History / What should Russia and Poland do to become if not friends, then at least not enemies? [945]


This is probably possible. Start by signing agreement with Rosatom (the world's largest nuclear power corporation, building the most nuclear reactors around the world), to build a Polish NPP or a couple. If it works for Hungary, it should work for Poland.

This would give Polish scientists and engineers time and invaluable experience in operating and maintaining a nuclear power plant. From there, it is really a technical step, and some serious investment, for Poland to be able to build the facilities necessary for weapons grade enrichment.

However, Russia likely would not be comfortable with Poland keeping fissile materials, would want them returned for burial in Russia. Also, unless it did this secretly, Russia could not help Poland build the enrichment facilities.

We were trying to help Iran and look what happened. Jews keep blowing up the place, killing the chief scientists, and Iran is sanctioned like it is not on Earth but some orbiting body.

History / What should Russia and Poland do to become if not friends, then at least not enemies? [945]


Poland would have to make many changes, before Russia would be willing to provide it with nuclear weapons. Let's look at existing examples of people sharing nuclear weapons.

The closest example of someone simply giving someone else nuclear weapons, together with the keys to them, is Britain and the United States. Meaning, Britain was simply allowed to purchase American Trident ICBMs, and is more or less in control of them. This unique situation exists for a long list of reasons, but perhaps the main one is that the Brits already had their own nukes before (and had at least the theoretical ability to continue making their own). Britain and the United States are also exceptionally close allies, sharing a common history, having fought together in the two most important conflicts in modern history. It is impossible to imagine the UK threatening or extorting the US by means of nuclear brinksmanship.

The other examples are of the United States stationing nuclear weapons on the territory of key allies such as Germany or Turkey. It doesn't mean that the Germans or Turks can use those nuclear weapons at will. Even if those countries are attacked themselves, the US will have the final say in whether or not they can be used.

Then there is the example of Belarus, which is also merely making its country available for hosting Russian nukes. Whatever Lukashenko says, it's not his to threaten others with. However, the nukes ARE in Belarus, and this IS important. Problem for you Poles, if you want the nukes from us, is that Belarus and Russia are a part of something called the Union State. Are you willing to enter that level of intimate partnership with us? Because I think that's the only way this will happen.

History / What should Russia and Poland do to become if not friends, then at least not enemies? [945]


Just got distracted by American matters. I did not give up on the idea, and continue to view it seriously.

However, nuclear weapons cannot be the "only" answer. Russia will be the first country that will have problems after giving nukes to Poland. We are a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. We would become even more sanctioned, by possibly a much larger circle of countries.

Poland would also face extreme problems. Getting kicked out of NATO, and the EU could be just the start.

We have to start slow, but always move forward. Maybe even the day for sharing nukes will come, but much has to be done before.

History / What should Russia and Poland do to become if not friends, then at least not enemies? [945]


Thank you!

I have this theory, that I've been carrying around for a long time - that Russia and the US have more in common, than what sets them apart.

1) We are both, "of Europe", but also very clearly not "European". To them, we are their primitive cousins, and sometimes they remind us about this.

2) The "Frontier" played a huge role in the shaping of each country's mindset. The Americans had Manifest Destiny, Conquest of the West, cowboys, and homesteaders. At the same time, Russia moved East towards the Pacific, through similarly desolate lands. Instead of cowboys we had Cossacks. Instead of homesteaders, we had our own peasant settlers.

3) Both countries have an idea, right or wrong, that they have a special role to play among the people's of the world.

4) Both consider Europe weak, effeminate, and rotting.

5) We are both a little bit worried about the monstrous size and appetite of China.

6) As people, I think we are both very open, simple, and hospitable. You get what you see. This is why I think in personal relations, Americans and Russians get along very well.

All the above, is not to say that America is closer to Russia than Poland. Think about that :)

History / This anti-Ukrainian propaganda for no valid reasons must stop [70]


This is why I love PF.

Free stock tips. Free legal advice. Free career consultations. And now... free psychoanalysis.

Whoever said that you get what you pay for, has not been to PF.

History / This anti-Ukrainian propaganda for no valid reasons must stop [70]


You can be cruel sometimes, Barney.

History / This anti-Ukrainian propaganda for no valid reasons must stop [70]


But of course, I meant myself and my colleague.

Once again, I am experiencing a crisis of faith. First, your "Poland Should Apologize to Ukraine" thread made me feel utterly superfluous. Now, this genius Michael arrives, and in one single post achieves a greater kinetic effect than 1,000 of our posts.

What am I doing here? Am I actually a good Russian troll, or merely average?

The above, is the difference between an amateur and a professional.

History / This anti-Ukrainian propaganda for no valid reasons must stop [70]


Michael certainly seems to have read a lot... of Stepan Bandera's works.

I love the title of his thread... "for no valid reasons", hahahaha! This guy's amazing.

History / What should Russia and Poland do to become if not friends, then at least not enemies? [945]

@pawian

Is Russia, freeing all the Slavs of Southern Europe and Central Europe from the clutches of the Ottomans, Austrians, and Venetians a good thing or a bad thing? Are those countries today a part of Russia? Did we turn them into Russians? All of them follow the Orthodox faith?

What the hell, we even gave you guys your historic lands in the West - taking them away from the Germans. The pieces we cut from the East, were not even majority Polish, and in any case do not belong to Russia now.

As far as Pan-Slavism goes, Russia certainly didn't invent it, did not benefit from it much, but absolutely did the bigger part of the heavy lifting in giving it some actual substance.

Your hate for Russia is blinding!

History / This anti-Ukrainian propaganda for no valid reasons must stop [70]


Ehrm... *cough cough*

You sir, are a master. I take my hat off to you.

In all the years of two Russians trying to sow discord between Ukrainians and Poles on this forum, we never even approached your level of skill.

Simply... WOW!

History / What should Russia and Poland do to become if not friends, then at least not enemies? [945]


Historically - the epicenter of Pan-Slavism was the Balkans and the area that is now occupied by Czechia and Slovakia. This was in the 19th century.

These were Slavs that were under the rule of Turks, Venetians, Austrians and Hungarians for hundreds of years. They were Muslims, Catholics, and Orthodox - but still feeling closer to each other than towards any of their oppressors.

In Russia, they saw a savior (Poland also was not independent at the time). Indeed, using Pan-Slavism as its opening, Russia freed all the Slavs of Southern Europe within a relatively short period of time.

The peak of Pan-Slavism came with the creation of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. Now, when both those countries have splintered into pieces - it's probably fair to say that the best days of Pan-Slavism are behind us.

What I'm trying to say, is that when Pawian says "Pan-Slavism always ends in Russian domination", it is not historically or factually correct. Russia did not invent Pan-Slavism, and has never really benefited from it in any big way.

History / What should Russia and Poland do to become if not friends, then at least not enemies? [945]


Yes, brate. I apologize for missing this part of your message.

Svetovid smiles from the skies, each time Slavic brothers unite in love for Mother Serbia. When good Slavs show this kind of cooperation - one can only say: all is well in the universe.

A little bird told me, that when all Slavs unite, the collective sphincter of every other race will tighten to impossibly small diameter.

@Ironside

What's this obsession with nuclear missiles? Who do you want to nuke? I am a little bit worried it may be Russia)

Only one country ever used nukes, and I'm fairly certain they still have mixed feelings about it. This is not a weapon that should be used by the Christ Among Nations.

Poland's most powerful weapon is its moral superiority.

History / What should Russia and Poland do to become if not friends, then at least not enemies? [945]


Definitely. I would not expect Poland to put itself in jeopardy on behalf of Russia, but it could be something like the way the Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes coordinate things that are important to them.

Not everything that is "life or death" for Denmark, is important for Norway. But I would expect Norway to at least make some noises to Washington and Brussels about Danish concerns, and how it would be nice to address them.

It's the spirit of the process that matters, more than the practical results - which may be negligible for a while.


There is, at the moment, perhaps not so much Russia can offer Poland, as Poland may be able to help Russia with. I don't think sharing nukes is a good way to begin.

It's not like Russia can tell Brussels, "F*ck off from Poland regarding your requests to change their constitution, or else we will drop a bomb on your stupid Europarliament." We can't tell Brussels to spare Poland from waves of migrants either.

What Russia can help Poland with, is still very useful, however. The traditional Russian tool of foreign policy - energy. Energy is everything, and we can - for example - let Poland pay the same prices for gas and oil as Belarus. This will represent an enormous tax on the Russian people, but will probably at the same time make Poland the number one economy in Europe within ten years :)

To get Belarus-style energy prices, a lot has to happen however.

Besides energy, Russia can offer access to our large market, which is shared with several other states with an additional 60M people or so. We can make it easier for Polish companies to work there, than for any other EU country.

News / Americans incite hatred towards Russia in Polish media [75]


$50B is not a lot for the CBR. It could do that for 8 years in a row, and still have money left. It has to smooth out the curves, to prevent excess volatility.

History / What should Russia and Poland do to become if not friends, then at least not enemies? [945]


I'm a Pan-Slavist idiot. To me it means - we have a cousin inside the world's biggest economic bloc, and world's strongest military alliance. They can hopefully use their influence to make life for us Russians a little easier. Either by pressuring the EU to open its markets to Russia in a bigger way, or encouraging NATO to consider Russian interests instead of walking all over them.

Poland inside the Russian-led Customs Union, or the ODKB (military alliance), is just not realistic. We don't have as much money as the EU to shower on Poland, and Poland is still too suspicious of us to ever consider us military allies. So why rage at the wind? Better to have a hand in the game, than to have no influence at all. In the same way - I won't be upset if Serbia joins the EU.


As you can probably guess from the above, we don't need you to advocate on our behalf for handouts. Just for the West to treat us as equal human beings in business dealings and foreign policy.

History / What should Russia and Poland do to become if not friends, then at least not enemies? [945]


Considering that there are 110M ethnic Russians living in Russia, I will assume you are advocating a genocide against the Russian people.


I wouldn't be surprised if there were a couple hundred thousand Polish citizens that would quite like it if they had a preferential path to a Russian work permit over other Europeans. There are hundreds of Polish companies in Russia. Nobody likes to deal with bureaucracy, and it can be a huge obstacle to business.

News / Americans incite hatred towards Russia in Polish media [75]

@pawian

A weakening ruble is great for the Kremlin.

It means the budget makes the same amount of money, even if commodity prices (which are in USD) go lower.

This, in turn, reduces the deficit.

It makes it easy to pay off Ruble-denominated debts, because as a country we mostly earn in foreign currency.

A weakening ruble is bad for Russians that:

1) Like to buy imported things

2) Like to vacation abroad

3) Have a business arrangement, where they owe someone foreign currency, while they are earning in rubles.

For Putin, a weakening ruble is the fastest way to close the gap on the budget deficit. We sell oil, gas, metals for dollars, euro, yuan, but have to pay pensions and state salaries in rubles. So if every dollar from oil exports, now brings 100 rubles instead of 70 - that's quite convenient.

History / What should Russia and Poland do to become if not friends, then at least not enemies? [945]


I have a hard time seeing Putin celebrating Poland's EU and NATO status.


Defend them when they get attacked, no problem. But only when they really get attacked.

History / What should Russia and Poland do to become if not friends, then at least not enemies? [945]

Polish-Russian Friendship - Realism Edition:

I will start with what Poland must do:

1) It is unreasonable for us to expect Poland to leave the EU, however, it can begin to act as Russia's advocate within the EU. The same way it does for Ukraine.

2) Simplify travel requirements, and liberalize the movement of goods between Kaliningrad Oblast and Poland.

3) Defend Russia's position on the defense of the Russian language in the Baltics.

4) Resist sending any Polish forces to various American adventures around the world.

Now, as a Russian this is a little more difficult for me, but I will try to list what Russia can do symmetrically on its part to improve relations:

1) Declare, as a foreign policy principle, that a Poland within NATO and within the EU is fully acceptable to Russians and even to our advantage.

2) Simplify entry for Polish business into the Russian market.

3) Remove visa requirements for Poles (even though Poles would not be able to make this reciprocal due to obligations to Brussels).

4) Allow Poles to gain work permits within Russia, on a simplified basis.

Things both countries can do:

1) Foster student exchanges

2) Host a "Year of Russian Culture in Poland", and a "Year of Polish Culture in Russia", to reintroduce the two to each other.

3) Form "historical remembrance commissions", where historians - not politicians, can study questions like Katyn, Warsaw Uprising, etc.

Something like that.

History / Warsaw Rising 1944 - National Disaster or Triumph of Spirit ? [515]


Not sure this is the case, to be honest. If anything, it showed us how much Poles hate us - that they were willing to throw out that many lives to avoid falling under communist control.

By the time of the Warsaw Uprising, everybody in Moscow already had quite a good idea of Poland's "berserk bravery". There is of course the long, and ancient history. But then, just two decades earlier there was also the Polish-Soviet war, where the Soviet Union suffered an embarrassing defeat (and where Stalin acted as a field commander).

Losing in a war to the Poles, one could argue, is a little bit more impressive of a "reminder" than watching them fight a one-sided battle with the Wehrmacht for a few months.

History / Did Poles living in Germany support Hitler's rise to power before World War II? [161]

What a strange topic...

Not Poles, but Poles in Germany. How many were there? Are you talking about Polish citizens living in Germany, or ethnic Poles with German citizenship?

News / Poland highest inflation in 20 years [319]


Certainly these two are those most capable of directly affecting inflation, but it doesn't mean it's necessarily caused by them.

In the case of the United States, insane spending definitely played a role in driving a surge of inflation. However, it's hard to say to what extent it was a bigger factor than the pandemic-related supply chain shocks.

Trump passed a total of $3T in pandemic stimulus bills, and then Biden another $1.9T. That's basically $5 trillion dollars of spending that would not have occurred otherwise. Inflation surged immediately after - this was not a coincidence. They were literally putting thousand dollar checks into every American's pocket - driving up demand for everything, while at the same time supply was struggling more than ever before due to myriad bottlenecks created by the pandemic.

Shortages of key components, such as chips, drove up the price of everything - from cars to medical equipment.

In any case, what you guys are discussing is an incredibly complicated subject, that economists have debated over for centuries. What is inflation, and what causes it, is not a straightforward thing at all. The modern debate is between a monetarist school (broadly what Novichok argues), and the Keynesian school (which argues that short term fluctuations in demand as well as cost pressures play an important role).

To some extent, you folks are conflating a currency's devaluation, with an increase in the price of goods - but that is not always the case, and this is easily demonstrable. Anyway, let's not make this an academic debate.

Travel / Being Transgender and visiting Wroclaw [467]

I would never go from being male to being a female. The lines to the bathroom are so incredibly long. I imagine there must be quite a lot of time management that goes into peeing, otherwise you risk going in your pants.

After a movie ends, I'm in and out of the bathroom in no time. Then I wait 15 mins for my girlfriend.

Even in the outdoors, where there are no lines - the peeing experience is incomparable. Having twigs and thorns scraping at my ass, instead of wistfully staring at the horizon as I stand proud and do my business.

This is not to say, that being a transgender tourist in Wrocław is not a safe thing to do.

Life / Gas / Benzyna prices in Poland [29]


Silly Jon... How do you buy things like Polska Press without outrageous profits?

Life / In need of good Polish jokes about Polish culture, people, etc [239]

This made me laugh:

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News / Russian criticism of Poland - Soviet war memorial removal [332]

Really? No! You are lying! This cannot be.

Why? Are they brain dead?

News / Polish Parliamentary Elections 2023 [933]


Yes, air has been cleared, and hate has been established.

Now a tell me again, how your buttocks clench at the thought of PiS forging a nationalist coalition.

News / Russian criticism of Poland - Soviet war memorial removal [332]


Very nice. Dismissing 600K dead with one wave of the hand.

Sending good thoughts to my great grandpa that burned alive in a tank under Warsaw, instead of stopping at the Soviet border and enjoying the rest of his life.

News / Polish Parliamentary Elections 2023 [933]


Another worrying sign of Polish-Ukrainian closeness.

Famous Ukrainian saying is: "where there are two Ukrainians, there are three hetmans".

News / Polish Parliamentary Elections 2023 [933]


What is with these names?

Why so many bloody parties?

Does it really further democracy, when every voter can basically have his own party? To me, this type of fracturing indicates an intellectual vacuum and absence of substance.

The problems facing Poland are simple. The top list consists of maybe 5 items. There are maybe three different ways to approach each of them. This is enough for 3-4 parties to really chew and digest. What the hell do the other parties do?