Bobko
29 Jun 2025
Genealogy / Russian POW Camp records [71]
Who are you referring to?
I can't retract the way they were thinking.
Who are you referring to?
Bobko
29 Jun 2025
UK, Ireland / BBC launches new Polish language news service [87]
Ukrainian Salo is the mother of all bacons.
How you British can call that paper-thin, half-crisp, limp excuse for a meat strip "bacon" is beyond me. In Ukraine, they use your bacon to wrap real food in, before throwing it to the dog.
British bacon... pathetic slices of apologetic pork, trembling under a drizzle of brown sauce. A breakfast item. A snack. Something your aunt packs in Tupperware for a train ride to Brighton.
Salo - on the other hand - is a slab of honor. A currency. A spiritual compass, or even... a potential weapon.
Come to think of it, I would rank Italian prosciutto and French poitrine also above the British variety of pork fat.
Bottom line - Ukrainians are gods of pig fat.
They're imitating a superior product.
Ukrainian Salo is the mother of all bacons.
How you British can call that paper-thin, half-crisp, limp excuse for a meat strip "bacon" is beyond me. In Ukraine, they use your bacon to wrap real food in, before throwing it to the dog.
British bacon... pathetic slices of apologetic pork, trembling under a drizzle of brown sauce. A breakfast item. A snack. Something your aunt packs in Tupperware for a train ride to Brighton.
Salo - on the other hand - is a slab of honor. A currency. A spiritual compass, or even... a potential weapon.
Come to think of it, I would rank Italian prosciutto and French poitrine also above the British variety of pork fat.
Bottom line - Ukrainians are gods of pig fat.
IMG_7218.jpeg
Bobko
29 Jun 2025
Genealogy / Russian POW Camp records [71]
Have you tried the Bundesarchiv or Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt)?
There could have been a transfer as a forced laborer, or reassignment via the General Government postal service.
If he was mobilized as a POW laborer, there may be Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt) records.
I mean everything seems right, what is there left to find?
On September 3rd, two days after Germany invaded, your grandfather enlisted. The location of his enlistment was Zegrze, a known Polish military garrison and communications base north of Warsaw.
Him being a part of the 1 Pułk Łączności, makes sense, because it aligns with Zegrze's role as a center for signal troops in the interwar Polish Army.
Then, based on your description, it seems his unit undertook a rapid eastward retreat or redeployment across central and eastern Poland as the German invasion progressed from the west.
It seems that they were retreating virtually non stop. Because your grandpa served in a communications unit (signals regiment), he would've been involved in maintaining radio, telephone, or courier links between command - and this would been crucial during fast-moving retreats. So then it is likely that he moved in the vanguard of the retreating army, arriving first - before other formations.
It looks like he never spent more than a day in any given location, before he had to move again.
That final date is significant - September 17 is the day the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east, under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Because this path ends near Czortków, it's plausible that he was actually captured by the Soviets - as your relative claims.
After his capture, he was likely immediately deported into German controlled territory, as an ethnic German.
He must have appeared strange to the Russians. A 40 year old German corporal - somehow lost in a sea of Poles.
Since the CAW can not find his records in their files
Have you tried the Bundesarchiv or Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt)?
There could have been a transfer as a forced laborer, or reassignment via the General Government postal service.
If he was mobilized as a POW laborer, there may be Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt) records.
To Bobko and Torq, I hope these town/village locations kind of help you to trace and connect to some unit
I mean everything seems right, what is there left to find?
On September 3rd, two days after Germany invaded, your grandfather enlisted. The location of his enlistment was Zegrze, a known Polish military garrison and communications base north of Warsaw.
Him being a part of the 1 Pułk Łączności, makes sense, because it aligns with Zegrze's role as a center for signal troops in the interwar Polish Army.
Then, based on your description, it seems his unit undertook a rapid eastward retreat or redeployment across central and eastern Poland as the German invasion progressed from the west.
It seems that they were retreating virtually non stop. Because your grandpa served in a communications unit (signals regiment), he would've been involved in maintaining radio, telephone, or courier links between command - and this would been crucial during fast-moving retreats. So then it is likely that he moved in the vanguard of the retreating army, arriving first - before other formations.
It looks like he never spent more than a day in any given location, before he had to move again.
That final date is significant - September 17 is the day the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east, under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Because this path ends near Czortków, it's plausible that he was actually captured by the Soviets - as your relative claims.
After his capture, he was likely immediately deported into German controlled territory, as an ethnic German.
He must have appeared strange to the Russians. A 40 year old German corporal - somehow lost in a sea of Poles.
Bobko
28 Jun 2025
UK, Ireland / Polish YouTuber weirdos trash-talking the UK [200]
Yes, it must be pretty annoying.
But being a Russian in America is also no pleasure cruise.
If we get depicted at all, it's usually in caricaturish form - as wearing an Adidas tracksuit, while trying to penetrate a bear inappropriately with a bottle of vodka.
imagine you're an American living in Russia and you have to see this s*t all the time
Yes, it must be pretty annoying.
But being a Russian in America is also no pleasure cruise.
If we get depicted at all, it's usually in caricaturish form - as wearing an Adidas tracksuit, while trying to penetrate a bear inappropriately with a bottle of vodka.
Bobko
28 Jun 2025
UK, Ireland / Polish YouTuber weirdos trash-talking the UK [200]
I'm throwing Russians under the bus here... but it's actually quite a popular genre on Russian YouTube too. And in general in Russian comedy.
We had a guy throughout the 90s and early 2000s, Mikhail Zadornov, that built a whole career around "American" jokes. All his jokes boiled down to, "Geez, are these Americans stupid or what?"
After Zadornov died, a whole army of Russian YouTubers decided to carry on his legacy. The usual premise is: Russian YouTuber on the street in Times Square or Venice Beach, asking the "locals" a series of questions.
The questions are inevitably Russian-focused. Like, "Can you name the first man in space?" or "What's the name of the largest lake on Planet Earth?". When the Americans answer "Lance Armstrong" and "Lake Superior", laughter ensues.
Another favorite rubric is "America is a decaying sh*t hole". For these, the Russian YouTubers descend on the projects, and film close up reels of every fentanyl junkie.
Finally - there is the classic - "Let's humiliate service industry workers". This involves displaying towering Russian intellect versus check out clerks at Walmart or Burger King.
I hate this sh*t, because I feel like it feeds people exactly the type of fuel they need to maintain their sense of superiority.
You could do the same "blitz interviews" in the Russian street, and form the same opinion that Russia is a country of retards. But for some reason, this is the content people adore and always beg for more of.
Like I said before, do you see us, or the Ukrainians, or any one else making YouTube hit-pieces which are then responded to with hundreds of nasty comments?
I'm throwing Russians under the bus here... but it's actually quite a popular genre on Russian YouTube too. And in general in Russian comedy.
We had a guy throughout the 90s and early 2000s, Mikhail Zadornov, that built a whole career around "American" jokes. All his jokes boiled down to, "Geez, are these Americans stupid or what?"
After Zadornov died, a whole army of Russian YouTubers decided to carry on his legacy. The usual premise is: Russian YouTuber on the street in Times Square or Venice Beach, asking the "locals" a series of questions.
The questions are inevitably Russian-focused. Like, "Can you name the first man in space?" or "What's the name of the largest lake on Planet Earth?". When the Americans answer "Lance Armstrong" and "Lake Superior", laughter ensues.
Another favorite rubric is "America is a decaying sh*t hole". For these, the Russian YouTubers descend on the projects, and film close up reels of every fentanyl junkie.
Finally - there is the classic - "Let's humiliate service industry workers". This involves displaying towering Russian intellect versus check out clerks at Walmart or Burger King.
I hate this sh*t, because I feel like it feeds people exactly the type of fuel they need to maintain their sense of superiority.
You could do the same "blitz interviews" in the Russian street, and form the same opinion that Russia is a country of retards. But for some reason, this is the content people adore and always beg for more of.
Bobko
28 Jun 2025
UK, Ireland / Polish YouTuber weirdos trash-talking the UK [200]
@Paulina
There's like three cakes in Russia.
Medovik (honey cake). Napoleon (kilogram of cream squished between wafers). Bird's Milk (soufflé cake made from mysterious substance called bird's milk).
@Paulina
There's like three cakes in Russia.
Medovik (honey cake). Napoleon (kilogram of cream squished between wafers). Bird's Milk (soufflé cake made from mysterious substance called bird's milk).
Bobko
28 Jun 2025
UK, Ireland / Polish YouTuber weirdos trash-talking the UK [200]
I laughed out loud at this! A 100% accurate description of my childhood Easters.
One could see, on the television, what American children were eating for Easter. Marshmallow ducks, chocolate eggs, gummy bunnies, and what have you.
My eggs, dyed in different shades of brown using boiled onion skins, were quite underwhelming in comparison. Actually not all were brown. The green ones had fate notes of dill, and the red ones of beets. Sometimes they smelled of kerosene. But all were... in the end, undeniably egg.
It wasn't just hard boiled eggs, however. We also got to eat a tall cylindrical cake called a kulich, which was so dry it absorbed atmospheric moisture. It contained about as much sugar as an eggplant.
Anyways, eating candy on Easter is for Imperialist Americans. In Russia, sugar is for funerals. Easter is for protein.
Hahaha!
I spat out my coffee!
Cadburys chocolate egg on Easter morning? Nope, 50 kinds of hardboiled eggs at 9am.
I laughed out loud at this! A 100% accurate description of my childhood Easters.
One could see, on the television, what American children were eating for Easter. Marshmallow ducks, chocolate eggs, gummy bunnies, and what have you.
My eggs, dyed in different shades of brown using boiled onion skins, were quite underwhelming in comparison. Actually not all were brown. The green ones had fate notes of dill, and the red ones of beets. Sometimes they smelled of kerosene. But all were... in the end, undeniably egg.
It wasn't just hard boiled eggs, however. We also got to eat a tall cylindrical cake called a kulich, which was so dry it absorbed atmospheric moisture. It contained about as much sugar as an eggplant.
Anyways, eating candy on Easter is for Imperialist Americans. In Russia, sugar is for funerals. Easter is for protein.
Our food is not for foreigners to love
Hahaha!
I spat out my coffee!
Bobko
27 Jun 2025
Off-Topic / PF members MEETUPS.....everyone welcome! [122]
Same, and then I got convinced by my coach at the local Dynamo range to enroll in some tournaments.
Climbing, because my friend and business partner introduced me to it. I'm nowhere near his level, but I can climb some 20-30 meter cliff outside the city (top rope, with all anchors already placed).
But diving, yeah, I love diving - no equivocations here. I don't need to dive something interesting. I don't need reefs, wrecks, or fancy fish. You can put me in a 45 meter deep former quarry - that got flooded - and I will happily dive there for a year.
I just like being underwater.
used to do a bit of skeet shooting and target shooting (7.62mm bolt-action hunting rifles) with my Dad
Same, and then I got convinced by my coach at the local Dynamo range to enroll in some tournaments.
Climbing, because my friend and business partner introduced me to it. I'm nowhere near his level, but I can climb some 20-30 meter cliff outside the city (top rope, with all anchors already placed).
But diving, yeah, I love diving - no equivocations here. I don't need to dive something interesting. I don't need reefs, wrecks, or fancy fish. You can put me in a 45 meter deep former quarry - that got flooded - and I will happily dive there for a year.
I just like being underwater.
Bobko
27 Jun 2025
Off-Topic / PF members MEETUPS.....everyone welcome! [122]
I created the only scuba thread on PF. This is my true love. I went pass recreational certificates into industrial and navigational ones just for fun.
Like Johnny, I love fish. I love being underwater - where there are no laptops, no cell phones, and most importantly no one talking.
scuba?
I created the only scuba thread on PF. This is my true love. I went pass recreational certificates into industrial and navigational ones just for fun.
Like Johnny, I love fish. I love being underwater - where there are no laptops, no cell phones, and most importantly no one talking.
Bobko
27 Jun 2025
Off-Topic / PF members MEETUPS.....everyone welcome! [122]
I do, sir.
I climb. I dive. I used to shoot competitively (skeet shooting).
I barbecue. I marinate.
I am your dream of Russia - embodied in flesh.
Ready to love - or ready to kill - at a moment's notice.
Do you lift weights?
I do, sir.
I climb. I dive. I used to shoot competitively (skeet shooting).
I barbecue. I marinate.
I am your dream of Russia - embodied in flesh.
Ready to love - or ready to kill - at a moment's notice.
Bobko
27 Jun 2025
Off-Topic / PF members MEETUPS.....everyone welcome! [122]
@Torq
Think about how unusual it is, that we found ourselves on this obscure forum - with a vanishingly small membership - and we still split almost perfectly down the middle in our views. In everything.
This is something for scientists to study.
People want to argue. They want to talk.
@Torq
Think about how unusual it is, that we found ourselves on this obscure forum - with a vanishingly small membership - and we still split almost perfectly down the middle in our views. In everything.
This is something for scientists to study.
People want to argue. They want to talk.
Bobko
27 Jun 2025
Off-Topic / PF members MEETUPS.....everyone welcome! [122]
It always makes me laugh, how many competing alliances we have within this tiny microcosm.
Homo Sapiens are incurable.
You forgot BB, PAK, and Poloniusz...There are more but these three stand out...
It always makes me laugh, how many competing alliances we have within this tiny microcosm.
Homo Sapiens are incurable.
Bobko
25 Jun 2025
News / The Iran war and Poland [826]
Moving HEU is not as easy as it sounds, based on what I've read from papers in recent days.
It's not as highly radioactive compared to other nuclear materials, but still poses a high risk.
It can literally explode like an ersatz nuclear bomb, in what's known as a "criticality" accident. That will kill anyone that is near, and contaminate the area.
Maybe it's possible to move it on 24 hours notice, but it seems like it's hard.
suggests it's more than likely the enriched uranium was moved beforehand.
Moving HEU is not as easy as it sounds, based on what I've read from papers in recent days.
It's not as highly radioactive compared to other nuclear materials, but still poses a high risk.
It can literally explode like an ersatz nuclear bomb, in what's known as a "criticality" accident. That will kill anyone that is near, and contaminate the area.
Maybe it's possible to move it on 24 hours notice, but it seems like it's hard.
Bobko
25 Jun 2025
UK, Ireland / BBC launches new Polish language news service [87]
My favorite form of drinking.
Am enjoying some fine bourbon, right this very moment, from AntV's home state. In utter solitude.
It's not about sadness, or drama. It's about ownership. You pour exactly what you want, exactly how you want it. No one judges your ice-to-whiskey ratio (zero). No one steals your olives. No one tries to turn the music up "just a little."
You can toast to absolutely nothing. Or everything.
You can sit in your kitchen in your underwear and listen to some obscure jazz or Soviet wartime marches or German industrial metal - whatever you, in that moment, feel like. You're not performing. You're not managing anyone else's vibe. It's just you and the glass, having a delightful conversation.
Drinking alone is a sure sign of alcoholism and one wants to avoid that.
My favorite form of drinking.
Am enjoying some fine bourbon, right this very moment, from AntV's home state. In utter solitude.
It's not about sadness, or drama. It's about ownership. You pour exactly what you want, exactly how you want it. No one judges your ice-to-whiskey ratio (zero). No one steals your olives. No one tries to turn the music up "just a little."
You can toast to absolutely nothing. Or everything.
You can sit in your kitchen in your underwear and listen to some obscure jazz or Soviet wartime marches or German industrial metal - whatever you, in that moment, feel like. You're not performing. You're not managing anyone else's vibe. It's just you and the glass, having a delightful conversation.
Bobko
25 Jun 2025
Bobko
25 Jun 2025
News / The Iran war and Poland [826]
To use an astronomical analogy - I think we are like a binary asteroid.
Two bodies that orbit each other closely, when all other conditions are stable, but then suddenly have very volatile and collision-liable trajectories as soon as they pass a third body - which had exerted a momentary gravitational pull.
Fine, have it your way.
Are you quickly becoming my twin?
To use an astronomical analogy - I think we are like a binary asteroid.
Two bodies that orbit each other closely, when all other conditions are stable, but then suddenly have very volatile and collision-liable trajectories as soon as they pass a third body - which had exerted a momentary gravitational pull.
But...that's not how it is, so it ain't so simple.
Fine, have it your way.
Bobko
25 Jun 2025
News / The Iran war and Poland [826]
The lady doth protest too much, methinks.
Oh... sooo complicated. Sooo complex. So arcane and Byzantine in its internal structures... that we shouldn't even bother.
Come on AntV...
Occupation is occupation. Forced resettlement is forced resettlement. Expropriation is expropriation. Murder is murder. Theft is theft.
Nuance is important, and impartiality, but here I feel you are trying to make something that is pretty straightforward into something more complex than it is.
indeed all of israeli/Palestinian milieu is so complex that a cursory view will not merely mislead but misrepresent. Hell, the way one area is ran is different in other areas.
The lady doth protest too much, methinks.
Oh... sooo complicated. Sooo complex. So arcane and Byzantine in its internal structures... that we shouldn't even bother.
Come on AntV...
Occupation is occupation. Forced resettlement is forced resettlement. Expropriation is expropriation. Murder is murder. Theft is theft.
Nuance is important, and impartiality, but here I feel you are trying to make something that is pretty straightforward into something more complex than it is.
Bobko
25 Jun 2025
Po polsku / Koniec Tuska [17]
Dlaczego nie chcesz omawiać takich tematów po angielsku? Myślę, że inni czytelnicy również byliby zainteresowani tym, jak ewoluowały poglądy Torqa.
Ale jeszcze w żadnym, kurwa, kraju na świecie nie zdarzyło się żeby opozycja przekręciła wybory.
Dlaczego nie chcesz omawiać takich tematów po angielsku? Myślę, że inni czytelnicy również byliby zainteresowani tym, jak ewoluowały poglądy Torqa.
Bobko
25 Jun 2025
News / The Iran war and Poland [826]
This leaves me with very conflicted feelings, hehehe.
On the one hand - I'm sorry our boy Iran got run over by a truck...
On the other hand... this pipeline business is just so freaking important. We've been chasing the Chinese for the better part of ten years, begging them to sign this contract. They've been wrinkling their nose, and furrowing their eyebrows, and making all sorts of ridiculous demands. They basically wanted the gas for free.
When we had Europe, we managed to negotiate the Power of Siberia pipeline - albeit on pretty ****** terms. When we lost our main customer, China really had us between a rock and a hard place. And now... how the tables have turned!
Too bad it's gonna take like 5 years to bring this pipe online. But once it gets going, it won't shut down for the better part of a century.
Supposedly China has some internal rule where they don't want more than 20% of their energy supplies coming from a single source. They're gonna have to amend that, and become like the Germans - sitting tightly on Russia's oil needle.
--///--
Maybe I should put this in the stock trading thread... but I have a near 100% confidence level in that Russia's European pipelines will be restarted.
It may take a very long time before it reaches the 150-200 billion cubic meters we used to supply annually, but it should rise to 50-75 bcm pretty quickly. This should act as additional pressure on China.
First, I think supplies through the southern corridor will increase. Then the Ukrainian pipeline will be relaunched (to help meet their budget needs, and as a "soft" form of reparations from Russia). The finally stage would be the relaunching of the Nord Stream pipes 1 and 2.
WSJ is reporting that an effect of the Iranian situation, China is now thinking about restarting negotiations with Russia about a pipeline.
This leaves me with very conflicted feelings, hehehe.
On the one hand - I'm sorry our boy Iran got run over by a truck...
On the other hand... this pipeline business is just so freaking important. We've been chasing the Chinese for the better part of ten years, begging them to sign this contract. They've been wrinkling their nose, and furrowing their eyebrows, and making all sorts of ridiculous demands. They basically wanted the gas for free.
When we had Europe, we managed to negotiate the Power of Siberia pipeline - albeit on pretty ****** terms. When we lost our main customer, China really had us between a rock and a hard place. And now... how the tables have turned!
Too bad it's gonna take like 5 years to bring this pipe online. But once it gets going, it won't shut down for the better part of a century.
Supposedly China has some internal rule where they don't want more than 20% of their energy supplies coming from a single source. They're gonna have to amend that, and become like the Germans - sitting tightly on Russia's oil needle.
--///--
Maybe I should put this in the stock trading thread... but I have a near 100% confidence level in that Russia's European pipelines will be restarted.
It may take a very long time before it reaches the 150-200 billion cubic meters we used to supply annually, but it should rise to 50-75 bcm pretty quickly. This should act as additional pressure on China.
First, I think supplies through the southern corridor will increase. Then the Ukrainian pipeline will be relaunched (to help meet their budget needs, and as a "soft" form of reparations from Russia). The finally stage would be the relaunching of the Nord Stream pipes 1 and 2.
Bobko
24 Jun 2025
News / The Iran war and Poland [826]
F*ck them.
We didn't get anything from them.
Everything we got, was from the Greeks in Constantinople.
Italians are the heirs of the Romans
F*ck them.
We didn't get anything from them.
Everything we got, was from the Greeks in Constantinople.
Bobko
24 Jun 2025
News / The Iran war and Poland [826]
Do you not see the answer - here?
We are one people. One leader. One empire.
ONE THOUSAND YEARS OF SLAVIC POWER!
Edit: I'm sorry, I had to.
Are you sure you're not copying these points from Młodzież Wszechpolska website?
Do you not see the answer - here?
We are one people. One leader. One empire.
ONE THOUSAND YEARS OF SLAVIC POWER!
Edit: I'm sorry, I had to.
Bobko
24 Jun 2025
Bobko
24 Jun 2025
Genealogy / Russian POW Camp records [71]
Not strange... but nearly impossible.
Something does not add up.
All sorts of people, during that period, had strange biographies - and this is one of them.
Strange history...
Not strange... but nearly impossible.
Something does not add up.
All sorts of people, during that period, had strange biographies - and this is one of them.
Bobko
24 Jun 2025
News / The Iran war and Poland [826]
1) Christ as King
2) Russia First - meaning immigrants, and everyone else has to get in line first
3) Peace through strength - we have been abused and taken advantage of. From now on, we shoot first, ask questions later.
4) Death to GloboHomo. No public displays of affection by homosexuals, zero visibility for transgenders, zero propaganda of tolerance in schools, zero understanding for their pain.
5) Destruction of any supranational entities that try to control people. EU. UN. WTO. NATO. Everything else. National will - SUPREME.
What is it?
1) Christ as King
2) Russia First - meaning immigrants, and everyone else has to get in line first
3) Peace through strength - we have been abused and taken advantage of. From now on, we shoot first, ask questions later.
4) Death to GloboHomo. No public displays of affection by homosexuals, zero visibility for transgenders, zero propaganda of tolerance in schools, zero understanding for their pain.
5) Destruction of any supranational entities that try to control people. EU. UN. WTO. NATO. Everything else. National will - SUPREME.
Bobko
24 Jun 2025
Off-Topic / What is a woman? [764]
Seriously - like an Achilles or a Pericles - a demigod.
This man I would follow... to the end of the Earth. He can command - and I will obey.
Never heard you, but I bet you'd be surprised how Polish you still sound.
We are all in agreement that Arnold is a super human.
Seriously - like an Achilles or a Pericles - a demigod.
This man I would follow... to the end of the Earth. He can command - and I will obey.
What I don't understand is why after almost 60 years here he still sounds like a German soldier
Never heard you, but I bet you'd be surprised how Polish you still sound.
Bobko
24 Jun 2025
Off-Topic / What is a woman? [764]
He really is a f*cking American Hercules.
How can you not love this man?
Bobko seconds Bill Burr
He really is a f*cking American Hercules.
How can you not love this man?
Bobko
24 Jun 2025
News / The Iran war and Poland [826]
What?
America and Russia have been friends more often, and for longer, than they had been enemies.
America built up our industry. Henry Ford built Gaz, and General Electric built our power plants. John Deere mechanized our agriculture. 3M helped us develop our chemical industry.
America clothed us and provided Jeeps and Studebeckers for transport during the war.
In the 19th century, it mainted absolute neutrality during all of Russia's wars. We had a completely bloodless transfer of parts of Northern California, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska between each other.
America has cowboys. We have Cossacks. They have the West, and Manifest Destiny. We have the East, and the March to the Pacific.
Both countries are "larger than life". These expanses they define the national character, and is what makes Americans and Russians feel like they have so much to offer the world, as opposed to Belgians or Italians.
Only two countries have a vision for the whole world.
China is as rich as God, but still cannot formulate what it wants. You never have to ask Russia or America what they want. They'll provide you with a long list,
You were never friends.
What?
America and Russia have been friends more often, and for longer, than they had been enemies.
America built up our industry. Henry Ford built Gaz, and General Electric built our power plants. John Deere mechanized our agriculture. 3M helped us develop our chemical industry.
America clothed us and provided Jeeps and Studebeckers for transport during the war.
In the 19th century, it mainted absolute neutrality during all of Russia's wars. We had a completely bloodless transfer of parts of Northern California, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska between each other.
America has cowboys. We have Cossacks. They have the West, and Manifest Destiny. We have the East, and the March to the Pacific.
Both countries are "larger than life". These expanses they define the national character, and is what makes Americans and Russians feel like they have so much to offer the world, as opposed to Belgians or Italians.
Only two countries have a vision for the whole world.
China is as rich as God, but still cannot formulate what it wants. You never have to ask Russia or America what they want. They'll provide you with a long list,
Bobko
24 Jun 2025
Off-Topic / What is a woman? [764]
Nothing classified lol. Built a business. Ate a lot of glass, and slept on many beds of nails in the process.
It was this eating glass, my Soviet background, and my gratitude to America - that established the connection.
He struggled hard. Got beat regularly by his Nazi police dad, and called a shrimp by him. Bodybuilding was not as big in Europe as it was in America, so he also got a lot of **** for doing something "stupid". Came here to this country with no friends, no wife, and no family. Started from the bottom, and then earned everyone's respect.
He promised me that if I work like I have been, then one day I can have everything he has. Told me it's important to believe in myself and not give up. Which was exactly what I needed to hear at the time.
Coming from my idol, it was as good as God's command. And of course he turned out to be right - I just had to keep working.
Would you mind sharing some details of your life with me privately?
Nothing classified lol. Built a business. Ate a lot of glass, and slept on many beds of nails in the process.
It was this eating glass, my Soviet background, and my gratitude to America - that established the connection.
He struggled hard. Got beat regularly by his Nazi police dad, and called a shrimp by him. Bodybuilding was not as big in Europe as it was in America, so he also got a lot of **** for doing something "stupid". Came here to this country with no friends, no wife, and no family. Started from the bottom, and then earned everyone's respect.
He promised me that if I work like I have been, then one day I can have everything he has. Told me it's important to believe in myself and not give up. Which was exactly what I needed to hear at the time.
Coming from my idol, it was as good as God's command. And of course he turned out to be right - I just had to keep working.
Bobko
24 Jun 2025
News / The Iran war and Poland [826]
Not better trade deals. There is no trade to regulate.
He offered to lift all sanctions and inaugurate a new era of Russian-American friendship, mutually beneficial to both nations in the material sense.
That was the right message and the right tone.
Russians were tired of Obama's and Biden's lectures about how we should behave, without offering anything attractive in return.
Trump literally offered the ONE thing that actually moves the needle, and gives us ammunition here in Russia against the war hawks.
Now I know all of Ukraine and all of Europe wants to see Russia punished severely. Maybe it even deserves it. But do you have the stick requisite to punish us? No? Trump does - and Trump is offering us to be friends again.
Europe and Ukraine will have to quiet their bloodlust and desire for vengeance.
Trump trying to stop the war by offering russia better trade deals was just deeply embarrassing and stupid
Not better trade deals. There is no trade to regulate.
He offered to lift all sanctions and inaugurate a new era of Russian-American friendship, mutually beneficial to both nations in the material sense.
That was the right message and the right tone.
Russians were tired of Obama's and Biden's lectures about how we should behave, without offering anything attractive in return.
Trump literally offered the ONE thing that actually moves the needle, and gives us ammunition here in Russia against the war hawks.
Now I know all of Ukraine and all of Europe wants to see Russia punished severely. Maybe it even deserves it. But do you have the stick requisite to punish us? No? Trump does - and Trump is offering us to be friends again.
Europe and Ukraine will have to quiet their bloodlust and desire for vengeance.
Bobko
24 Jun 2025
Off-Topic / What is a woman? [764]
I met him at a friend's wedding.
My friend had worked on some boat that the Kennedy's had rented out, and sailed from San Diego down the Baja California coast. Arnie was there with his Kennedy wife.
The Kennedy's treated my friend and the crew like trash, and Arnie was the only one that treated them as human beings.
Years later, when my friend invited him to his wedding (I think they met once or twice in between), the dude actually responded and showed up.
I got full on "fan hysteria" when I met the guy. He's my f*cking idol. I love the guy - would die for him. "Pumping Iron", "Conan the Barbarian", "Predator", "Terminator" - this is my childhood. I was circling around all night, working up the courage.
When I spoke with him, he had that politician magic a where you feel like you are the only person in the room and he really is listening to you. I told him about my journey, and my work, and he was... just so incredibly kind.
His "attaboy", was worth like 50 megatons of other "attaboys" for me. The fact that Arnie thinks I'm doing good - that meant a lot.
Can you tell me how, where, and when?
I met him at a friend's wedding.
My friend had worked on some boat that the Kennedy's had rented out, and sailed from San Diego down the Baja California coast. Arnie was there with his Kennedy wife.
The Kennedy's treated my friend and the crew like trash, and Arnie was the only one that treated them as human beings.
Years later, when my friend invited him to his wedding (I think they met once or twice in between), the dude actually responded and showed up.
I got full on "fan hysteria" when I met the guy. He's my f*cking idol. I love the guy - would die for him. "Pumping Iron", "Conan the Barbarian", "Predator", "Terminator" - this is my childhood. I was circling around all night, working up the courage.
When I spoke with him, he had that politician magic a where you feel like you are the only person in the room and he really is listening to you. I told him about my journey, and my work, and he was... just so incredibly kind.
His "attaboy", was worth like 50 megatons of other "attaboys" for me. The fact that Arnie thinks I'm doing good - that meant a lot.