News / What should Poland do with the problem of Belarus? [1800]

Still no real justification why hijacking a plane to arrest a political dissident is a sign of a good and healthy society....

Just "whadabout?" and nihilistic cynicism and glorification of thugs and thieves....

News / What should Poland do with the problem of Belarus? [1800]


So just do what the Tsar tells you?

News / What should Poland do with the problem of Belarus? [1800]


That's not what I asked... again, it's almost as if Putinites know their position is indefensible so they hungrily search for things that are also wrong to justify it.


maybe by Russians themselves, and Russia is just as much (maybe more) of a colonial power as any Western European country... so be a colonial power, be prepared for people to talk sh]t about you and to own up to it. How do Russians feel about their colonial past?


I actually think I'm more pro-Russia than you. But I don't support rotten strongmen neo-tsars to make the point. Russia has tremendous social and educational capital and amazing potential - that they waste with Robber Baron politics and nasty little bouts of military aggression. I'd like to see Russians put their tremendous potential to good use - but too many Russians have no interest in that...

News / What should Poland do with the problem of Belarus? [1800]


See? Again... defense based not on any kind of moral principles but "X is bad so I get to be bad too!!!!" this is an infantile defense and shows that Russia will never achieve very much because it's oriented toward brute force and cynicism and so will naturally lose those with talent and scruples.

I've long said that Russia (the state) has nothing to offer people who are intelligent and honest.

The intelligent and dishonest thrive in government and business.

The unintelligent and honest live humble, drab lives.

The unintelligent and dishonest live wretched lives dreaming of the glory of military conquest as they idolize those who steal from and repress them.

The intelligent and honest are taken advantage of and exploited or simply leave....

Which are you?

News / What should Poland do with the problem of Belarus? [1800]


People who value things like freedom of expression.... that seems to not include a lot of people here.

Support for Lukashenka is support for imprisoning people for their political views, support for electoral fraud (unless you want to try to say he won 80% in 2020), support for corruption and despotism.

I don't support any of those things so I don't support Lukashenka....

Language / Terms of endearment in Polish [225]


Maybe żmuda (bother, something difficult, waste of time) in which case it's kind of a teasing nick name.

If you put it in google translate (cut and paste, you need the dot over the z) you can hear the pronunciation.

Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [1006]


creepy.... I had a colleague who forced students to do written exams with the cameras on their hands... I can't do that - I feel like a member of the Stasi....

Poland is too focused on products (exam results) and not on process (study habits, understanding processes rather than memorizing facts).

I remember the difference between statistics in the US and Poland. In Poland, as described to me by students, they mainly memorized formulas and equations and had no chance to actually use them.

In the US during tests they provided us with a sheet with all the formulas... most of the test was about knowing what formula to apply to what problem.. and finding the right answer too but that was only possible if we knew from the problem which of the half dozen or so formulas was appropriate. I had dreaded statistics but ended up enjoying it a lot.

The US system has problems too and is not to imitated by other countries but my natural inclination is to not put too much stock in high stakes test results....

Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [1006]


Yeah there's no way on earth the girl in glasses with long hair is pointing at the test and getting some 'help' from a colleague....

News / What should Poland do with the problem of Belarus? [1800]


I don't believe he actually won the popular vote, but he won the electoral college which makes the results of the popular vote moot.

Again, you can compare actions you support with dysfunction that many don't.

Why can't you ever compare things in Russia or Belarus with anything positive?

Don't lie to yourself.

News / What should Poland do with the problem of Belarus? [1800]


So occupying another country is good for you?

And when Russian media says 'Nazi' I hear 'We're making stuff up!!!!!"

Do you think that criminalizing opposition to a political leader is a good thing?

What if your current views end up illegal tomorrow or the day after? What would be your defense?

News / What should Poland do with the problem of Belarus? [1800]


Your examples are telling. Why aren't you comparing this with something more morally.... uplifting?

At some level you realize that the Belarus situation is deeply wrong.

A consistent and moral person abhors both the Morales plane incident and Belarus arresting someone for the great crime of disagreeing with a crooked president who falsified an election (or do you really believe he won 80% of the vote?)

A person who is only upset about one (either one) is a hypocrite.

A person who has no problem with either is.... (don't even want to write it.... blech).

News / What should Poland do with the problem of Belarus? [1800]


Lukashenko is the Russian version of the Belarusian form Lukashenka (technically Łukašenka in the old Belarusian latin alphabet). Putinites (and Lukashenka himself though he's no Putinite) hate the Belarusan language. Not as much as they hate Ukrainian but they really hate it. So that's what I use.

The person being charged with the horrible crime of not supporting Lukashenka and organizing protests where protesting the government is a crime is Protasevich in Russian and Pratasevich (Pratasevič) in Belarusian

News / What should Poland do with the problem of Belarus? [1800]


Wise move.... Putinites have been whipped up into a mass hatred of frenzy against the Ukrainians who wanted to break free of the Russian "sphere of influence" and nazi was a convenient insult with little basis in fact (the bulk of nazi imagery in Ukraine actually came from the Russian side but who cares about facts when Putin is involved?

They also hate and despise the Ukrainian and Belurusian languages (one reason I always use the Belarusian form of Lukashenka)

Putin supporters are mostly..... not very well-informed and/or very gullible and/or want a big man to tell them what to think (Soviet habits die hard).

News / What should Poland do with the problem of Belarus? [1800]

A Putinite talking point is that anyone against Putin is a nazi... so I imagine they extend that to Lukashenka too...

Genealogy / Which Polish first names are considered unpopular / obsolete in Poland? [124]



One of the employeed in the closest Biedronka is Viktoriia. At first I thought it was a typo but then noticed the very, very slight Eastern accent...

Life / Polish cartoons/soap operas/other series with Polish subtitles [9]


More like captions (often with descriptions of sounds too)

News / What should Poland do with the problem of Belarus? [1800]

The Belarusan government has released this video... which would only fool a fool....

His girlfriend was also removed from the flight so things are probably going pretty badly for her.... (some here might be happy about that).

twitter.com/franakviacorka/status/1396900282093686788

News / What should Poland do with the problem of Belarus? [1800]


These are people who are from the area (which was Polish before Stalin carved up the country like a roast chicken).

News / What should Poland do with the problem of Belarus? [1800]


This kind of presupposes that Lukashenka (and probably Putin and most Belarussian and Russian citizens) have no free will, agency or moral compass and simply copy what the West models for them.

I'm happy to denounce overreach by western countries (the Morales plane episode was terrible the flight from Kiev not nearly the same thing). Because I don't take my moral compass from what governments do or some local bigshot says.

But Russians and Belarussians are the Western Man's Burden.... slow and primitive and only capable of aping outward appearances.... how very, very sad.

News / What should Poland do with the problem of Belarus? [1800]

How many US people with no connection to Russian speaking culture emigrate to Russia? How many Russian speakers with no connection to English speaking culture emigrate to the US?

News / What should Poland do with the problem of Belarus? [1800]


So, how many US people without a Soviet background are moving to Russia?

News / What should Poland do with the problem of Belarus? [1800]


Which direction do people move in? Do people from Russia move more to the US or do more people from the US move to Russia?

News / What should Poland do with the problem of Belarus? [1800]


No country that is not a sh|th0le has a "permanent leader"....

the rest of the post is just a newer version of the old vomit-inducing "А у вас негров линчуют." (milder in its Polish version: "A u was Murzynów biją!")


The plane was closer to Vilnius when it was diverted so obviously concern about a bomb is a big lie.... which makes an intellectually honest person suspect the rest of the story.

News / What should Poland do with the problem of Belarus? [1800]


Airspace has been neglected in international law.... on the one hand the air above physical countries has traditionally 'belonged' to the countries beneath them. On the other hand, passengers aren't 'in' the country in any real way as they are not subject to border controls.

Putin and his barking little lap dog Lukashenka have blown up the system and some new protocol on jurisdiction will need to be worked out.

The EU won't be able to do anything because it's led by incompetents and Germany wants ns2 too much.

Biden (like other democrat presidents) projects weakness abroad leading tinpot little dictators to try their luck.

Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [1006]


WHEN???????? My colleagues mostly seem to believe that they can't do anything requiring synthesis until the students have memorized every possible word and structure.... so students are tortured with awful (mostly British) textbooks for years after they should graduate to real world materials....

I'm also remembering a student who was bemoaning his group's lack of creativity "We aren't taught that..." as if creativity is something that can be taught (as opposed to nurtured).

Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [1006]


But too often in Poland the memorization is treated as just a way to pass exams.... too much memorization not enough synthesis and students terrified of making educated guesses (absolutely crucial in real mastery of anything).

News / What should Poland do with the problem of Belarus? [1800]

Any comment on Belarus hijacking a Polish owned Ryanair plane so they could arrest a dissident?

What (if anything) will be the international reaction?

Off-Topic / Eurovision - Today I will be ashamed to be Polish [586]


But most of the time the hosts seem to go out of their way to.... lose (not to put too fine a point on it). Let them bow out gracefully in the semis rather than the open humiliation of crap scores in the final....

Off-Topic / Eurovision - Today I will be ashamed to be Polish [586]


UK, Italy, Germany, France and Spain have automatic byes into the final as does the country that won the previous year....

That needs to be done away with. This year Germany, Spain, UK and Netherlands wouldn't have made it into the final (most likely) and Denmark and Croatia probably would...

24 is more than enough songs.....26 is a couple too many...

Off-Topic / Eurovision - Today I will be ashamed to be Polish [586]


crap song, mediocre performance... it got what it deserved... (as did the others at the bottom)