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


Here I would disagree....IMHO it was definitely her personality which made the monarchy bearable and even likeable for many people who otherwise wouldn't care less!

King Charles will have big shoes to fill...and I wouldn't call him "Europes leading head"...he doesn't lead Europe! ;)

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

....it seems to me the immense popularity of the Queen did hold it all together during all these years....I wonder if it will all fizzle out now slowly with her gone.

That makes her funeral so doubly sad and important....it could be truly the end of an era!

(My....how did it go so quickly so far OT???)

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


Really? The EU members meet there for new laws? To elect new top positions? To greet new member, to have parties at founding day etc. etc. etc.?


...or in Canada...it is in the same continent after all!

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


Since the Brexit London can't be the european capital....a true capital is not only about finances and economy but also for meetings and events and such bonding things.

It would be like the United States having it's capital in...say....Middle America....or even more southern.

London ist definitely a financial global hub, but you have to differentiate between continental, EU Europe and non-members....and when most european countrier already are/will be in the future EU-members that leaves London, the UK out.

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

I wonder, where exactly do you see us so powerful? We couldn't even save the Oder....

But we make a an easy "bogeyman", don't we? Easy to blame all own failures own, to project all fears on, to shut down all people with different opinions with, calling them "traitor of the people", etc.

Thing is, that proceeding is not new, actually very old....and it led never to anything good!

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


Would there be a majority for that move?

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

No white man in a top position....that made even the news here in Germany!

History / Gorbachev and Poland [63]

*sigh* Agree to disagree?

History / Gorbachev and Poland [63]


Is the morality of the one who set you free really the most important thing???


Shouldn't they then be doubly thankful that he dissolved this empire?

If not then I can truly declare them as shortsighted....without him they would still be part of a Soviet Union!

History / Gorbachev and Poland [63]


What's "lol" about it? Rarely made ONE MAN alone such a difference in history...because "he didn't"!


Probably not, that would had made him a "white" guy....and then nothing of this would had happened at all.


Buth thought worthy....


Nobody demands that, but seeing the big picture is necessary to make a good judgement!

Without Gorbatschov the Sovietunion would still exist, many Russians hate him for this. Uprisings and independence fights would had beaten down bloodily....we all here wouldn't had met and know each other....PF wouldn't exist....our all lives changed for the better because of him! Yes also the lives of the baltic republics!

How he did that, how it came to that, if he was saintly or devilish doesn't matter at all in hindsight...just try to imagine some hardcore nutter in his place.

Anything else is denial!

Cut down on your quotes please

History / Gorbachev and Poland [63]


Later....as he rose through the ranks! Imagine the nomenklatura would had known he would dissolve the Sovietunion....no way!


Without him even they would have it much worse today! The Sovietunion would (probably) still exist and they would be still part of it. They shouldn't forget that!

...am NOT infatuated!!!! 😲

History / Gorbachev and Poland [63]


Just imagine for a minute someone else in his position, at this time, someone "black"...Europe would today look much different, much worse!

Alone for that, "grayish" or not, he deserves eternal respect! And maybe it needed to be a grayish character to get into this place at this time....someone "white" would never had made it up so high in the party and in the Kremlin!

History / Gorbachev and Poland [63]

Well....and because of that we should forget what he did for Germany?

There is no way one judgement would be right for everything....but calling him a bad guy would be totally wrong!

History / Gorbachev and Poland [63]


He could have supported the East-Berlin regime as they asked for help, but he didn't! He could had send the soviet panzer rolling as in 1953 or Hungary 1956, but he didn't! And he must have known what that would mean for the soviet colony GDR...the End!

That makes him for Germans a good guy forever....

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


There isn't?

Okay.....good to know....then I end it here, no use to get riled up!

*takes helmet*

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


...and from that you conclude it's Germany's fault? Not maybe PiS???


....and that is a reason to start a war again???? What makes K different to Putin? His followers use the same arguments actually....


And K cares so much about it to demand reparations???


.....and this is a good reason to....for what actually?

You still have to explain to me what all this has to do with K's insane reparation demands, really!

Cut down on the number of quotes please

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


....then it's for the better they will be used mainly in some central european climate! ;)


I'm sure we can scrape something together...

Do you accept women too? The Bundeswehr has them now....

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


What??? How so?

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


Well....YOU started it....again!

It's YOUR nutters who keep brining that up again and again whenever it fits them...for Germany that case is truly closed!

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


Hmmm....maybe....we bring the arms tech to the table and you the men?

(And no....this time not only helmets!:)

Our arms industry will sh't themselves with glee...

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

Erm....are you for real?

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


...and still they find always enough follower who don't see through that and start marching happily!

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


Yes!

We could just ask our friend Putin to help out.....heh:)

Are you really that stupid? Do you never learn?

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


That little essay in a german news outlet might then interest you....it's from 2019 as this came up again:


merkur.de/lokales/leserbriefe/im-blickpunkt/deutschland-polen-weltkrieg-reparationen-ostgebiete-12958661.html

...80 years after the beginning of the war, I think it is far exaggerated and inappropriate to make demands on the post-war generations again. Around 1/3 of the Polish territory was once Germany. The value of the real estate of the private and public properties according to today's standards as well as the exploited mineral resources such as the Silesian coal would already constitute an overcompensation of the damage. In addition, there are industrial plants and residential buildings on a considerable scale, which were occupied by Poles without compensation. Germany is the wrong contact person. Poland should turn here to Belarus and the Ukraine, which, as successor states to the Soviet Union, incorporated large areas of Poland and took Silesian coal in the post-war period. For Russia/Belarus/Ukraine, the Hitler-Stalin Pact continues to exist as far as their own territorial claims are concerned. In this respect, it is appropriate for the Federal Government to make a corresponding announcement once and for all. .

As a member of the post-war generation, I don't see it being liable for the misdeeds of my ancestors with the tax money we earned. If Poland doesn't accept that, then Poland and Russia should give us back our territory. Then you can talk about compensation. But not like this. Incidentally, Poland occupied far more than the areas beyond the Oder and Neisse. For example, the areas west of the Oder around the cities of Stettin and Pölitz and the eastern part of the island of Usedom with the city of Swinemünde. If Poland wants to unpack the package, everything has to be put on the table and included. Then the balance for Poland would probably be very bad. It would be better for Poland: keep quiet. ...

...

So...I wouldn't be so sure to count on the war guilt of the Germans whereas you keep on to behave like a nutter, an arsehole....just saying!

Putin did invade Ukraine for unresolved territorial questions...Poland to open this can of worms now on it's other side is just plain insane!

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


Well.....how old is K. now actually? ;)

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


You subscribe to closure treaties aka waiving....you become a member of the EU (and with that get a gazillion on support monies / alot of that german monies!) and that case ist well and truly closed for good!

You do all that but still come around with some new claims every few years nonetheless is just bad, disingenuous behaviour....

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


We already had peace and closure...and a common EU membership forbids such claims....but then came K. who just gives a sh*t!

It's not much difference to Putin....one bad apple in power can rot the whole basket!

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


....I'm not gonna miss him, that's for sure!


He is so bad for german-polish relations....at Twitter they are asking already for the #Ostgebiete back or nutters are calculating that the worth of the territories is so high that Germany could demand monies from Poland back instead etc....

twitter.com/search?q=Ostgebiete&src=trend_click&vertical=trends

*big heartfelt sigh*

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


....no, this whole question has been closed for good!

If Germany would give in that would open a whole can of international worms which would destroy the EU and in the end the peace.

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


....again! *sighs* (That isn't the first time)

One could expect a Union to stand together in times of crisis....or not!

....but maybe that is the payback for Germany's now quite stupid hanging on that "Wandel durch Handel" idea?