Off-Topic / Things you can't get used to in your new country [95]

1) Air travel - American air travel definitely the worst in the developed world. Nowhere else have I seen this amount of delays, cancelled flights, ****** airports, idiotic staff, and anti-human interior design.

2) Police - I don't feel that they "protect" me here, instead I feel a compulsion to cross to the other side of the street when seeing one. No objective reason to feel this way, just feel cops are a lot more approachable in Russia. Maybe it's the fact that I'm here on a visa, and don't feel nearly as free as I feel back home. I could conk a cop on the head in Russia, and nobody would deport me anywhere.

3) As mentioned in the "Turning 60 years old" thread - the absolutely atrocious attitudes towards seniors and family in general. This constantly shocks me, and not in a good way.

4) Anywhere outside the big cities the food seems to be absolutely terrible (and even in the big cities, food that is good is very expensive). The people eat sh!t. Like literal sh!t. Then they look correspondingly.

5) The goddamn air conditioning. It's everywhere and all the fu*king time. Americans live like astronauts preparing for cryosleep. I'm a big guy, that doesn't often feel cold, so then I feel like a woman when sitting in an American movie theater or subway car.

6) I don't know what this thing is called in English, but it's the thing you put your blanket inside of before you use it to cover yourself in bed. At least in civilized countries. In America, a minimum of homes seem to use this thing, instead employing a stupid system where you cover yourself with a sheet and then the "uncovered" blanket on top. This seems to me very uncomfortable, and rather unhygienic. In general, the way Americans do up their beds is weird. At home, and in hotels.

7) Tons of houses with no light fixtures in the ceiling. What the hell is up with this? Why does everybody use goddamn lamps?

8) No bidets to wash your ass.

9) The tea is never actually hot. Sometimes they warm it up in a microwave. Savages.

10) The coffee is sh!t, except in big cities.

11) Did I mention the food is terrible?

12) Rich people behave towards poor people in disgusting ways. Everyone thinks this is normal.

13) The roads on the East Coast.

14) People from New Jersey. No such thing in Russia, thank heavens.

Off-Topic / Terms of Russian Surrender [116]


Sounds pretty good to me. The "people", by and large, are stupid. Then, they elect other stupid people to be their leaders. It would all end in disaster, if not for the "Grey Cardinals" or "Deep State", that try to keep the ship of government on an even keel regardless of what the "people" may want to happen.

Probably the only country that does "direct democracy" well is Switzerland. But it is populated by Swiss people. Most other countries cannot rely on this factor, and by most I mean all.

Sorry, just felt someone had to put in a good word for the "Grey Cardinals".

Off-Topic / Terms of Russian Surrender [116]


Pretty difficult for me to imagine, in granular detail.

Local NATO brigade may find it hilarious - if one were to say that "Russia hasn't really begun to approach things seriously" - but in many ways it's the truth. Certainly the truth when compared to Ukraine.

1) Our government is terrified of calling a general mobilization.

2) The economy is still largely on a peace-time footing

3) Travel restrictions are correspondingly loose

4) UKR government offices are still strangely "off-limits"

5) Different "grain" and "ammonia" export deals are in effect, and gas is continued to be pumped through the Ukrainian gas transport network.

However, you asked me how we may lose... Here's how this might come about, IMHO:

1) Putin continues to think he may be accepted back into the warm embrace of G7, and therefore attempts to avoid doing anything "scandalous" - such as targeting key Ukrainian decision makers.

2) Putin continues to try to isolate Russia's civilian population from the "horrors of war". Eventually this will lead to a rude awakening, with unpredictable circumstances. Better to start preparing people now.

3) Martians land on Red Square, declaring eternal friendship to the people of Earth.

4) Zelensky declares as his aim the "reconstitution of the Soviet Union, within its 1991 borders", and calls upon the people of Russia and Belarus to lay down their arms in furtherance of this goal. The purpose being, the reunification of a single people separated by tragic historic events.

Genealogy / Are all Poles blue eyed and blonde? [450]


You come up to people with red hair and ask them where they are from?

Off-Topic / What's your connection with Poland? Penpals. [574]


Sana me Domine et sanibor!

Off-Topic / What's your connection with Poland? Penpals. [574]


Hahaha! You are the average age of my friend circle. I noticed that after 30, age stopped mattering very much in my friend selection protocol. Of course, my girlfriend would say this is because I am as boring as rock.


Are you not Catholic?

History / Future of Kaliningrad Oblast - is it possible to annex by Poland or will it become an independent country? [137]

@GefreiterKania

Whatever brings you Poles joy.

Off-Topic / What's your connection with Poland? Penpals. [574]


Poles suffer, because they must learn. Pain is the beginning of wisdom.

Aeschylus said as much:

He who learns must suffer.
And even in our sleep pain, which cannot forget,
falls drop by drop upon the heart,
until, in our own despair, against our will,
comes wisdom through the awful grace of God

Off-Topic / Terms of Russian Surrender [116]

@GefreiterKania

Let's discuss the Ottoman Empire - as neutral ground for both.

Then - the people there killed each other, at a rate far, far lower than in the present - when almost each nationality has its own borders. Arbitrary lines drawn in the sand by English and French politicians that had often not even visited the territory they were carving up, are now important enough to the locals that they are willing to kill countless numbers to preserve/alter them.

Commerce thrived, as merchants prefer to deal with as few barriers as possible.

Science advanced - because there was enough of a "domestic" critical mass to be able to skim the "cream" off many millions and gather them in one place.

International prestige was higher, leading to all sorts of mundane but important benefits for the empire's travelling citizens.

And so on, and so forth. How have the majority of the countries of the Middle East, except for those isolated tribes that were fortunate enough to be born atop an ocean of oil, benefited from being free of Turkish or Persian control?

News / Polish Parliamentary Elections 2023 [933]


This is great, however I'm not sure if Putin wants an alliance with Korwin-Mikke.

Off-Topic / Terms of Russian Surrender [116]

@GefreiterKania

I'll take imperialism over nationalism, any day of the week. In fact, I think the world lost a lot with the passing of most historical empires.

Life / Getting a Polish Heritage tattoo - how would Poles react? [26]

B.B. King, the famous Blues musician, had a wife. One year she decided to present him with an unusual birthday present. She went to a local tattoo parlor, and asked the artist to place two letter "Bs" on each of her buttocks.

Later that evening, the doorbell rings. B.B. King's wife cracks the door open, bends over, and lifts her skirt to reveal her new tattoo.

B.B. King - puzzled - asks her, "Who's Bob?"

Genealogy / Are all Poles blue eyed and blonde? [450]

Never met a truly blonde Pole in my life, and I met certainly over 100 Poles.

Life / 60th birthday in Poland [20]


My dad is in his early 60s, and seems quite depressed about this fact. I tell him the above, and he just waives it away.

I think this is foolish

Who expected ChatGPT? Who expected SpaceX to land dozens of rockets perfectly on their "feet", onto a small platform floating in the sea? Who thought there would arrive a drug that can truly cure Hepatitis C?

Organs will be 3D printed, cancers will be carefully excised by nanobots, memories will be saved on neural chips... and so on and so forth. This is why actuarial models at modern insurers project some current workers to live to 120 years old.

My only hope is that medical science advances fast enough that we have Novichok with us still in 2063.

Off-Topic / Terms of Russian Surrender [116]

@Miloslaw

Was being a bit facetious, but also... not really. Not just Russians, but Ukrainians, Belarusians, Kazakhs etc have all been trained by life to expect that those in charge are constantly lying to us. This led to the formation of all sorts of coping mechanisms. The archetypical reaction is simply to ignore whatever the government is doing. The logic being, if I don't participate in their games, then I am not tainted by their stench.

Rallying behind our governments during a time of war is another thing entirely.

Off-Topic / Terms of Russian Surrender [116]


Russians are the most critical consumers of information there are. We see a conspiracy behind every event. We believe nothing! Not even our eyes!

Judging Russian information hygiene based on polemics with Bobko and Velund on PolishForums is not a good idea.

Off-Topic / Terms of Russian Surrender [116]


They would be so incredibly rich. At 5M barrels per day in crude oil production - Texas would be 3rd behind Saudi Arabia and Russia, and above Canada and China. Not having to split those tax revenues with sh!tholes like New York and Illinois, will mean Norwegian-style infrastructure and Emirati-level services.

Also, Texas will be free to implement its own immigration policy - which will probably consist of digging a half-mile wide trench filled with alligators along the entire length of its border with Mexico.

Off-Topic / Five or more years of Erdogan! [32]


This is a stupid discussion, so it will get a stupid continuation:

1) Russia is heavily urbanized, yes, but also very large. There will remain lots of areas that were untouched by the effects of the blast. We will move to those areas and plant potato plots.

2) Just 4 explosions in Cornwall, Essex, Yorkshire, and Powys would be quite sufficient to make all of the southern half of Great Britain uninhabitable. Enjoy setting up camp in Glasgow.

Off-Topic / Terms of Ukrainian Surrender [67]


Ehhh? Are you saying Kania is pulling my leg, when he's soliciting opinions regarding an Ukrainian surrender? That would be cruel and unusual punishment, not to mention very rude.

I post here in earnest, and expect the same from others.

Off-Topic / Terms of Russian Surrender [116]


The Articles of Confederation pretty clearly state that the Union is supposed to be perpetual. Furthermore, the Constitution itself declares as one of its main aims the "creation of a more perfect Union". In its capacity as arbiter of these types of questions, the Supreme Court has always ruled in favor of the Union being indissoluble.

Then of course, there is that precedent when 11 states decided they would no longer like to be part of the Union. I may be mistaken, but I think the US lost 2% of its total population then, or about 25% of the South's male population between the ages of 18-24.

The Union kicked the South's teeth in so hard, that they are still complaining about Yankees down there. Very free, very democratic secession - yes.

Off-Topic / Terms of Ukrainian Surrender [67]


Sit down and take a deep breath.

Ukraine has the strongest military in Europe at this moment - by far. Russia destroys a Germany-sized stockpile of weapons every few months, and maybe a Spain or Netherlands-sized one every single month.

Europe is naked through stripping itself for Ukraine. If you had even a little bit of decency, you would admit there's nothing in Europe that could challenge the Russians as much as Ukraine.

Ukrainians are unfortunately similar to us in their seemingly endless capacity for suffering. I doubt a France or a Germany could endure many Bakhmuts before collapsing.

Off-Topic / Terms of Ukrainian Surrender [67]


Not that we can't win without bribes, but simply the people living in contested territories are not idiots.


If you care about them, and you are not indifferent to their fate - then do it. We might complain, but that will be fair, at least.

They deserve an award for you killing half a million of their best men for your collective egos.

Off-Topic / Terms of Ukrainian Surrender [67]

@GefreiterKania

I'm somewhat skeptical of what "internationally supervised" referenda mean. If it means muzzling Russian media, not allowing Russia to exert its influence through finance (a form of expression), and not allowing Russia to offer passports or other benefits - then their worth is at best questionable.

We came with a plan. To see if it makes sense, you must let us see it through.

Off-Topic / Terms of Russian Surrender [116]


Haha! I would love to see this fight.


I see. The appetite for ethnic cleansing has not abated since the 1990s.

Off-Topic / Terms of Ukrainian Surrender [67]


I'm not Putin, I'm Bobko. It's not my fault points 1-4 represent a regression to the status quo.

Also, you ignored # 5. An important point, in my mind.

Off-Topic / Terms of Ukrainian Surrender [67]

@GefreiterKania

Very well. I will bite.

Here is my list:

1) Ukraine totally and completely demilitarizes - to such an extent that they can in no way pose a credible threat to Russia.

2) Ukraine forswears ever joining NATO

3) Ukraine agrees to never host nuclear weapons on its territory.

4) Ukraine agrees to pursue parallel integration tracks with both the EU and the Eurasian Economic Union (thus acting as a bridge between our two hostile camps)

5) Ukraine either cedes the contested territories to Russia wholesale, or agrees a certain type of condominium where we both have a vote over how the provinces develop.

6) Ukraine agrees to never cut the water supply to Crimea, or otherwise enforce economic embargoes on newly acquired territories.

7) Ukraine waives all right to compensation.

Off-Topic / Terms of Russian Surrender [116]

@GefreiterKania

I don't imagine that the Russia haters here are in any way competent to judge Russian policy, but I thought even they must know where the limits of reason lie. In this sense, such an exercise could be quite fruitful.

P.S. Also, for purposes of completely domestic consumption - it may be good for a Russian that stumbles upon this forum, to understand just what the West has prepared for him. This is not to scare him/her back into the Kremlin's embrace, but simply a call to be a little more clear-eyed re: what "compromise with the West" may yield.

Off-Topic / Terms of Russian Surrender [116]


A naive hope that once they see these things written in print they would recognize how fantastically absurd these notions are.