.
Bobko   
9 Sep 2025
News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 25 [1150]

Maybe its time to throw that whole ideology with its holy book (Das Kapital) and their saints (Marx/Engels) at last into the bin of history!

In China they still worship Das Kapital. And in Vietnam. These are by no means backwards economies.

Xi is now in the habit of wearing a Mao tunic, and his favorite activity is putting billionaires behind bars. In such a way, that six months later their investors and their family members still can't find them - whether alive or dead. Still sounds plenty Socialist to me.

It's time for a spell of peace.

At some point in the past three years, I understood that part of what happens in this war - is that a Russian and a Ukrainian meet each other, in a field, or a trench, or in a city apartment block - and then KILL EACH OTHER.

I don't know how people ever got used to this idea, but to me it certainly felt totally normal. So when I realized again, that people are killing people, it was quite a revelation.

Just the most senseless, stupid, and depressing concept ever.

We are made for so much more, than seeking each other out, and then blowing each others brains out.

It's sad.
Bobko   
8 Sep 2025
News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 25 [1150]

All depends on the definition of 'win'.

The million dollar question these days.

Reasonable parties, on all sides, think that both sides can claim a victory - nobody has to feel humiliated. That is, Ukraine can claim victory because it is still standing, whereas Russia can claim 20% of Ukrainian territory as a healthy addition to the empire.

Maximalists - on both sides - are hell bent on spoiling this "understanding".

On the Ukrainian side, they say:

1) Any ceasefire is a chance for Putin to rearm and recruit.

2) Without Western security guarantees and EU membership, Ukraine will find itself in some kind of a limbo, and eventually become a failed state. Better to fight to the bitter end.

On the Russian side, quite obviously, people say:

1) Did we tank our economy for a 20% slice of a country whose economy was 1/10th of ours, on the eve of the invasion?

2) Did we really lose, one million men (250,000 dead, and 3X as much wounded), in exchange for a a couple million pensioners, and a huge reconstruction bill?

I'm afraid there won't be many 'winners' after the dust settles.

This is my feeling, and that of many others.

We certainly "taught" Ukraine a lesson. A very expensive one, and one they won't soon forget. But the price? The price was exorbitant.

They also likely expected things to develop differently. They underestimated us, and thought we were weaker than we actually were. For their miscalculation, they paid a heavy, heavy price. Such a price, from which their country may not recover.

In the end - we are both retards. Clowns for the Western audience - for whom we did a dance for their dollars and euros. In other words - typical "no brain" Slavs.

Bashed each other's heads in, and the only achievement is we earned everyone's grudging respect - as one respects a monkey or a dog with some fighting spirit.
Bobko   
27 Aug 2025
History / Poles should apologise to Ukrainians first [487]

but at least I'd like some retirement, considering how long I've been paying contributions

Hahahaha! *cough cough* Ahahahahahahahahaha! *catches breath* Muwahahahahahahahahaha!
Bobko   
27 Aug 2025
History / Poles should apologise to Ukrainians first [487]

God has heard you

I hope so.

When Poles and Germans and French go extinct - because their amazing development gave them an allergy to having children - I hope Russians will still be around because we were more like Nigerians and Tajiks.

Unfortunately, I think you are wrong, and we are still headed for your wonderful level of development that will send us all the way of the dinosaurs.
Bobko   
27 Aug 2025
History / Poles should apologise to Ukrainians first [487]

the point is that Ukrainian politicians are incompetent

Because they are Papuans, with no history of statehood or experience at diplomacy.

They behave as any other Cargo Cult (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult).

They believe that if they cast the right incantations, march in the correct formations, and provide the necessary sacrifices - then the white man from the sky will come and drop more Euros and more Dollars.

When they do everything correctly (to their mind), and the White Man is still upset - they don't understand why.

"Did we not say we are Atlanticists?"

"Did we not confirm our belief in Western liberal democracy?"

"Did we not pray to the Gods of 'Strong Institutions' and 'Checks and Balances'?"

"Did we not profess our hatred of Russians and Chinese, from the mountains, and the valleys, and from the depths of the sea?"

"Did we not host ten million national prayer breakfasts where we showed we are all good Christians?"

They don't understand why... after all this... somebody would keep bringing up awkward questions about massacres and missing money and... about a realistic plan for victory.

The current generation of Ukrainian leadership all grew up on Soros grants, British Council grants, USAID grants, and various "developmental workshops" in places like Princeton and Oxford.

Pygmies. Hobbits. Papuans.

In contrast - Russia has a 1,200 year history of developing independent policy - without looking into the White Man's mouth for the next morsel.
Bobko   
27 Aug 2025
News / Taxes, taxes everywhere [35]

the government gets 68.5% of the dosh

That's f*cking insane.
Bobko   
27 Aug 2025
History / Poles should apologise to Ukrainians first [487]

The world is better without that creature.

The soul that sinneth, it shall die.
The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father,
neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.


Your hatred of Russians, has disconnected you from humanity's core principles.
Bobko   
27 Aug 2025
News / Taxes, taxes everywhere [35]

To be honest, I was in the camp of those people that advocated Russia must borrow like crazy, and run up our debt to at least 80-100% of GDP.

I wanted Chinese style investment into infrastructure at 25-30% of GDP. Use American and German money to build all the railroads, dams, and highways that our economy is in desperate need of. God knows we could service a debt load like that easily, with the money coming in from oil and gas (while the planet still needs it - one day the Klondike will be over).

But Putin, and the uber-fiscal conservatives around him, were and are allergic to foreign debt. He paid back the Paris Club ahead of schedule, and the IMF and World Bank - even though he didn't need to. He very carefully issued Eurobonds (which are now all in technical default), but preferred to rely instead on internal financing.

Maybe he knew he was gonna declare war on Ukraine all along, and that's why he kept us on some kind of debt hunger diet... but even that seems an erroneous explanation.

We still could have run up the debts, and then when he invaded Ukraine - those debts would be declared in default just like the small existing ones. It would be Western problem.

I would like to see Western politicians force write offs on their funds of not several hundred billion, but $2 Trillion dollars of Russian bonds. Haha! They would not do it. We might have been in a better negotiating position now, if we really ran up our debt.
Bobko   
27 Aug 2025
News / Taxes, taxes everywhere [35]

Pensions inflated away so the rock hard bread changes price every week

Pensions' and state salaries' growth has not kept up with inflation - true - so real income for many people has stagnated. But across the economy at large, wage growth has exceeded inflation.

Perversely, this is driving further inflation, because we have a demand side problem with inflation in Russia. People are earning more money than ever, and are trying to buy more goods than ever - but Russian industry can't keep up, whereas imports have been drastically curtailed.

no foreign currency to buy nice stuff

There's literally hundreds of billions of dollars of FX pouring in annually. The restrictions in place in 2022 are gone - you can buy as many dollars as you want. You can go, and get $10 million in new dollar bills, and no one will bat an eye. The problem is - there isn't much to buy with that FX. Europe and America won't sell to us, so everything is going to China. In a matter of years, the automobile market has become dominated by Chinese players - for example.

nothing to invest in on the off chance you do have a few spare rubels

Invest in government bonds (if you have a view on inflation going down), in equities, in real estate, in precious metals, into private equity, into private credit - whatever you want. So long as it's in Russia, or a country on the list of "friendly countries".