History / Modern myths and legends about communist past in Poland [250]


To be fair, the Berlin Wall made it possible to convict him and others for homicide. If the Berlin Wall had not existed, it probably would have been much for diffficult to charge him and others with anything substantial. Election fraud maybe and some other offenses, but nothing to put them behind bars for years. The judges were extraordinarily lenient (and in many cases too lenient) in their judgements. Though we had some smart prosecutors who went to great lengths to assure that justice was done. Stasi-chief Miehlke was e.g. convicted for the murder of two police officers he commited in 1933. It also helped that we had with West Germany an outside actor that was not complicit in the GDR regime and thus could push for their prosecution. Just like Germany could not have held the Nuremberg trials in 1945, it would not have been possible to convict Krenz and others solely by East Germans.

Poland on the other hand was still the same country, and even excluding other considerations, it is easy to see why the leading communists were not prosecuted.

News / PiS and Russian political/economic interests [70]


The EU took nothing. Poland willingly gave part of its' sovereignity in order to join it. The promised benefits were far from vague either. Economic prosperity and the political cloud that comes with being part of the EU. Both of which the EU fulfilled.


That would have been much slower, and led to economic relations that are not nearly as deep as they are now. Poland wouldn't have nearly developed as good as it did without the prospect of EU membership, and that leaves out the political benefit it was after.


The question rather, since when does Poland have issues with Russia? Poland views Russia as its' main geopolitical threat and thus seeks to be as much protected from it as it can be. PiS actions however contradict this goal.

You seem to be lacking a lot of insight into Poland, if you are not even aware of Poland's concern regarding Russia.

News / PiS and Russian political/economic interests [70]

It is easy to be for something if you don't have to suffer the consequences.

News / PiS and Russian political/economic interests [70]

What they write makes perfect sense. Poland's security depends on its' integration into the Western world, which rests on the two pillars Nato and EU. Weakening it has been one major Russian goal in order to increase Russian influencr in Eastern Europe. By underminig the EU, PiS is acting for the Kremlin.

News / Poland's LBGT Seen as Dangerous Foreign Idea. [39]


Because sex is all about reproduction nowadays.... .

News / Poland's LBGT Seen as Dangerous Foreign Idea. [39]


Established by whom? By you and demented bigots like Rich Mazur? There is no reason why sex between two male or two female partners should be considered "perverted" by any rational individual.

There seems to be a silver lining in Poland though. The attitude towards LBGT people is changing. We might see some drastic changes over the next 20 years. Once the public attitude has shifted, legal changes are next.

npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/06/25/417446107/for-polands-gay-community-a-shift-in-public-attitudes-if-not-laws?t=1564644512621&t=1564743836636&t=1565553632020

News / Poland's LBGT Seen as Dangerous Foreign Idea. [39]


What is so perverted about what LBGT do to each other compared to what a hetero couple is capable to? It is not like hetero couples never practice b*tt sex if they are so inclined.

News / Poland's LBGT Seen as Dangerous Foreign Idea. [39]

Treating your own people with dignity is seen "as a dangerous foreign idea by some"?

Off-Topic / DALMATIA - How much Poles love Dalmatia ? [123]

Croatia is in fact older than Serbia by at least half a century.

News / Years of Poland in the EU - assessment of pros and cons [1199]


No, because the German government pledged earlier than any other country that it would help to fill the hole in the budget left by Brexit. Poland however did no such thing.

News / Years of Poland in the EU - assessment of pros and cons [1199]


Well, the Polish politicians who negotiated the last budget were. If the rumors are true, then the amount of money allocated for Poland will be reduced significantly, thanka to the PiS politicians.

News / Scandals, conflicts, tensions, arguments - real life examples from Poland [543]


Again with this nonsense. Germany spends more than 200bn on education. The amount you are refering to is the federal budget, which is only a fraction of the expenses. The German schools and universities are all funded by the federal counties.

Here are the (outdated) numbers from 2014.


eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-policies/eurydice/content/funding-education-31_en

If you have any ability to proceed information, you will now stop using this silly argument.

News / Scandals, conflicts, tensions, arguments - real life examples from Poland [543]


It is, another important measure is the wealth of its citizen, and thus their ability to finance their later retirement costs, which is as pointed out another thing that is lacking in Poland.

For now perhaps, which is to be expected given the language barriers and lack qualifaction, but more and more refugees are getting integrated into the labor market.

independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/germany-refugee-intake-boost-economy-ageing-population-unemployment-a8901161.html


A small amount of money relatively speaking. Germany spends close to 1tn€ on its' welfare state and the way the money is distributed it benefits the German economy, basically a mini-stimulus.


Something every government has to deal with time to time. In the case of Germany, it is a very small one, and won't lead to the country taking on additional debt (something that Poland is doing).

News / Scandals, conflicts, tensions, arguments - real life examples from Poland [543]


The US perhaps, but Germany very much can afford it. In fact Germany's debt per GDP has been decreasing during the last few years.


There are only a few that will suffer worse, none of which are in Western Europe.

qz.com/1187819/country-ranking-worlds-fastest-shrinking-countries-are-in-eastern-europe/


In some way perhaps, but it also means more old people, thus higher costs for the health system and fewer peoplw to support it. It is also bad news that have low unemployment figures like Poland to begin with.

News / Scandals, conflicts, tensions, arguments - real life examples from Poland [543]


True, Poland is not really like those countries. Poland's economy is not yet as advanced, and its' population has not yet individually acquired the same wealth as the Westerners. Meanwhile Poland is one of the countries that will be affected the most by the looming demographic decline, so social spending that is unaffordable in the long run is hardly a good idea.

History / Polish treasures in Sweden? [18]

Kind of difficult to solve this anyway when one of these conflicts was basically a conflict between a Polish king claiming the crown of Sweden vs another foreign claimant.

Most of the looted treasures belonged to Polish aristocrats, and most decidely not to the Polish state (the Polish aristocrats were insistent on this).

News / PiS candidates are losing positions in EU Parliament. Will they keep power in Poland? [358]

The UK is a special case because the looming Brexit has decreased migration from other EU countries as well, and because it received a large amount of Polish migrants to begin with, who now often return to live their retirement in Poland.

That does not change the fact Polish people are migrating to Germany and other Western European countries.

News / PiS candidates are losing positions in EU Parliament. Will they keep power in Poland? [358]

@Ziemowit


Me too.


Of course he does not. The statistics show a clear net migratiom from Poland to Germamy in 2018 and the years before that.

News / PiS candidates are losing positions in EU Parliament. Will they keep power in Poland? [358]


I obviously have not read it, but does he take the looming demographic crisis in Poland into account? Poland will be among the worst affected in Europe.

News / PiS candidates are losing positions in EU Parliament. Will they keep power in Poland? [358]

The UK (together with Germany) succesfully pushed for the Eastern Enlargement of the EU. Furthermore they also prevented a closer military integration, hence it might supercede Nato. The day they left they paved the way for Pesco and other initiatives.

News / PiS candidates are losing positions in EU Parliament. Will they keep power in Poland? [358]


If you looked at facts and numbers, you would know that one country alone does not rule the EU. The EU is specifically designed to prevent this.


They never even tried it . The EU works through partnership and alliances, and the UK never tried to get others on board for their desire to change the EU, or to at least get a better deal for themselves.

News / PiS candidates are losing positions in EU Parliament. Will they keep power in Poland? [358]

Case in point each time some eurosceptic politicians take power in Poland, they are forced to suck up to the American president to an unbelievable degree.

They followed the USA into an illegal Iraq war and now try to appeal to his ego by naming a military base after him. Is this really the future you want for Poland. Being dependent on the whims of his distant ally, under a status that is closer to a protectorate? Being dependent on a power that will shift ots' attention more and more towards Asia and China?

News / PiS candidates are losing positions in EU Parliament. Will they keep power in Poland? [358]


You aware that all EU institutions are designed in favour of the smaller countries right? Germany gets 1 MEP per 860k citizen, Poland gets one per 730k citizen. Even the qualified majority voting favours smaller countries, because not only do you need the countries with a majority of the population, you also need the majority of countries in total. So the 12 smallest countries can defeat any majority vote, even though they account for significantly less than half of the EU population.

News / Years of Poland in the EU - assessment of pros and cons [1199]


Better to be stuck with some of them, instead of all of them.

Your ignorance is indeed funny. The Greeks, Poles and Italians could vote for Juncker during the last European election, where it was clear that the parties affiliated to him would make him head of the EU commission. A decision that was also acknowledged by the elected governments of the EU countries.


Wrong again. The Greeks were in support of EU membership even at the height of the Euro crisis, because they appreciated its' advantagtes. As do the Poles, or else they would not also be so supportive.

Only someone who has such a warped and ignorant (there is really no other word for your evident lack of knowledge here) perception of the EU as you do could think that the EU is not a massive advantage for Poland.

News / Years of Poland in the EU - assessment of pros and cons [1199]


Wrong again. Especially Greece and Italy benefitted massively from the decision to suspend Dublin, because before that they were stuck with the refugees (though Italy not longer really adhered to Dublin by 2014 and send them North anyway). It was the plight of those Southern European countries that motivated Merkel's decision, and especially Greece has been vocally thankful for it.


As befitting to the most populous and wealthiest country of the EU. But it does in no way dominate it, that is not possible the way the EU is structured. Instead Germany's perceived power in the last decade was down to its' succesful economy and Merkel's adapt diplomacy.


The European parliament is a very good example on how the smaller countries receive preferential treatment in the EU. How many MEP does i.e. Germany have per citizen compared to i.e Cyprus?


Wow, you really have no idea what you are talking about here.... . Your ignorance is staggering. Germany eased some conditions for Polish workers in the 90s as preparation for its' EU ascension, but even after its' ascension until 2011, there were still some restrictions in place. Free moevement as we have today would have been unthinkeable, especially for Polish truck drivers.

News / Years of Poland in the EU - assessment of pros and cons [1199]


Only Italy a net contributor to the budget, the other countries do in fact receive more money than they pay, which invalidates your point. And with Italy, it is not the EUs fault that the Italians elected as their longest-serving PM after WWII a man who spent more time in court battling corruption and sex-scandal cases than governing the country. Not to mention the current freakshow that has been actively sabotaging Italy's economic recovery i.e. by picking a senseless fight with Italy's most important trading partner, France.


Because it is true. Poland has the same access to the German market than i.e. France, despite being in a much weaker position. The EU allocates more power to the smaller countries than they would usually have. Sure the bigger countries are still more influential, but less than they would be in any other international body.


By "everybody" you mean everybody who has no idea about how the EU works (which as you have repeatedly proven, includes you).


Very restricted which severely limited its' trade with Germany, and by extension with the rest of the EU. Polish truck drivers can now pass freely through Germany and reach destinations across Europe, which would have been unthinkeable before.

News / Years of Poland in the EU - assessment of pros and cons [1199]


This is false. The EU caused none of the underlying problems those countries suffered from. In fact it is thanks to the pressure from the EU that some of their structural problems are (at least partly) being adressed, i.e. Greece has been forced to combat corruption, tax evasion and general inefficiency.


The trade between Poland and its' neighbours has increased and is now interconnected to such a degree that would be unthinkeable without the EU. There are few countries that depend on that so much as Poland does. Poland benefits very strongly from a core principle of the EU, which means that all countries are treated equally and get the same deals, no matter how poor or wealthy they are. This is why i.e. countries like France find it difficult to protect their economy against cheap conepetition from Poland (the EU is the main reason why France has so far not implemented any protective laws against Polish competition). This is also why Poland gets access to larger economoes like Germany to favourable conditions, and to non-EU countries like China (who are even more agreeable because they want to influence the EU via the Silk road and other projects).

The EU adds wealth and influence to Poland, that much is ubdeniable.

Life / Child abuse in Poland [64]

The authorities have not only failed the children, they have also failed every decent priest who has to deal with a lot of (in the individual's case) unearned hostility and scrutiny. There are many clerics who use their free-time to help unpriviliged children, by organizing group activities and other events. And they must now live with an everlasting suspicion.

News / Petition for War Crimes Reparations for Poland [126]

And the Greeks remember this. Which is why even at the height of the Euro crisis, a majority of them wanted to keep the Euro.


The other EU leaders can't be held responsible for this. Remember before the Euro crisis, there were little to no instruments in place to control the Euro countries, as most countries vehemently resisted against this.

News / Petition for War Crimes Reparations for Poland [126]


Who interestingly enough probably saved more human lifes with his most famous invention than any other inventor in history. Not that this was his priority of course.

That being said, this thread highlights why it is a mistake to bring up reparation issue again. All it does is stir up old divisions on both sides, with some people being more influenced by it than others. And all of this just so that a certain party gets a few percentage more in the next elections (after which the issue will disappear again for a few more years until the next election).