History / What do Poles owe to Germans? [451]

Invasion, Rich??

Think of the countries in the world "invaded" by rough-hewn US expats.
throwing their weight around and expecting to be treated like royaly,
in Mexico, for example. Ever heard of the Ugly American?!

History / What do Poles owe to Germans? [451]

To which nation(s) are you referring, furthermore,
kindly prove that the proverbial rough slap in the face
actually solves the long term problems you're trying to solve.
"Shock treatments"?? Give me a break.

Germany needs the AfD about as much as the the US needs Trump
or the (Bitter) Tea Party of acrimony and out of control mean spiritedness!

News / Reactions in Poland to Alexei Navalny's death [128]

Ethnocide would only apply to the genocide of another race,
although perhaps I'm splitting hairs here.

Nonetheless, the analogies with Hitler beggar comparison;
Putin seeks only the (re-)acquisition of Ukrainian territory
rather than world domination.

News / Reactions in Poland to Alexei Navalny's death [128]

@jon,
The consideration here is that Putin would ideally like to "Russify" the Ukrainians,
to bring them into line with Russian requirements! Hitler had no such desires as
it came to the Jews. They were simply to be eradicated and their indigenous culture
rooted out, destroyed root and branch. Even the ultra-assimilated were felt
unworthy of being considered truly "German". Only with certain Mischlinge or so-called
"half breeds" was some small degree of latitude granted, and even so, not always willingly.

News / Reactions in Poland to Alexei Navalny's death [128]

Aha, correct jon! But Putin doesn't believe there's a separate Ukrainian identity,
Hitler believed with all his heart and soul that there WAS a separate Jewish identity
which he and his cohorts deemed was completely and unutterably incompatible with
"German", read "Aryan" identity!!

Putin couldn't care less about such rubbish; he be believes that Ukrainians and Russians
are (Slavic) blood brothers, who share the same language, the same spirit, the same dreams.

How different from Hitler can you get!

History / What do Poles owe to Germans? [451]

@Rich, I don't see your point here.

News / Reactions in Poland to Alexei Navalny's death [128]

@jon & Mafketis, yet by doing so, he'd be destroying his very own, as Ukrainains,
like Russians, are of course fellow Slavs, barely indistinguishable from another
both physically as well as religiously, save for the differences in their mother tongue!

Hitler's war against the Jews was that of a people completely different in appearance, by
in large, religious conviction, even historical language, don't forget, all Jews originated
in the shtettl prior to moving to the towns, and their first language was YIDDISH, not German,
Polish or Russian.

The analogy is again, convenient, but hardly accurate.

News / Reactions in Poland to Alexei Navalny's death [128]

Good show there, Rich! Your pride is much appreciated.
:-)

History / What do Poles owe to Germans? [451]

Tusk and von der Leyen. What a tender scene LOL

News / Reactions in Poland to Alexei Navalny's death [128]

NO, Alien!!! Putin is NOT like Hitler.
Always so easy to label every evil doer (and Putin certainly is one) with that ultimate old catch all.
However, if one examines Putin's agenda, his goal is simply territorial rather than biological or even
ideological.

Putin isn't prepared to somehow ban the Ukrainian language or culture, methodicially exterminate its population.
Instead, he desires to incorporate Ukraine into "Russian" territory using whatever expedient which he deems
necessary. True, as with any dictator, the end justify the means. The ends though of Putin differ radically from those
of Hitler as do the means, as I indicated above.

Be wary of wild assertions merely to draw attention to an extreme situation; it's poor history.

News / Reactions in Poland to Alexei Navalny's death [128]

So they say. Yet it is said that the biographies of many a famous figure contain
merely a kernel of truth, the rest is bilge.

News / Reactions in Poland to Alexei Navalny's death [128]

Che was a different kettle of fish ("eine voellig andere Kiste")!
Neruda's family name was actually borrowed from the name of the equally famous Czech
poet Jan Neruda. I honestly forget the Chilean poet's actual last name, but he was apparently
as political as he was poetic:-)

@Bobko, if you mean that Navalny was something untranslatable Russian in melos as well as significance,
you might well be right. Certain figure simply can't be adequately understood or appreciated out of their cultural
or historical context.

News / Reactions in Poland to Alexei Navalny's death [128]

??? You've never head of the late, great Chilean poet, the man who inspired the film "Il Postino" (1995)?

News / Reactions in Poland to Alexei Navalny's death [128]

The Kremlin has never been known for her transparency, folks!
We may assume that Navalny really is dead. However, the manner
of death might never truly be known.

Just heard today that after ever so many years, Pablo Neruda's death by natural
causes might actually have been due to poisoning.

History / 70th anniversary of 1943 Wołyń/Volhynia and Eastern Galicia Massacre - controvercies [440]

You got that right, Maf! Same with nearly all the Ivys.

News / Reactions in Poland to Alexei Navalny's death [128]

An appeal to much needed, certainly admirable, Slavic solidarity.
Thanks, Paw!

History / 70th anniversary of 1943 Wołyń/Volhynia and Eastern Galicia Massacre - controvercies [440]

Doesn't say much about Harvard.
Anyhow, "higher ed."s been a running joke for the last forty years since the advent of Reagan.
Listen for example to an old interview from 1960 with the great director John Huston,
having, if he was lucky, a solid grammar school education vs. the last interview with college educated Dennis Hopper
from the mid-'90's.

The latter's enough to make you puke!

News / Reactions in Poland to Alexei Navalny's death [128]

To be sure a threat to no one and nobody other than to Czar Vladimir I!
Again I ask, is Navalny actually dead? Heck, it sure makes great publicity.

Ck. out that dude right here in the good ol' US of A, missing for umpteen years,
presumed, indeed eventually declared dead, turns up working as some short order
cook in Dallas or some such place.

Straight outta "1984", where truth are lies and freedom is captivity.

History / 70th anniversary of 1943 Wołyń/Volhynia and Eastern Galicia Massacre - controvercies [440]

Undoubtedly your interlocutor was a victim of the US public school system in Middle America.
Then again, the American history knowledge of urban highschoolers in New York is frightening!

History / 70th anniversary of 1943 Wołyń/Volhynia and Eastern Galicia Massacre - controvercies [440]

By what Simpsonesque standard do you measure the adequacy of a language, Rich?

Love / Valentines Day & Polish men [130]

He-he!
Silly gifts may well be culturally imbued and don't translate cross-culturally.

Love / Valentines Day & Polish men [130]

Yes and no.

Traditionally, men would give their wives gifts, either to make up for something they
felt they ought to have done, or, simply to give them a present, chocolates, stuffed animals,
clothing articles etc.

When we were first married, I gave my wife a perfume set, flowers and a stuffed hippo.
She thanked me for the hippo LOL

We've been happily married now for twenty-five years!

Love / Valentines Day & Polish men [130]

The feminists ruined a great deal, Rich, no argument with you on that score.
And yet, there'll always be Valentine's Day, Walentynki, call it what you wish, thank heaven!!

Love / Valentines Day & Polish men [130]

Actually, I agree with you, Rich. However, I think for completely different reasons.
EVERY day should be Valentine's Day in a happy marriage!

Love / Valentines Day & Polish men [130]

Thanks, sorry about the typo!
That's interesting because I know in certain countries, the custom of
Saint Valentine's Day is connected with older Christian practices.

The man giving chocolates to his beloved is though relatively recent,
I've read.

Perhaps the practice is simply not as common in Poland.

Love / Valentines Day & Polish men [130]

A Polish male acquaintance recently told me that "Walentynka" in Poland
is celebrated quite a bit differently from in Polish-American communities here
in the States.

How is it different?

Off-Topic / AfD Party is growing ever more powerful throughout country [46]

"Stupid" because it makes sense??

It's your right as a US citizen (if not a national) to be and act like a moron. No skin off my nose.
We protect idiots. If we didn't, there'd be precious few people living in the United States LOL

Law / Rejecting Inheritance [44]

Yes, you're right about that, Rich.

Off-Topic / AfD Party is growing ever more powerful throughout country [46]

Impossible to get through to you, Rich.
Ignorance though is indeed a personal right protected by our Constitution....unfortunately.
GOD BLESS AMERICA!