History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]


Nothing can ruin Russia.

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]

@jon357

I appreciate your defense Kania, but I'm at peace with my conscience. Better to be complicit than to be a traitor.

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]


It is too important to US, Russians, to make it hostage to the whims of a single man - no matter how much we adore him.

For example, if the West said - get rid of Putin and we will lift any and all sanctions - I think that would be a fast discussion internally in Russia. Maybe even the Big Man himself would be on board with this plan. The results would probably not be what the West had hoped for, however.

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]


How about this:

1) Putin is not Russia

2) Russia is not Putin

3) If Putin's and Russia's interests stop being aligned he will be promptly taken out to the trash heap of history.

4) Russia's fate cannot be made hostage to one man, regardless of how prominent a historic role he's played until now. Russia is simply too important.

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]

@Cojestdocholery

How is it a "dumb expansionist plan" to take historic Rus lands, populated by Orthodox and Russian-speaking people, from a bunch of Baltic oompa loompas that had attached themselves firmly to the Polish teet?

Look at Lithuania today. Despite its microscopic size it's still an enormous pain the ass for everyone who has the misfortune to live next to them. They almost fcuked all of the EU's exports to China with their stupid Taiwan embassy policy. Now it bans logistical transit from within Russia to another part of Russia, risking this conflict splashing out from within the confines of Ukraine. Even you - the Poles - their only friends, they managed to **** off with their Apartheid policies of having second class Polish and Russian citizens.

Do you really think a country of such idiots deserves to run a territory that includes Belarus, Ukraine and most of Western Russia?

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]


For someone who calls himself Tacitus, you surely have an interesting take on history. In the history books I read, and I suspect most people, Austria is still a godforsaken part of Charlemagne's Empire 900 years before Peter the Great. Even 900 years before the present day, Austria was still a hereditary fief of the Elective Kings of Germany. The Habsburgs, and Austria with them, were only elected to the imperial throne in the mid 15th century. So perhaps it had 250 years of a head start on Russia, but not more. Certainly not your absolutely ludicrous 900 years.

Comparing Austrian emperors to the Holy Roman Emperors of the Carolingian, Ottonian, Salian lines - is again to compare an assh0le to a finger. The early emperors came close to replicating the power of the Roman Empire, while the latter ones still controlled enormous territories through centralized states. Meanwhile, Austria managed the HRE through a period of terminal decline, one that some observers called "neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire". Charlemagne would turn over in his grave seeing who occupied the imperial throne in 1438.

Love / What cities have most blonde girls? [26]

@pawian

That is an distinctly un-blonde woman. Plus you can see the dark roots.

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]


Keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better, doesn't make it true! A French person or a Spanish one really couldn't give a **** about you - you might as well be Romanian, while Russians will always treat you with genuine brotherly curiosity.

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]


Lies. Western Europeans have been using Muscovy and Russia interchangeably since the 15th century. When the English established the first chartered overseas trading company, the Muscovy Company, Queen Elizabeth knew she was dealing with the Russian Czar (though she did not recognize his imperial status, and refused his marriage advances).

Hey genius, how do you explain this map from 1525 of RUSSIA:


I only ask him if he's safe, and not doing anything stupid like getting caught by the people issuing conscription notices. He's an idiot, and he's stayed in the city proper to "watch the apartment". I've been telling him to set up camp in the summer house, but he won't listen. His mom is already in Belgium on a refugee permit.

Not a whole lot to discuss TBH.

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History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]


Well, to me it's strange that you sincerely think Latin countries have more in common with Poland than you do with Russia. Curiously, Russians, Poles, and Ukrainians seem to stick together in New York. I'm sure it's not much different in Jakarta, Nairobi or Rio De Janeiro. The Poles don't seem to join their Latin "brothers" from France or Italy with the same frequency, for some very strange reason.

You could say it's just the inherited need for healthy helpings of distilled spirits, compared to those fairy Latin wine drinkers. You could say's it because the only people that can tolerate disco polo are Russians. Really, who knows :)

Love / What cities have most blonde girls? [26]

@ImSEAguy

Person is 16 (or so they claim), so logic not exactly their forte.

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]


It took some time. Marriage to a relative of the Byzantine emperor did not help the situation as much as we thought it would. Adopting their double-headed eagle also didn't help. In the end, however, everyone recognized the Russian Czar's equivalency to an Emperor. The Austrians were necessarily late, but everyone acknowledged it - a full century before everyone it became the default nomenclature after we defeated Napoleon who dismantled your HRE. Meaning that when everyone recognized us as emperors, the Holy Roman emperor didn't even exist any more. Who won that? Hmmmm?

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]


If Russians did not exist, Poles would have to invent them. What else could motivate you so much to be better and morally superior?

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]


With apologies to Schroedinger and Mozart - the greatest contribution of Austrians in the twentieth century are Hitler and Red Bull.

Some countries just are not consistent.

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]

@Lyzko

... and what you think Austria's history can be compared against Russia's global history? Let's leave the conquest of space and the atom outside the brackets here.

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]


Comparing Austria to Russia, is as we say in Russia, to compare an ******* (sphincter) to a finger. When Austria was trying to elevate itself to the level of Archduchy, Russia was already a kingdom of many centuries under the control of a legendary dynasty. Our princesses married French and Danish kings, meanwhile they groveled before the Bavarians on their knees.

While they were building their dysfunction of an HRE we were building a unitary state of durable power.

While they needed the entirety of Europe to stop the Ottomans, we wiped the floor with the Turks single handedly - so much so the Brits and French decided they need to help the Turks.

Their famous diplomat, Metternich, was good at negotiations with Napoleon, on the back of Russian manpower.

When they lost their place to the Germans, we took note, and carried on to be one of the two superpowers of the twentieth century.

Comparing Austria and Russia, is almost like comparing Ukraine and Russia. Hahahahah.

BTW, forget the Turks - did I mention we stopped the Mongols, and then defeated them and digested them? So much for Austria as the "Shield of Europe".

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]


Ok smartass - explain to me what the hell this would mean? What does it mean if I tell you I am a "Muscovite"?

The most logical answer would be "an ethnic Russian living within the territorial jurisdiction of the former Grand Duchy of Muscovy". What does it make the people living inside? RUSSIAN!

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]

@jon357

It's one of two regions they really want. They want the Kuban, which they think was unfairly annexed from the Cossacks, and they want the Pacific shoreline because they think it belongs to them through their majority there. Conveniently, this leaves us with only an exit to the Baltic Sea and Arctic Ocean.

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]

@Cojestdocholery

No tricks, no jokes. Just talking about families. No need to bring in your famous theory of how Russians don't actually exist, but are some mix of Poles, Ukrainians, Germans, and a multitude of Asians.

I was saying that becoming close with Ukrainians might make you closer to us. That's all.

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]

@Lenka

Can you break these connections? I know it's bad now. My Ukrainian girlfriend's parents have stopped picking up the calls of their Russian relatives. When I talk to my second cousin in Nikolayev, we don't touch politics at all - otherwise we know we can't call each other for a few weeks until we cool down. This is the absolute worst part of this conflict. What it is doing to families.

I trust that these connections are more strong than any war.

Love / What cities have most blonde girls? [26]

@Lyzko

Not true. Do you know how many guys I see in NY walking down the street with an Asian girlfriend? Big, 6'2 dudes walking down the street with a 5'4 Chinese girl. I've met a lot of people that have claimed to have entirely sworn off "American" women. Usually the charge is that "American" women behave like men.

My girlfriend, is blonde and green eyed, but dies her hair brunette. She keeps asking me which way I prefer it, and my heart sinks - because I don't give a fcuk either way.

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]


I mean real blood connections between living people. Cousins and nieces living in Russia. Uncles, aunts, grandparents. The level of population mixing between Russia and Ukraine is probably more than between any other two countries on earth, except ones recently split up (Sudan maybe, or Eritrea).

By one count, there are thirty million Ukrainians living in Russia. Some people argue that they form the majority in the Far East.

You don't think it's remarkable that both Velund and I have Ukrainian significant others? This is no dig against Russian women.

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]


What about it? As Stalin once said when asked if he should perhaps stop oppressing Catholics in Russia: ""The Pope? How many divisions has he got?"

The Pope has not mattered, ever since Pope Boniface VIII's papal bull, Unam Sanctam, failed to force the French King Phillip the Fair to heel. What happened in that case, is that mercenaries hired by the French king beat the pope to near death (he died several days later), and the papacy moved from Rome to Avignon for quite some time. Since then, few powerful sovereigns care what the Pope in Rome thinks.

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]


There are millions of family bonds between Ukraine and Russia. In taking in Ukrainians, you are not only taking in hundreds of thousands of ethnic Russians, but also coming into contact with millions of others still in Russia through blood connections. The hope is that inevitably this will lead to a closer understanding, since when the conversations happen in the kitchen, rather than on the TV, people tend to grow a deeper understanding.

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]

Thoughts on Polish-Russian friendship.

1) Both sides point to the example of German rapprochement with France as an example of what could be.

2) Both sides ignore that the context of Russo-Polish relations is totally different than it was in the case of Germany and France. No parallel economic integration, or alliance building. No guiding hand of the United States in ensuring that the mortar of the friendship will set.

3) This means that any positive things are forgotten quickly, while bad ones consistently float back up to the surface. For example, who can remember now the warm atmosphere that reigned during Tusk's visits to Moscow, or Putin's official apology for Molotov-Ribbentrop? If there is no trade, and movement of peoples - goodwill gestures will not stick.

4) Both countries define their national identities to a great degree through the lens of their experience in WW2. Both countries think their experience makes them exceptional. Poland - as a heroic lone sufferer, that paid the ultimate price (polls show 70%+ of Poles think their country has suffered more than any other country in the world historically). Russia - has a cult of victory, as proof that Russia can overcome any challenge regardless of the odds. These two visions of exceptionalism are hardly reconcilable. Dishonoring veterans, to Russians, and discussing "Polish Death Camps" for Poles - are two different sides of the same coin.

5) Both countries think their exceptional experience of WW2 means they are due certain entitlements. For Poles, it means Morawiecki constantly bringing up German reparations, fifty years after Willy Brandt fell to his knees. For Russians, it means Germany has to close its eyes to all that causes it concern, and instead has to trade with us without restriction.

6) To imagine that the problem with Polish-Russian relations is due to Putin, or Kaczynski - is to make a mistake. Them leaving will not change anything.

7) Polish-Ukrainian friendship, long term, opens the door for Polish-Russian friendship.

P.S. What a strange thread title

Life / Poland's birthrate on the decline [480]


Hahaha. Apologies, could not resist after you rejected my genius plan of poking holes in condoms.

You know you cannot make 0.1 of a baby, so you will have to make a whole one? Then to compensate for Paulina and Lenka you will have to add 4.2 more, but since we know children are not divisible in tenths that means 5.0 more. Here we finally begin to see the full picture - you must make 8 children.

Love / What cities have most blonde girls? [26]

@ImSEAguy

I will tell you, if you tell me: where in South East Asia do the dumbest guys live? Does the majority live in the South, North, East, or West?

Wait, I know. It's probably the same part where you come from.

Life / Poland's birthrate on the decline [480]

@pawian

He said above - 2.

2 < 2.1 (which is necessary for natural replacement of population).

You would think, from all of Kania's lectures about making your contribution to the motherland, that he is a father of 5-6 kids. Truth is, however, that's he's 5% below the level of what is minimally necessary.

Does a dog count for 0.1 human baby?

Life / Poland's birthrate on the decline [480]


I wasn't speaking, strictly, about kids in general - just having more than two in a latter-generation urban context. The third, fourth, fifth kid will statistically have lower outcomes, if other factors are kept static. If dad keeps earning more money to be able to scale these higher needs, then of course all bets are off. That's why it seems that on average families limit it to two. Putting two through school, uni, initial life set-up is hard enough for most families.


That seems to be the current paradigm. Until we see a new one that works well (looking at Japan, Germany), it's what we have to argue against. Population means markets, markets mean innovation, population means a higher chance of winning at the random number generator game of producing geniuses - these things are hard to discount.

However, as you say, other factors play a part too. I would much rather be a Japan, than a Nigeria or Brazil. Not so sure if I would prefer to be Japan over India or China, however. Many, many factors at play.

Life / Poland's birthrate on the decline [480]

[/quote]
1) Logically, we will then close the borders. Rebuilding the population cannot happen in the context of open borders. Especially when they hear about my masturbation laws.

2) We will do what Rodrigo Duterte did in the Phillipines with drug dealers, but with underground abortion clinics. Two words: motorcycle hitmen.

3) I must consult my data set once again.

4) Glad you like it! Enjoy your 40s shoveling dirt yuppie b!tches.

5) Yes, seems there's a problem with this one. Turkey seems to be only winner from Polish masturbators. Not my intention.