History / How different would WW2 turned out if Poland accepted Hitler's offer [219]

Too bad that Poland was willing to argue over areas that were neither here nor there rather than forming a military alliance that might have helped both countries. As I said, the II RP's diplomacy was absolutely dreadful - was 250,000 people really worth the consequences?

As for the British leadership, perhaps Poland should have taken the lead and never allowed Munich to happen in the first place?


Absolutely. I'd have fancied the Ukrainians against anyone in guerilla warfare.


And then they wonder why the Ukrainians were just ever so slightly ****** off.


Second part in a multi-volume Polish history collection?

History / How different would WW2 turned out if Poland accepted Hitler's offer [219]


Certainly - who wouldn't want to have the UPA on their side? Bandera showed what they were willing to do for a Ukrainian state - they certainly would have been a useful ally. Still, I guess those roubles came in useful.

I think we can only call it "the curse of the faux-Polish patriot".

History / How different would WW2 turned out if Poland accepted Hitler's offer [219]


Poland was stuck between a rock and a hard place, but her own diplomatic failings undoubtably didn't help things. I've said it before and I'll say it again - a Polish-Czechoslovak alliance backed by many countries that were neutral (such as Romania, Yugoslavia and the Baltic countries) would have presented a formidable foe against any aggressor. The almost total failure of Polish diplomacy lies at the door of Polish defeat, nothing else.


Why is it that so many people have problems understanding that you can criticise Polish history and yet still like Poland?

This nonsense view that criticising Polish history somehow makes you "Polonophobic" is nothing but the rantings of a deluded minority.

History / How different would WW2 turned out if Poland accepted Hitler's offer [219]

Sounds like quite a good book!

I suspect Communism has much to do with the glorification of the 2nd Republic these days.

History / How different would WW2 turned out if Poland accepted Hitler's offer [219]

There can be no other words - Poland invaded Czechoslovakia and kicked her hard in the face when the country was on its knees. Worth pointing out that most of those people didn't see themselves as Czech or Polish, but rather they identified with the local area. Still common, even today there.

The link is sadly biased - I quote -

Cieszyn was not the important rail junction - Bohumin is. It's also worth pointing out that there wasn't a clear Polish majority at all - these people identified with the local area, not the national cause (whatever it was).


Oh dear. The article completely glosses over the reality - that Czechoslovakia sent the troops in because Poland was breaking the interim agreement not to establish any national structures there.

That's only a small aspect of what is a terribly biased, nationalistic piece of work.


Better to let it be taken by the 3rd Reich and to have the moral upper hand than do anything to be associated with them.

For all the preaching about being the Christ of Nations, interbellum Poland was anything but.

History / How different would WW2 turned out if Poland accepted Hitler's offer [219]

Sadly, no amount of links can change the reality - that Poland invaded Czechoslovakia in 1938.

History / How different would WW2 turned out if Poland accepted Hitler's offer [219]


A poor show, given that Poland had already fought one war in recent times over that part of Czechoslovakia and willingly marched in as soon as Czechoslovakia was in no position to defend herself.

Life / Bribery and corruption 'fact of life' in Poland? [152]


Which is why working privately should be banned for those on full time contracts in the public health system.

Life / Bribery and corruption 'fact of life' in Poland? [152]

Butt buddies? My, greggy, isn't it too early in the day to be thinking about gay sex?

Life / Bribery and corruption 'fact of life' in Poland? [152]


The best example I can give is with public schools. I don't want to give specifics, but it is often very difficult for an outsider to rent classrooms for language classes from public schools. You'll often find advertising for language schools (that have their own building somewhere else) inside such schools, too. I had a plan for a while to give free language classes to poor kids - using existing classrooms and convincing native speakers to give up some of their time to do the job. Everything was in place, but we found that schools were very unwilling to cooperate - even though it would directly benefit the children.

Real Estate / Landlord in Poland - tenant laws, statue of limitation [26]

I urge some caution in this respect, then. You don't know about the guy and his history - while he might just be a chancer, people do tend to stick together in these places.

Real Estate / Landlord in Poland - tenant laws, statue of limitation [26]

Do you live in a small town or village?

Real Estate / Landlord in Poland - tenant laws, statue of limitation [26]

Forgive my cynicism, but in Poland, a strong hand is respected more than the law. He won't mess with you if he knows you'll get the taxman involved - but tge law? Nothing to be frightened of.

Real Estate / Landlord in Poland - tenant laws, statue of limitation [26]

Instead of writing this all online, why don't you simply invite him to a meeting where you outline exactly how much of a hold you have over him, and give him a week to sort it out?

Much easier and far more effective. Having said this, putting money into a property you don't own is...an interesting idea.

Real Estate / Landlord in Poland - tenant laws, statue of limitation [26]

What you need to understand is that knowing the law isn't going to help you - the Polish legal system is long winded and more or less broken.

What works is knowing that if you report him to the tax office, they will make him cry and wish that he had never met you.

History / How different would WW2 turned out if Poland accepted Hitler's offer [219]


Germany had declared war on the USA - do you think Nazi Germany really would have been happy to stop at Europe?

They wouldn't have rescued the Soviets, but they would have put a stop to Germany before she was able to seriously threaten them.


Hitler wanted to do what Napoleon nearly did - conquer the entire continent. If you look at him as a person, he had delusions of the Thousand Year Reich - the only way to get that was to control the entire continent. But as I say, by the time he managed that, the Americans would have bombed Germany into submission.

History / How different would WW2 turned out if Poland accepted Hitler's offer [219]


Unlikely. Nazi Germany would still have lost to the atomic bomb no matter what else happened - there's no way that they would have been able to counter that, even if they occupied the whole of Europe at the time. Russia would have meant a massive effort on their part, too.

History / How different would WW2 turned out if Poland accepted Hitler's offer [219]


Wouldn't have made much difference - Poland was just too far behind in the arms race at that point.

USA, Canada / Question about health care in the US for American permanent residents [19]


Likewise.

I've found that private clinics are astonishingly bad at timekeeping and being disorganised - far worse than public ones.

Work / What are career opportunities for a foreigner in Poland? [16]

You can hand out flyers.

Law / Opening a Polish Bank Account by a foreigner in Poland. Recommendations. [299]

Any real bank (not a dodgy private one like Amber Gold was) will have special departments that deal with such exchanges. Worth pointing out that they keep it somewhat of a secret, probably so that the ordinary people don't question why they're charging a huge spread on transfers.

Usual trick is to tell them that you want to withdraw the cash in EUR for the explicit purpose of taking to the kantor and to return in PLN - they normally get quite scared at the thought of having to produce a significant amount in EUR and instead offer their in-house exchange services. It's an interesting fact of Polish banks that they don't seem to carry much physical cash on a day to day basis.

Law / Opening a Polish Bank Account by a foreigner in Poland. Recommendations. [299]


SEPA transfers. You can get very close to the interbank rate when exchanging PLN for EUR (you won't with GBP), and likewise when transferring EUR to GBP. It's much harder to get good deals on PLN/GBP transfers, at least in my experience.

Anyone reading this and wanting to exchange a significant amount of money from EUR to PLN or vice versa should know that you can get within 1gr of the interbank rate if you exchange at least 25k EUR. Best I've seen was 0.75gr, but there was room to negotiate on that if the amounts were higher and regular. All available from your local friendly bank.

News / Repopulating Poland with Ukrainians? [81]


People would still do it for the cash - it would need to be high enough to positively influence people (ie, a good 10k PLN minimum) - and then you'd get all the village idiots breeding like mad.

Encouraging those with high IQ's to breed is no bad thing, but encouraging Pawel and Magda from the PGR to have 10 kids in their flat is nothing but reckless.

News / Repopulating Poland with Ukrainians? [81]


It's a terrible idea and encourages dependency on the State.


Not really. For a start, there's no such thing as British - most of us identify with our countries instead. Secondly, these people referred to become British very quickly - even the 1st generation.

News / Repopulating Poland with Ukrainians? [81]


Indeed. Plenty of them in Poland too.


Far too much of it. They don't even understand what a liberal is or what their ideas are.


Hardly. It's only Americans that get brought up on a diet of Fox News and that Limbaugh idiot that seem to have problems with understanding what a liberal is. Everyone else accepts that liberals are pro freedom.

News / Repopulating Poland with Ukrainians? [81]


Again, I suggest reading more books. Those things are liberal by definition.

And yes, a business owner should have the choice - except that in a country that abused civil rights so much and had so much problems with racism, it's needed to ensure a right to life, liberty, and property.. Perhaps it can be repealed when the need for it no longer exists.


Wrong. Liberals stand for a decentralised government that has a hands-off approach.


Wrong. Liberals seek equality for all.


Wrong. Liberty and equality for all is a crucial part of liberalism.


Wrong. Liberals believe in the free market and a non-interventionist state.

You really ought to learn what a liberal is before attempting to insult them.

News / Repopulating Poland with Ukrainians? [81]

Yes.

As for the definition - perhaps you should read books rather than relying on Fox News for information. We all know how the conservative media completely abuses and misuses the term liberal.

Now, care to tell us why you think this is a bad thing?

News / Repopulating Poland with Ukrainians? [81]


I think the Wikipedia definition is best, personally -


Seems good to me.

News / Repopulating Poland with Ukrainians? [81]


Hardly. You might want to investigate what being "liberal" actually means - here's a hint, it's not what Fox News tells you.

UK, Ireland / Polish Ophthalmologist in UK [28]


It's probably how he convinces the Jobcentre that he's been looking for a job - he's getting involved in "cross-community relations".

The funniest thing is that we all know that Hudders is sitting in a **** bedsit somewhere in Wales, on the dole and putting absolutely no effort in to actually find a job.