History / 70th anniversary of 1943 Wołyń/Volhynia and Eastern Galicia Massacre - controvercies [454]


Ukrainians love making lists. It's one of their national obsessions - cataloguing all their various enemies, real and imagined.

They got into some trouble for this, too. Their most popular "list" is a website called Миротворец. Set up after the events of 2014, it catalogues all "enemies of Ukraine". Over the years, some Western people made it into the list, including some journalists and politicians.

Since many people on the list were known to be targeted for extrajudicial killings, this made those Westerners nervous.

Quote:

"On 2 June 2016, G7 ambassadors to Kyiv released a joint statement expressing deep concern about disclosures of journalists' personal data on the Myrotvorets website and called on the Myrotvorets team to withdraw personal data from public access. In 2017 Myrotvorets had a criminal case opened against it by the Ukrainian National Police, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) urged Ukraine to investigate the website's operations."

Please be patient with Ukrainians. They are still learning how to be proper Europeans like you.

News / Future of Polish-Ukrainian relations [669]


Either because your text is being translated automatically to Russian (need to select Eng/Ukr/Rus at the top), or simply because it was written in Russian.

Many Ukrainians are now comfortable speaking Ukrainian, but also... many of them are still not comfortable writing in it.

It's hard to write correctly in Ukrainian.

News / Future of Polish-Ukrainian relations [669]


Both Paulina and Amiga have managed to view the comments.

The top comments are decided by "likes". To post a "like", you need to be authorized on the forum.

The guys there have a very good nose for sniffing out Russians who have come to troll. I can confirm this through personal experience.

I still argue that this is a good proxy for judging popular Ukrainian sentiments.

If you can't use comments from the two leading news portals in Ukraine to form an opinion, what the hell are you supposed to do? Do you want me to hire Nielsen and Gallup, so they could do an independent survey for you?

News / Future of Polish-Ukrainian relations [669]


Ok...

How about the 4th most popular comment:

The second front has been opened officially. An ally has joined Mordor. Considering the silence of the Polish authorities, the inaction of the police, the Polish public is also silent - this indicates that the Poles have officially begun sabotage against Ukraine.

The 5th most popular comment, was left by a lovely lady with screen name "Irenka Ko":

I hope that you Polish motherf*ckers never eat bread because of hunger, war and the Katsap invasion.

Yes, it's all just Bobko's imagination.

It's also Kremlin bots which are reporting pro-Polish comments as spam, and getting them deleted. Uh-huh.

News / Future of Polish-Ukrainian relations [669]


Ehrm... did you notice what the top 3 comments are? They come at the top, before the other comments (screenshot below).

1) Where is the UN that wanted to feed African boys in their underwear. Let Syrian and Afghan boys in underwear, go to Poland and eat grain that is lying on the roads all over Poland.

2) By buying Polish goods and products, you support the Poles who block the border for Ukrainians! Don't buy Polish goods! Boycott

3) Utter filth!

In conclusion, the three most liked comments are negative towards Poland. I rest my case.

• 
  IMG_0842.png
  

News / Future of Polish-Ukrainian relations [669]


A real Nelson Mandela, you are.

A voice, crying out in the wilderness.

Iron - for shame!

History / 70th anniversary of 1943 Wołyń/Volhynia and Eastern Galicia Massacre - controvercies [454]


These three guys are conservative. You are liberal.

Ukraine, by Western standards, is probably 80/20 conservative/liberal. In other words, a Ukrainian liberal would probably be considered far right in the Netherlands.

Most Ukrainians are not yet as civilized as you, Pawian, and have yet to adopt important Western values like gender equality, openness towards migrants and refugees, the healing power of historical reconciliation between victims and perpetrators, or even opposition to colonialism.

So if you think, I went and chose the worst comments - you would be... mistaken.

News / Future of Polish-Ukrainian relations [669]


Out of concern for your fragile emotional wellbeing, I gave you a link to Ukraine's most respected newspaper. Its articles get reprinted in Western publications, and its journalists are regularly awarded for their work. It is overall a liberal paper, that is generally friendly towards Poland and the EU at large.

Yet you accuse me of cherry picking.

Here, enjoy 232 comments instead of 23, from the most Bandera-loving Ukrainians on the internet.

Censor.net is actually the most popular news portal in Ukraine. Ukrainska Pravda is most respected, but not the most read.

Censor is run by Yuri Butusov, an ardent supporter of the AFU, and longtime critic of Zelensky. The article is also from today.

Careful, don't choke when you read these comments. You will find out things about yourself as a Pole, that you never even considered.

Source: censor.net/ua/news/3474431/polski_mitynguvalnyky_zablokuvaly_zaliznytsyu_na_ukrayinskomu_kordoni_ta_rozsypaly_zerno_z_vagonu_video

History / 70th anniversary of 1943 Wołyń/Volhynia and Eastern Galicia Massacre - controvercies [454]


Ukrainians that live in Poland, have a better understanding of Polish politics. Sometimes, they drop in on forums and comment sections, and try to explain to their compatriots why Poland does what Poland does.

However, Ukrainians living in Ukraine, have a really distorted view of how Polish politics work. I suppose the same could be said of Polish knowledge of Ukrainian politics.

It is difficult to read what Ukrainians think about how things work in Poland or America, without it raising my blood pressure.

They think that everything, everywhere, must work the way it works in Ukraine. "Putin must have given a boatload of money to Tusk." "The Kremlin must have blackmail on Trump." "We should have known Macron was bought and paid for." "The Russians beat us to the punch with Biden."

News / Future of Polish-Ukrainian relations [669]


Ehh, Kania told me the same thing with this website.

It uses the Facebook Comments plug-in. Try opening the page in a new browser, or in an incognito window.

Sometimes you don't need to do anything, it simply takes some time for comments to load. Swiping up and down in the area where they are supposed to appear helps.

I have better things to do, than make up fake comments.

I just opened it again, and it has 23 comments. Look how it should appear:

• 
  IMG_0841.png
  

News / Future of Polish-Ukrainian relations [669]


No representations were made regarding validity.

Just a window into what popular sentiments may look like.

I'm not even cherry picking - the first post with 40 likes, was the most liked post. Also, Ukrainska Pravda does a pretty good job at moderating its comment section for Russian bots (just as some Russian newspapers have to heavily moderate Ukrainian bots).

I think it's fair to say that Ukrainians, at large, are feeling pretty suspicious of Poland right now. This is a big change in sentiment, in less than 24 months.

I think one important aspect, is that their hopes for closer engagement under a Tusk government did not materialize. After everybody told them for nearly a year, that any frictions with Poland would be gone after a liberal prime minister would arrive, they now see that things may actually have gotten worse.

A seed has been planted, in their minds, that Poles are not friendly towards Ukrainians - regardless of who is on top.

News / Future of Polish-Ukrainian relations [669]


Here, have a taste of your "brave new future". Comments under an article from today, regarding Polish farmer protests, in Ukraine's leading newspaper.

Source: pravda.com.ua/news/2024/02/20/7442712/

Translations:

1) "They are no better than the Russians."/// "This is true, we cannot rely on them."

2) "Why be surprised? Read about what was happening in the 17-18th centuries, and how the Commonwealth behaved. They have always been enemies of Ukraine. The Cossacks would kick their Pans out, but then they would come back and restore control over Right Bank Ukraine."

3) One of your countrymen seems to have had enough after reading Ukrainian comments.

4) "Poles have the essence of a vulture. When Ukraine will begin to lose the war, they will come armed with weapons to finish us off." /// "Agree with you 100%. They just can't wait, so they already started with blockades, ingrates."

• 
  IMG_0835.jpeg
  
• 
  IMG_0836.jpeg
  
• 
  IMG_0837.jpeg
  
• 
  IMG_0839.jpeg
  

Life / i regret my former post i now love poland [10]


Indeed! In Holy and Catholic Poland - 100% of rapists are homegrown!

Forza Polonia!

History / 70th anniversary of 1943 Wołyń/Volhynia and Eastern Galicia Massacre - controvercies [454]


A lot of Ukrainians are suddenly becoming experts in Polish-Ukrainian history.

The farmer protests and border closures are fueling an enormous and unusual interest in history.

As a historian by education, I can only applaud people's efforts.

Genealogy / Crest and the meaning of last name Sumski [33]


Margaret Thatcher once said - "Europe is a product of history, and America a product of philosophy".

Genealogy / Crest and the meaning of last name Sumski [33]

Novichok is a convinced emigrant.

I would shoot myself before accepting an American passport.

What can I discuss with him on this front?

He'll probably tell me it's a condition of the soul and a framework of the mind. That's all well and good, but what am I to do with that when I have 800 years of documented family history tying me to a place?

Some of the friends I made through college in the States, are from other European countries, where they know their history going back to the 9th century - not 12th.

Don't even bring up the Central Asians and the Chinese which can give lectures about what their ancestor did in the 5th century.

Americans are without roots, a bastard child of history.

Genealogy / Crest and the meaning of last name Sumski [33]

Sorry, may have been a bit unfair. The blame lies with their parents.


WTF does that mean?

Is this some consumer brand? An advertising campaign?

What does American mean?

I'm talking about blood and memory.

Genealogy / Crest and the meaning of last name Sumski [33]


It could not mess with it, to a point you don't even know what country, let alone city, your ancestors lived in.

I know my family history going back to the 12th century. Which region we came from, whom we served, what my great-great-great grandfather did to earn his surname, etc.

These kinda rootless, homeless, clueless people really irritate me. I commend them for at least showing the curiosity, but it really is spitting in the face of your ancestors not to know where your grandparents emigrated from less than 200 years ago.

Genealogy / Crest and the meaning of last name Sumski [33]


In Russian and Ukrainian it is the same, «шум». Then it would be Shumsky/Shumski/Shumov/Shumelev/Shumko. He said it was Sumski.

Genealogy / Crest and the meaning of last name Sumski [33]

Sumy is a city in Ukraine.

Sumski, meaning "from Sumy", is a popular last name in Ukraine. More often for Jews.

These types of threads are a good argument against emigration. Within two generations, people haven't the faintest clue of what their homeland is, and have to ask people on Internet forums.

Travel / What are the best countries to live in? [161]


What have you got against them?

Next you will tell me you find Scots to be avaricious and insular, and Georgians to be too "macho".


You may be confusing Kyrgyzstan with Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.

Kyrgyzstan is 93% mountainous. There is no oil there. In fact, there is nothing there except for hydroelectricity and gold mines.

Travel / What are the best countries to live in? [161]


Kyrgyzstan is beautiful. It's also the only democracy in Central Asia, ahead of even Ukraine in the number of "Maidans" they staged against their governments.

The people there are classic highlanders - hospitable, kind, passionate.

The air is crystal clear, the waters are pure, and the problems of the world seem a million miles away.

• 
  IMG_0787.jpeg
  
• 
  IMG_0786.jpeg
  
• 
  IMG_0785.jpeg
  
• 
  IMG_0784.jpeg
  

Travel / What are the best countries to live in? [161]

Best place to live in the world is either Kyrgyzstan or Montenegro.

However, I must say I am very partial to mountains.

Law / Rejecting Inheritance [44]


I don't know if it's insane.

With the right frame of mind, you can interpret this in a positive light. That is, having a real and material connection to your grandfather :)

When you turn 18 and finally pay it down, you'll feel twice the adult your 18 year old peers will be feeling. Of course - you just settled your grandpa's debt!

For amounts above $3K, I can see how this stops being funny... however.

Food / Why Poles not like rice? [98]

Rice demands back breaking care and attention.

Winter wheat can be planted and forgotten about for close to half a year.

In other words, more time dedicated to contemplating the mysteries of the cosmos.

Work / Are Poles workaholics? [164]

Not when you enslave yourself.

I don't feel like I need a vacation, honestly. I mean, maybe sometimes I do... but it passes.

I don't work at the lumber mill, or on an oil field. My work is talking on the phone to a bunch of bozos, and then occasionally meeting them for dinner or lunch.

Technically, I have joined people on their vacations, but I was still working throughout.

Work / Are Poles workaholics? [164]


I've worked for 13 years without a day off.

Work / Are Poles workaholics? [164]


That's f*cking outrageous. In the US, the norm is two weeks paid vacation.

Some companies, including mine, have implemented unlimited paid vacation time. It's a great gimmick, because then people begin taking even less vacations - haha! They start grumbling about others who in their view "abuse it", and in the end it leads to a cutthroat environment where everyone tries to outdo the next guy by taking even less vacation days.

American work culture is brutal.

Work / Are Poles workaholics? [164]

In NY state, this is the law:
"Sick Leave Requirements
Employers with 100 or more employees must provide up to 56 hours of paid sick leave per calendar year. Employers with 5-99 employees must provide up to 40 hours of paid sick leave per calendar year. If net income is $1 million or less, employer must provide up to 40 hours of unpaid sick leave."

So, the largest companies have to provide 7 days a year (56 hrs / 8 hr work week).

As regards Paid Family Leave, New York is sort of ahead of the rest of the rest of the country. Our governor adopted a new law in 2021. As an employer, here's what I am looking at:

1) I need to get Family Leave coverage for each of my employees.
2) I have to collect contributions from his/her salary to pay for the cost of coverage.
3) Process some BS form, and file it with the government.

Personally - I hate all of these things. Sick Leave, Family Leave, Worker's Comp, Disability Insurance, Unemployment Insurance, etc. It makes life miserable for small businesses, while being completely irrelevant in some other industries (like mine).

Though I'm sure it looks different from an employees perspective.... However, if I were an employee I would have preferred my employer just give me the cash equivalent of what he's paying various insurance agencies and the government.

Work / Are Poles workaholics? [164]


Nothing unusual about that.

You move to a country where Englishmen are living in homes they own, a country where they were educated, where they met their significant others, and so on. Meanwhile, you are a Pole with a naked ass. No home, no English education, and no girl will talk to you.

Solution?

Work like a slave on a galley.

In Poland, where you have parent's apartment, are considered quite well educated, and can actually manage a conversation with a girl - why would you work so hard you nearly kill yourself in the process?