Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]


In fairness, that only applies to England, not the rest of the nations. What England is doing is astonishing to me, as it looks like they're effectively relying on private organisations to deliver almost all public services. What you say about them dismantling the nation state is very very true, and it's one reason why the Scottish Parliament won't accept England taking control of things that should be under Scottish jurisdiction.

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]


bbc.com/news/uk-43628494

Not quite true. Interestingly, look at this -
metro.co.uk/2018/05/12/londons-murder-rate-lower-usas-50-largest-cities-7540000


It does. The data from London was based on a very narrow sample. If guns were legal in the UK, that murder rate would most definitely be considerably higher given the mentality in some areas towards life.

But in all fairness, you can't really compare the two. The USA has social problems that the UK (and Europe as a whole) doesn't have, and it's not fair to point solely at guns being the reason.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_death_rate
- this is quite an interesting way of looking at it, but why is Puerto Rico so violent?

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]


The only joke is you, because if you actually knew a thing about Poland, you'd know that 5 injured and 1 dead is nothing compared to the death toll on Polish roads so far in May.

What keeps us safe is a strong immigration policy designed to keep gun lovers out of Europe, not guns themselves.

Life / The Art of Complaining by Polish people [47]

It's called "he read an article on strange Polish sayings and translated it using Google Translate".

News / Roma community feels discriminated in Poland [40]

There's a blueprint with the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, and I think you're right, it's certainly a good idea and should be expanded.

Law / Wish to start an Indian Store in Poland [34]

One trick that works with Indian restaurants here - if it's owned by a real Indian, they're often willing to do something off-menu if they can do it.

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1538]


He has no connection to Poland, and the strange use of language points at him being a graduate of English in a non-English speaking country. The way that he spreads easily disproven myths about Poland rather says it all.

News / Roma community feels discriminated in Poland [40]


There's quite a few notorious ones, but this is the worst one, possibly in the whole of Europe google.com/maps/@48.696278,21.2211864,3a,75y,5.28h,92.54t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sV5qlVTOJvFhU_v3_hY7gRQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656[/url] - it's Lunik IX in Kosice. I've been nearby (but not into it) and I couldn't believe how bad it looked from a distance.

There's another bad slum here in Usti nad Labem - google.com/maps/@50.6554091,13.9981381,3a,75y,101.41h,91.43t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sgfsN-Xwp6mePaEbprTVfuw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656[/url]

I wish I had answers to this, but as the Slovaks pointed out, they've been trying since 1945 to solve the problem and they don't have any answers, so there's definitely no way that Western Europeans will have better ones. Interestingly enough, I've been to other places in Eastern Slovakia, and in a town called Svidnik, the town is very mixed - there are Slovaks, Ruthenians / Rusyns and Roma all living side by side, and they don't have large social problems and the Roma there seem to be very well integrated.


I think there might be some truth to it, sad as it is.

News / Roma community feels discriminated in Poland [40]

I think the Polish Roma are culturally a bit different to the Czecho-Slovak ones though? It would explain why they had no problems with pimping out their own (or at least, pimping out Roma from poorer places than the Czech Republic - I don't think their origin was established, only that they were visibly Roma) - whereas in Poland, it would be a huge no-no.


I've read in a few places that the Polish Roma mostly well integrated with the exception of the school system (there's a lot of discrimination towards them if they can't speak Polish when they start school), but the problems are more with the very poor Romanian Roma that have no means of supporting themselves in Poland. There was a situation in Wrocław a few years ago with Romanian Roma who were living in a shanty town, but from what I know, the Polish Roma essentially ignored them and wanted nothing to do with them.

Are there any Polish Roma ghettos like the horror of Lunik IX in Kosice or Predlice in Usti nad Labem?

News / Roma community feels discriminated in Poland [40]

They were essentially being used as sources of income by the community, it seems. That's why it was so effective to get through to the male leaders, because they had both the ability to stop the exploitation of women, but also the ability to physically put a stop to the German sex tourists turning up in their area.

Apparently it worked because the male leaders in the area saw the benefit from stopping sex tourism and encouraging the Czech state to subsidise them instead, but it wouldn't work everywhere.

News / Roma community feels discriminated in Poland [40]


Yes, weren't they also the biggest victims in terms of percentage killed?


That could also have worked, especially if they had Russian administrators to ensure that the state functioned. They could implement Roma in administrative positions over time, similar to what happened in Kosovo. The question is how they would function post-dissolution of the USSR, but again, with the Russian military there to help, maybe they could have had a functioning state. I think though, realistically, expecting them to have anything better than modern day Kosovo is a step too far.

I know of one place where the Czechs have mostly succeeded with them, but that was through encouraging their traditional view of the world to do things for the better - for instance, they encouraged male Roma leaders to not allow prostitution in their communities through some very specific targeted education. The Roma men responded positively, and they managed to drive out German sex tourists.

News / Roma community feels discriminated in Poland [40]


They might have got one post-WW2 if it wasn't for the genocide carried out on them. It would've made a lot of sense to move them into a state carved out of Eastern Slovakia, Eastern Hungary and that bit of Ukraine that borders both of them - although I suspect that it would be comparable to Kosovo today and probably would be a Russian protectorate.

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1538]


Yet more Nazi-Soviet propaganda. It's shameful that such stuff is on this forum.

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1538]


Tell us more.

Interesting that you are choosing to repeat Nazi-Soviet propaganda on here. I wonder why?

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1538]


Wow, so now twenty bedroom dwellers believe it rather than ten, what an achievement!

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1538]

Quite, Lzyko. The amount of abuse that you're suffering here from bedroom brownshirts who have contributed nothing to society is an absolute joke.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

They'll tear themselves apart if Kaczyński is no longer able to control them. Even the right wing media reports on how people go to Nowogrodzka to settle their internal disputes, and people such as Morawiecki simply don't have the power base in the party to maintain their position without his endorsement.

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1538]


It's really an interesting time if you like politics, because you also have to wonder if voters would tolerate Duda being pushed out for a PiS-approved candidate. On the other hand, it could be a genius electoral strategy - up against a common opposition figure in Tusk, you put a PiS candidate (say Szydło) up against Duda and Tusk, and hope that a moderate Duda who appears to have argued with Kaczyński will steal enough votes from the centrists to eliminate Tusk in the first round. Kaczyński is a master of these political games, and he knows that voters are stupid enough to believe such a thing. It wouldn't take much - Szydło as the PiS candidate would get a solid 30% of the vote in the first round, Tusk would get a solid 30% and then there's 40% left to divide between the three.


That's the most likely scenario in my book. Duda has a huge fight on his hands against Tusk (assuming he doesn't come back in time for the 2019 elections), not least because the tactics he used against a lazy, unmotivated and unwilling to fight Komorowski have no chance of working against Tusk. For that reason, I don't think there's much alternative for them than to rely on Duda. If they decide that they hate Duda and won't vote at all, Tusk has the upper hand.

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1538]


The problem for those supporters is - where do they go? Establishing a new party outside PiS will just ensure that the opposition wins, so even if they're becoming disgruntled, there's no real alternative for them. Korwinists won't accept their pro-welfare stance, and Kukiz is a mess of ideologies and pathologies.


It really is a strange miscalculation by PiS. They're normally quite good at judging the political impact of laws, but this damaged them without any sort of benefit. It's pushing away the crucial centre ground, while they had nearly nothing to gain from the right side of politics anyway.

I think for many on the soft right in Poland, they don't really have much of a choice with PiS. If they give their vote to an alternative party, PiS will lose, or even worse, they'll have to deal with inexperienced and unpredictable Kukiz / Korwin, who will hurt the government in the same way that Lepper did in 2005-2007.

Either way, agreed on the nationalists number. Their number is wildly over estimated by nationalists and others alike for political purposes, and the real number is probably, at most, 100,000. The idea of 10% of voters being fascists is laughable, though it's wise not to deny that there are elements of fascism that appeal to voters. Poland is hardly unique in this though.

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1538]

I still don't know if PiS actually have anything to lose from it. I know you've said otherwise, but my general impression is that any support that they would lose over it has already left them over Macierewicz / Szyszko getting the sack.

The problem for PiS now is how to implement this law - if they do what the hard right are demanding (going after Gross and others), they'll end up in a fight with the US and Israel that they can't win, and they will probably invite an absolute flood of "Polish death camps" comments online. If they water down the law, or even just use the TK to throw it out, then the hard right will be screaming constantly about the alleged Jewish influence in Poland, which might cost them a few percent - but that few percent could be the difference between winning and losing the next election.

Either way, my own perception is that they'll only lose 2-3% at the vote at the very most. If there's a 10% vote for fascist parties, then only a fraction of that will vote for PiS over parties like Ruch Narodowy.

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]


ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/compendium/focusonviolentcrimeandsexualoffences/yearendingmarch2016/homicide

No, it hasn't. In fact, it's gone down.

Murders per million citizens in 1996 (last full year of gun ownership): 11.4
Murders per million citizens in 2015-2016 (the reporting period changed to cover April-March): 9.9.

So in terms of murders, the UK is a safer place without guns.

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]


Even then, many of them won't carry a knife just to hang out in the neighbourhood (except in Kraków, idiots). As you say, it's a totally different culture, no-one is hanging around tooled up for the sake of it.

Law / Climate change/environmental businesses or NGOs in Poland [66]

Why are you repeating Russian propaganda word-for-word?


But surely, given that you support PiS and their policy of "majority rule all", you should be happy that the majority will is respected regardless of the impact on the rest of society?

A referendum is an excellent idea, as it would finally kill off the debate for a generation.

Law / Climate change/environmental businesses or NGOs in Poland [66]


The type of NGO that gets funded with Russian cash? If so, speak to Janusz Korwin-Mikke, he's your man.

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1538]


No, it covers everything. The Costa Rican case only happened after they sacked him as the ambassador, not before. What normally happens is if someone commits a crime, they get invited to leave, or the host country asks the sending country to revoke their diplomatic privileges.

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]


What surprises me is how much opposition there is from some circles about this. You'd think it would make sense to have detailed background checks and so on, but then (in acordance with the culture!) let people have arms if they've proven that they're responsible citizens. It seems at least some of the mess in the US is caused by a huge amount of different and strange regulations.

Law / If I change my job in Poland without obtaining a new work permit, will this affect my residence visa [21]

14 days.

Law / Climate change/environmental businesses or NGOs in Poland [66]


They need to be registered in Poland in order to operate here, so they can't be "foreign" by nature. The fact that you're using the term "Foreign NGO" (which is what they're called in Turkey and Russia) betrays your real origins.

There are, however, a growing number of unregistered "churches" run by suspicious characters.

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1538]

Doesn't the Israeli President have diplomatic immunity? Still, not a bad idea to test it.

Law / Parental Child Abduction (Indian man married to Polish wife) [32]


Better to be harsh now than to leave him with false hope.


More to the point, no-one in Poland is going to risk doing such a thing, given the fact that the population believes that foreign courts are always against Poles.

They moan about a broken court system, yet cheer when someone openly defies foreign courts.