News / Life and work of Stepan Bandera - controversial figure of Europe [42]

@Crow

The whole world should view him as a hero. What can be more noble, as a Ukrainian, than to get rid of the Jews and Poles polluting your land? Maybe you think Hitler and Pol Pot are also bad characters? Stop making me laugh, Crow.

News / Life and work of Stepan Bandera - controversial figure of Europe [42]

Stepan Bandera is a hero of Ukraine, and ardent defender of its sovereignty from vile aggressor nations of Poland and Russia.

UK, Ireland / Boris Johnson - is the new British PM a popular figure in Poland? [150]


Let me try to help you understand why people think you are speaking out of your a$$.

There are two interpretations of what you wrote above:

1) Liz Truss has shown an affinity for certain aspects of the Labor party platform (laid bare her sympathies in some regard; "dodgy" in her allegiances), and that this is connected to her somehow less than sincere embrace of Conservative party principles.

2) You fundamentally misunderstand the workings of British politics. Under this interpretation, you are implying that Truss has shown a certain disregard for issues that drive the Labor party (I hope you meant the party, since you capitalized it, and not labor at large), and that this is typical of Conservatives. Somehow, this is also supposed to be comment-worthy.

Both these interpretations, unfortunately, point to your complete lack of understanding re: how the British political machine operates - as Miloslaw pointed out.

News / Poland to officially demand $1.32 trillion WW2 reparations from Germany [457]


You just made me realize that most elections around the world are based on the Nigerian Prince scam. However, regarding the subject at hand, I think it is much more likely that Kaczynski will get a $1T payment from a wealthy Nigerian nobleman, than from the government of Germany.

BTW: Sorry for not responding a few days back - got suspended again...

News / Poland to officially demand $1.32 trillion WW2 reparations from Germany [457]


What wow? It was a good wow. Best wow. Wow @ how clear-eyed and objective you can be when you want - dearest Baboon.

News / Poland to officially demand $1.32 trillion WW2 reparations from Germany [457]


Wow.


Recently it is becoming more and more difficult for me to understand why I had problems with Pawian in the past.

News / Poland to officially demand $1.32 trillion WW2 reparations from Germany [457]


Look, I don't care if it is women, monkeys, robots - as long as you meet us on the Vistula river at the agreed upon time - all else is details.

News / Poland to officially demand $1.32 trillion WW2 reparations from Germany [457]


... and our generals and soldiers will, in their turn, sh!t their pants with glee. Not to criticize Russian weapons, but German weapons are quite nice. However, they are usually poorly adopted to Russian climate conditions and Russian conscripts whose hands sometimes grow out of their a$$. Thankfully, however, climate is warming, and Russia has more volunteers than conscripts now.

However, you cannot get away with this formula - "German tech, Russian manpower" - again. Back then Russia was much larger in population. Today, what is the ratio - 80M and 150M? We do not have so many bodies to throw away anymore, as you may have noticed in Ukraine. No, Germany needs to contribute some of its soldiers too - preferably more from the Northeast, and less from the Southwest :))

News / Poland to officially demand $1.32 trillion WW2 reparations from Germany [457]


Oh... you want to party like it's 1939?!

How do we do Molotov-Ribbentrop 2.0 if modern Germany has practically no military to speak of, and Russia is... how to say... busy?

I mean, if you think it is urgent, and absolutely can't wait... Russia does not leave its friends hanging. We can figure something out :))

News / Poland to officially demand $1.32 trillion WW2 reparations from Germany [457]

@Cojestdocholery @Novichok

Here's two links for you guys, so you may operate with facts in your debate.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German%E2%80%93Polish_Border_Treaty

EXCERPT: The German-Polish Border Treaty of 1990 finally settled the issue of the Polish-German border, which in terms of international law had been pending since 1945. It was signed by the foreign ministers of Poland and Germany, Krzysztof Skubiszewski and Hans-Dietrich Genscher, on 14 November 1990 in Warsaw, ratified by the Polish Sejm on 26 November 1991 and the German Bundestag on 16 December 1991, and entered into force with the exchange of the instruments of ratification on 16 January 1992.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Zgorzelec

EXCERPT: The agreement was signed under Soviet pressure by Otto Grotewohl, prime minister of the provisional government of the GDR (East Germany) and Polish premier Józef Cyrankiewicz.[...] This border drawing gave Poland a quarter of the pre-war territory of Germany according to the borders of 1937, whose German-speaking population either fled in the final stages of the war or had been expelled in the wake of the German defeat in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement.

News / Poland to officially demand $1.32 trillion WW2 reparations from Germany [457]


God has blessed us with such neighbors... What can you do? Together we tried to partition them a few times, as a potential solution, but they have an uncanny ability of reconstituting themselves. Each time they come back as an even more annoying version of their former selves. So, best to just leave them to their dramas.

News / Poland to officially demand $1.32 trillion WW2 reparations from Germany [457]


Shhhhh. I understand this is irritating for you, mein freund, but we must let this drama play itself out.

News / Poland to officially demand $1.32 trillion WW2 reparations from Germany [457]


If Zelensky and Lukashenko are the ones that benefit from it, why the hell is it Russia that is supposed to pay for their pleasure? I understand Russia always has to pay, for everything and to everyone - but this defies the laws of reason.


With all due respect to our German partners, this was a "forced" gift on their part. Russia was the country that did the "forcing". Nevertheless, the Germans later did their part too, by withdrawing their claims on these lands in exchange for a general settlement. So... we both gifted it to you. Enjoy!

News / Poland to officially demand $1.32 trillion WW2 reparations from Germany [457]


Ho-ho-ho-ho! I see now where Ukrainians got their habit of "demanding" money. It's that Polish influence showing itself again. You really have everything figured out... A trillion from Germany, a trillion from Russia - and suddenly Poland is the richest country in Europe.

We paid you reparations when we cut off a large percentage of Germany and gifted it to you. Incidentally, this is the economic engine of your country - a gift that just keeps on giving! If you have complaints about the Kresy, please feel free to address these concerns with Zelensky and Lukashenko.

News / Poland to officially demand $1.32 trillion WW2 reparations from Germany [457]


Ohhhh... Germany will simply love this line of conversation!

Probably about as much as white people in the United States are pleased, when African Americans begin to talk about reparations for slavery.

News / Poland to officially demand $1.32 trillion WW2 reparations from Germany [457]


PiS must be a long-running KGB/FSB operation. There's no other explanation that would make quite as much sense. Really, these guys are an amazing gift to Russian foreign policy.

After the start of the war, when Poland and Hungary began to diverge over the question of sanctions and refugees, I started getting worried. I thought, "sh!t... Poland may be adopting a more mainstream position, which may potentially leave the Hungarians as the only wrecking ball inside the EU, that we can rely on for our games of divide and conquer." Thankfully, my fears were misplaced. Poland was simply taking a time out, and is now back to reclaim its leading role as a time bomb under the EU.

Bravo!

Genealogy / Looking on information on the name Hreben. [12]


Okay... Was it at least gratifying to know the correct location of the village?


Very happy for you.

Genealogy / Looking on information on the name Hreben. [12]


I Googled the term "Hreben surname" in Russian («Гребень фамилия»), and the results were pretty unanimous in stating that this is a Jewish surname, indicating an origin in the person's profession - that of a barber. In Russian, just as in other Slavic languages, the word гребень (greben', hreben, etc) means comb. It could also mean the fleshy red thing on top of a rooster's head, or the crest of a wave or mountain, but that surely is not the relevant definition here. It seems it would be unusual for a Pole, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Czech, Slovak, or Russian to have such a surname.

The town, Signevichi (Сигневичи), is located in modern Belarus, in the Brest Oblast. At the time of your ancestor's emigration, however, it still lay within Poland. In 2019, it had a population of 245 people, down from 500+ in the 19th century. Hope this helps.

Wikipedia article for Signevichi in Russian (use Google Translate):
ru.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1%D0%B8%D0%B3%D0%BD%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87%D0%B8

Life / Why Polish singers are not popular abroad? [95]

@Alien

Okudzhava is beyond reproach, I meant exclusively female pop singers, since I assumed that this is what it was about. Plenty of good Russian music in other genres.

Life / Why Polish singers are not popular abroad? [95]


You have not heard Russian pop stars. Polish singers will seem like Whitney Houston in comparison.

Feedback / I love this forum - It's so Polish: tolerant, inconsistent, amusing [260]


Amen brother!

News / Will Poland be badly hit by Recession ? I don't think so. [70]


Interesting.

I'm assuming that a typical restaurant's gross margin is ~70%. Also, from past cases brought to me, know that in general full service restaurants end up at somewhere below 10% in terms of the net margin after all is said and done (a little higher for fast food, maybe 15-20%). If my 10% assumption is correct, and we both know that inflation in Poland is already running @ with 15% - I also would have been increasing prices. Probably like the guys you mentioned that are increasing prices beyond the rate of inflation. But I suppose that's why I'm not in the restaurant business and you are.

I believe you, that they are being punished for the overly aggressive price hike by patrons, but do you think they are actually net losers? Perhaps it's more of a wash - dollar sales up, volumes down, but overall they're doing just about as good as they were in the past?

Thanks for your reply.

News / Will Poland be badly hit by Recession ? I don't think so. [70]


I know we don't like each other particularly much, but would appreciate if you answered some questions.

1) Are incoming Ukrainians helping to offset labor costs for hospitality businesses? The steak restaurant example you cited - was he keeping all of his pre-war staff on payroll despite seeing only 10% of expected business month in, month out?

2) How much is inflation affecting your recipe ingredient costs? Did you have to update your menu prices during this period? If so, how many times?

3) What's happening with rents for commercial RE? Top end, like Rynek, and lower end?

4) I understand your business is more reliant on foreigners, but have you seen any noticeable drop off of Poles dining out?

5) Do you expect inflation to slow down next year?


I don't know - maybe because unless they are in the east near our humanitarian corridors, there is really no easy way for them to reach Russia. I guess the shortest route would be to travel to Poland, then fly to Istanbul, and from there to Russia. That involves money, which I expect is precious for them at the moment.

News / Will Poland be badly hit by Recession ? I don't think so. [70]


I didn't even mean this in my typical sense of "Ukrainians don't exist". I meant that there are many ethnic Russians and Russian-speakers amongst the flow of refugees. The majority are Ukrainian, yes.


I was following up on PAK's post. I said so. I even explained how the security anxieties and refugee anxieties were both surprising to me, because I imagined a different mechanism for the tourism drop.


It's a fact, and I don't think CNN is a Russian propaganda outlet. If anything, it's a propaganda outlet for your camp.

News / Will Poland be badly hit by Recession ? I don't think so. [70]


Maybe you are confusing me with someone. If you read through past posts in other threads, you will see that I do actually have a sinister motive, and that is that Poles will become closer to understanding Russians through housing so many ethnic Russian or Russian-speaking refugees in their homes. I don't hate my own people, and if some of them choose to go to Poland to hide from the war instead of Russia, why should I wish them misery?

I am intelligent enough to understand that the vast, vast majority of refugees have nothing to do with the origins of the war. Also, the less women and children there are in Ukraine, the easier it is for us to do the job.

Again, I am grateful to Poland. Furthermore, I don't think refugees have a big impact on the economic difficulties of Poland currently (compared to, for example, energy issues related to gas and coal). Perhaps refugees are number 10 on list of reasons for economic trouble. I can't exploit, what I don't believe in.

If Poland exhibited a two-faced attitude towards the war by supplying weapons but not accepting refugees - you would see a lot more toxic sh!t flowing out of this Russian

News / Will Poland be badly hit by Recession ? I don't think so. [70]


I really am not. I said - people are idiots. If they think it is bad to be having fun around refugees (first, how would a hypothetical Englishman even tell Poles and Ukrainians apart, in order to realize he is mingling amongst refugees?), then why do they also not think that by cancelling their plans they are hurting both Poles and refugees?

I'm not Velund, and I don't dislike Poles. You actually helped me in this regard. I can respect your approach that you hate so-called RuSSists but can at the same time show solidarity with normal Russians (like in the thread about people drowning). I don't agree with you, but I understand it's no different than me liking Ukrainians in general and at the same time hating Banderists.

I don't live in Poland, but I am very curious about it. I can show the Russian perspective in the Ukraine War thread, and I can help with Polish economics - so that is what I do. Sometimes I can help on genealogical questions, if it is relevant to Russia or Ukraine. I wish I could participate in other threads, like the photo riddle threads - but again I do not live in Poland.


Nothing I wrote above is "exploiting refugees". I wrote about coal prices, recession fears, central bank incompetence, and finally the tourism drop (and said people are idiots for their misplaced anxiety about refugees), but only in response to PAK's interesting post. You will not believe me, but I am grateful to Poland for accepting the refugees in such numbers and with such warmth.

News / Will Poland be badly hit by Recession ? I don't think so. [70]


Not sure if this is what you meant, but I believe it's clear that it is not a post-Covid slump that is affecting tourism to Poland. What is happening is a direct result of the war in Ukraine, and it is not unique to Poland - with all of Eastern Europe being affected. Of course, it's completely irrational to fear for one's safety in Poland, but that seems to be the calculus of potential tourists.

A good CNN article with lots of numbers and some good quotable pieces:

cnn.com/travel/article/ukraine-invasion-tourism-eastern-europe/index.html

According to the article, it's not just a question of safety, but also a fear that it's morally wrong to have fun while refugees are flowing in. Quote:

"People are saying they don't want to go somewhere and be seen to be having fun in a place where they perceive there to be a lot of refugees.

"Someone lost their home and you're there in matching t-shirts, drinking beer -- there's a juxtaposition that doesn't sit right."

My initial personal assumption regarding why tourist numbers were depressed, was that it was because of a reduction in disposable income due to higher energy bills, making many people postpone travel until better times. But reading this article I realized I was wrong, and it's really war-based concerns that are driving the decline. The most important indicator arguing against my POV, is that many people actually CANCELLED their trips (so they were already paid for). Quote:

At the end of March, Poland's deputy minister for sport and tourism, Andrzej Gut-Mostowy, told media that cancelations from foreign visitors were up between 30% and 40%.

In January, Jacek Legendziewicz was hoping 2022 would be the year his Krakow-based hospitality company, Jordan Group, recovered from the pandemic. But then came the invasion -- and they lost 80% of group bookings in three days.

Those numbers are crazy. I sympathize with the feeling that this is not fair, since the war is happening in another country and Poland is absolutely safe. People are idiots.

News / Will Poland be badly hit by Recession ? I don't think so. [70]


Mhmm. Two days ago, already: politico.eu/article/poland-central-bank-adam-glapinski-germany-design-poland-territory/

Here's a quote for people that want a sense of the article, or have not read the original interview in Gazeta Polska:

"Poland is heading toward a recession, its currency is losing value and inflation is among the highest in the EU, but the head of the country's central bank has other concerns.

The danger for Poland lurks in Berlin and Brussels, Adam Glapiński warned in an interview with the right-wing Gazeta Polska published Wednesday."

This fellow sounds a lot like Turkey's central bank head, who does whatever that madman Erdogan orders him to do. No central bank independence whatsoever in Turkey, and it seems that in Poland's case it's the same - where Adam Glapiński is a political hack in the pocket of PiS leadership and not a neutral technocrat (as should be in any normal place).

There (in Turkey) they are promoting an extremely unorthodox monetary policy, according to which higher interest rates spur higher inflation (any student of economics know this is the opposite of how it works). Defying the laws of economics has a price: Turkey has a forecasted inflation rate of 80% for this year, and the lira is now at 18 to a $ (it was at 2 in 2014). So if Poles ever feel bad about the economic situation, they can make themselves feel better by reminding themselves that at least it's never going to be as bad as in Turkey.

News / Will Poland be badly hit by Recession ? I don't think so. [70]

@Alien

The practical definition of a recession is two back-to-back quarters of GDP declines. So there isn't a recession, yet, but if Q3 produces another decline we will be in official recession territory.

Through the reports I've read, there is a near consensus amongst analysts that Q3 will be even worse than Q2.

Good news is that recessions typically have a depressing effect on inflation, through lower demand and lower economic activity. Price growth should slowly cool down as the economy moves through a recession. However, there are examples of anomalous situations when you have both a recession and persistent high inflation. This does monstrous damage to economies. We will have to wait and see what happens in Poland's case.

News / Will Poland be badly hit by Recession ? I don't think so. [70]

According to Eurostat, Poland is the EU's worst performing economy this quarter. Somebody should tell Adam Glapiński that he should start focusing more on the economy and less on Tusk's plan to overthrow the PiS government.

Link: ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/14675418/2-17082022-AP-EN.pdf/e2a24cfe-ee79-d042-0a17-be6a117fba1a?t=1660721345061

Look at page 3 👆