The BEST Guide to POLAND
Unanswered  |  Archives [3] 
  
Account: Guest

Posts by Bobko  

Joined: 13 Mar 2017 / Male ♂
Last Post: 6 hrs ago
Threads: Total: 28 / Live: 24 / Archived: 4
Posts: Total: 2848 / Live: 2772 / Archived: 76
From: New York
Speaks Polish?: A
Interests: reading, camping

Displayed posts: 2796 / page 9 of 94
sort: Latest first   Oldest first   |
Bobko   
25 Jul 2025
Genealogy / Origins of Polish Genetics [17]

Jews were always a closed community

Sort of a carryover from the other thread (Admin move if necessary), but one of the primary reasons the Ukrainians hate you is because of the Jews.

Polish nobles did not collect taxes from their Ukrainian peasants themselves. Instead they outsourced the job to Jewish "tax farmers". As long as the Jewish tax collector paid the Pan what he was owed, he did not care what sort of depredations the Jew unleashed on the Ukrainians.

At some point - Poles and Jews began to meld in the Ukrainian imagination. It's the origin of the aphorisms like, "Worse than a Jew, can only be a Polish merchant".

In the 1930s and 1940s, Ukrainian fascists ranked their hatreds in the following priority order: "Jews, Poles, Muscovites".
Bobko   
25 Jul 2025
Law / Gun control in Poland: should Polish people be allowed to own guns? - part 2 [54]

Poland will need some level of gun control - in any case. Because you have a country next door, that's full of literally millions of small arms.

Even in America you can't own a fully automatic rifle (in most instances). In Ukraine, you have your pick from the AK-74, the M4 Carbine, the FN SCAR, or FAL - if you are in the market for an assault rifle. It won't set you back more than $700-1000.

Payment is done in cryptocurrency, and then the weapon is dropped off in some inconspicuous bush or inside a drainage pipe - the geolocation of which is shared with you through WhatsApp. Just come with a little suitcase, or some trash bag, so people don't see you walking down the street with an assault rifle.

If you are in the market for something more serious, like a 0.50 cal Barret sniper rifle, or an M60 machine gun - $3,000-5,000.

European law enforcement has already been ringing the alarm bells for years. The borders with Romania and Hungary are especially porous.

Maybe you can't steal a tank, or an armored personnel carrier... but you can definitely steal anything smaller in Ukraine - and no one will ever bother to report it or look for it.
Bobko   
25 Jul 2025
Genealogy / Origins of Polish Genetics [17]

so Poles are Germanic from our mums' side?

It's what Iron's video says.

Your moms have always lived in Poland. Then some gopniks from the East arrived, killed their husbands, and planted their Orc seed.


  • IMG_7431.jpeg
Bobko   
25 Jul 2025
News / Why should Poland consider pursuing a strategic alliance with Russia? [392]

I hate X until I meet X.

Haha, yes.

I have a Ukrainian friend here in NY, Vladislav, and he is about 195 centimeters tall and weighs about 120 kilograms.

Simultaneously, I have some non-Ukrainian friends who are professional "Ukraine haters".

When they meet Vlad, they suddenly begin to talk in a way I never get to hear from them, when it's just us. Suddenly, their approach to the conflict is very nuanced - and all they talk about is its infinite complexity. Hahaha!

Easy enough to hate each other on the internet, but when they come face to face Russians and Ukrainians are almost always the embodiment of courtesy itself.

Sure, there are videos of some deranged Russian Karen yelling slurs at Ukrainians in the Istanbul airport. Videos of Ukrainian drunks crashing bottles of wine over Russian drunks heads at some football match in Marseille. But it's not representative...

--//--

Here in New York, many Russians I know, attend Ukrainian charity drives, go to the same church, and appoint each other as godparents to their kids.

War is war. Life is life.
Bobko   
25 Jul 2025
Genealogy / Origins of Polish Genetics [17]

while Slavic male ancestry rewrote the nation's genetic map.

Oh boy... now the truth comes out!

Our guys came and raped all the local women, that had been living there since time immemorial.

Good Germanic women, faithful to Wodan, fell to Asiatic barbarians from the swamps and forests of the East. Such shame!
Bobko   
25 Jul 2025
News / Why should Poland consider pursuing a strategic alliance with Russia? [392]

especially the thing about "ungratefulness" when we don't do or say what is expected of us...

You are right - it's universal.

In America, Southerners still hate Northerners. The Middle hates the Coasts, and it all revolves around "who owes who".

The poorer, rural regions feel they "feed" coastal America. The gun loving South, feels they protect the effeminate North, by enlisting in the military disproportionately or actually dealing with the waves of migrants that Northerners can only read about.

In the same way Ukraine expects things from Poland and Czechia for defending them, American Southerners feel they are owed recognition for being hardline on national security and immigration.

Southern Italy hates Northern Italy - for purported abandonment and arrogance. Poland B hates Poland A - for the same reasons. East Germans hate West Germans. Northern Chinese hate Southern Chinese.

People have some deep sensor inside their ass which measures the "fairness" of things.
Bobko   
25 Jul 2025
News / Why should Poland consider pursuing a strategic alliance with Russia? [392]

nobody in Germany would call the Berliner dialect in any way "golden"!!!

In America, the broadcast standard - also known as General American English - is Mid-Western in origin.

All the people on CNN and Fox News talk like they are from Chicago or somewhere in Ohio.

It has practically no "accent", or no "regional" identifiers like a New York or Texan accent would have.

Neutral, sterile, clean.
Bobko   
25 Jul 2025
News / Why should Poland consider pursuing a strategic alliance with Russia? [392]

Wow....such a huge empire and still mainly only three dialects..

No no, there are dozens of dialects. I meant the official three groups within the Russian "family" of peoples.

But Russian dialects are really tame in comparison to English or German ones. Everybody can easily understand each other.

The three main dialects within "Great Russian" Russian, are: (1) Northern, (2) Central, and (3) Southern. Then there are many smaller subdialects: Siberian, Pomorian, Central Asian, Baltic, Caucasus.

The literary and tv broadcast "Golden Standard" of Russian is the Moscow dialect (with some St. Petersburg influence). A lot of people actually find it quite harsh on the ear, or even annoying. Moscow people make high pitched sounds like 16 year old girls, and stretch their "As" to infinity.

The most even sounding Russian, is to my ear at least - the Uralic variety.
Bobko   
25 Jul 2025
News / Why should Poland consider pursuing a strategic alliance with Russia? [392]

So I would see Ukrainian also as a dialect of Russian....there surely is some kind of high-Russian?

This is the "Great Russian Chauvinist" (as Lenin would call it), or "Imperialist/Nationalist" position (as modern Ukrainians would call it).

Historically (in Imperial times), the Russian "folk" was divided into three groups. Great Russians (current Russians), Little Russians (current Ukrainians), and White Russians (Belarus).

The Ukrainian language was called the "Little Russian dialect", or "Malorosskiy Dialekt". It is actually spoken in a wider area than just modern Ukraine. People also speak a slightly more archaic version of it on the Russian side of the border. In the Belgorod, Kursk, Rostov, Krasnodar regions.

So the "High Russian" was called "Great Russian". It was the main language of USSR-level television, radio, film, etc. So, in this way everyone knew it too like High German.
Bobko   
25 Jul 2025
News / Why should Poland consider pursuing a strategic alliance with Russia? [392]

That seems to be quite normal behaviour for all Easterners

Yes we all have a little chip on our shoulder, hehe. On our left shoulder!

Is Ukrainian easy for a Russian?

I wouldn't say it's "easy". Maybe like for a Prussian to understand a Bavarian at the beginning of the 20th century.

Only 60-70% of the words are the same. The others are borrowed from Polish and other languages, and usually don't make sense to a Russian unless he reads a lot.

Pronunciation-wise there's a huge difference, more than the lexical gap. Ukrainians make a bunch of sounds we don't make, or that sound funny to us.

Also the understanding works differently in either direction. 100% of Ukrainians understand Russian, but maybe only 50-60% of Russians may be able to follow a Ukrainian conversation.

Maybe it's the same in Germany? Where 100% of Bavarians can readily understand Northerners, but only 50-60% of Northerners can easily understand Bavarians?
Bobko   
25 Jul 2025
News / Why should Poland consider pursuing a strategic alliance with Russia? [392]

Just for some more context, for people unfamiliar with Gogol...

The line above is spoken by Taras Bulba, the protagonist of the book, to his son Andriy. Taras Bulba is a grizzled Ukrainian warlord, who symbolizes the Orthodox faith, the Cossack way of life, and eternal resistance to the Polish-Lithuanian Catholic nobility.

Andriy is Taras' good-for-nothing youngest son. Unlike loyal and pious Ostap (the Hector), Andriy is a sh*t for brains that follows the commands of his dick (Paris, to continue the Iliad analogy). He betrayed the Cossacks and joined the Polish side out of love for a Polish noblewoman.

Finally, one day Taras confronts him on the battlefield, and before executing him, delivers this line as a final judgment.

«Ну что, помогли тебе твои ляхи?»

Moral of the story - you can be loyal to Poles, but the Poles will value your loyalty for nothing. Meanwhile, your "bros" will surely come for you - and remember all your Polonophilia.
Bobko   
25 Jul 2025
News / Why should Poland consider pursuing a strategic alliance with Russia? [392]

Peasants.

Genuine question - what can one discuss with the Virgin during an entire hour, every single day?

I find it hard to talk to my brother or mother for more than 20 minutes every few days. Not because I don't enjoy their company, but because I find that I don't have very much to say. That is - I need more time, for more events to accumulate - so there is then something to discuss.

I'm not Belousov, and I don't have the lives of thousands of men on my conscience - so maybe I don't understand something...

Ukrainian politicians said on multiple occasions that they view Poland as a competitor in many fields and their actions only confirm their words

I really wish we had an active Ukrainian poster on this forum. One who could be somewhat objective, instead of just a patriotic bot like the previous two we had.

Anything I write about Ukrainian attitudes towards Poland will be immediately suspect, because of the source...

Nonetheless - I read Ukrainian newspapers daily. Every other evening I tune in to watch their evening talk shows (which frequently feature top officials). Probably around 25% of my Twitter feed is Ukrainian language. I follow several Ukrainian public persons on Facebook.

I can tell you - the feelings are... complex.

1) There is some sense of inadequacy when comparing themselves to Poland.

2) At the same time, this state of being less developed and much poorer than Poland, somehow feels to them as a violation of the natural order of the universe.

3) This inadequacy/shame, leads to a constant search for some kind of justification. "They became rich off our backs," or "The Russians held us back," or "The EU pumped them full of cash".

4) The shame deepens through the low class of work done by Ukrainians in Poland. Drivers, retail clerks, janitors, nannies, etc.

5) Finally shame turns to anger, and then full blown delusions of "Cossackism" (equivalent of Polish Sarmatism or Japanese Samuraism).

6) Poland constantly needling them with the Volhyn Massacres doesn't do any good. Not only are they treated as "the help", they are also being told that they are bloodthirsty apes suffering from historical amnesia. This sends them ballistic with fury.

And in general - the cultural undercurrent in Ukraine, for centuries, was extremely Polonophobic. In Ukraine, the novel Taras Bulba plays the same role, if not larger, as Ogniem i Mieczem plays in Poland. The whole book is one long anti-Polish screed.

The most quoted line from the book, that every single Ukrainian child knows, is "Well, did your Poles help you?".

This line has been quoted 10 million times by Ukrainians over the past two years, as Polish farmers dumped their grain onto highways, truckers blocked the border control points, and governments refused to hand over aging MiG jets.
Bobko   
24 Jul 2025
News / Why should Poland consider pursuing a strategic alliance with Russia? [392]

And what have you gotten for it?

In pure mathematical terms - we lost several hundred thousand men, but gained approximately 3-5 million additional citizens.

Through this kind of Satanic math - the war is providing good returns.

Take into account the coal, the metals, the gas, the rare earths - and you could really make an argument that the investment "works".

If you are especially cynical - you could argue that we lost a "lower quality" of material than the Ukrainians. Convicts, chronically unemployed, low education, low income... vs yesterday's "lawyers", "doctors", "film directors", "businessmen", etc.

Their losses are truly irreparable.... ours not so much.

a devout Christian and a servant of Saint Virgin Mary

Yes. Prays 5 times a day, like a Muslim. Begins every morning by spending an hour in his private chapel, conversing with the Virgin.

For this reason, many people think he's not "all right" in the head.
Bobko   
24 Jul 2025
News / Why should Poland consider pursuing a strategic alliance with Russia? [392]

Amazing how drones changed the battlefields

Sometimes the person is so bent out of shape, that he cannot climb into the cart. I've seen several such videos.

At this point, several of his friends might reappear from some collection of bushes, toss him into the drone, and then immediately run back for cover.

If it's the second echelon of an attack arriving on a BMP - the BMP might deploy smoke and do a little half circle around the wounded man - obscuring vision - and then try to pick him up fast.

Sometimes nobody comes - and you have to either shoot yourself, or try to crawl back to your lines.

--///--

According to the best estimates, Russia has suffered approximately 1 million casualties in this war thus far. Of that, approximately 110-150K are Killed in Action. A further 250-350K are otherwise irreplaceable losses (amputations, mostly).

But the other half a million suffered superficial or non-incapacitating injuries and were likely returned into action. There are cases where a single infantryman suffered 7 or more injuries, and each time returned to fight.

So "evacuation" does happen - and in large numbers. "Battlefield medicine" exists - and is in much better shape than 2022 (when it was embarrassing to compare our first aid kits to the Western ones Ukraine was provided with).

In fact, Belousov (the new minister of defense), has made "battlefield medicine" an especial priority. Now everyone has top quality tourniquets and clotting agents.

The drones used for evacuating casualties is also his introduction largely.
Bobko   
24 Jul 2025
News / Why should Poland consider pursuing a strategic alliance with Russia? [392]

make the Alexanderplatz to another Tiananmen and end this silly revolution!

If China followed Gorbachev's example and greeted the people on Tianamen Square with flowers and candies - there would be no China now. At least, not as we know it now - as a Great Power.

I guess it's the viewpoint....ones freedom is always another ones destruction.

I'm sure Uyghurs and Tibetans also view things differently than the Han Chinese.

Is there really much worse than shooting your own wounded soldiers?

Why don't you try evacuating that wounded soldier yourself? When you are lying by his side, similarly full of shrapnel - with a Ukrainian drone hovering above you, recording your death for Twitter and Facebook - perhaps it would make you view things differently?

Evacuation is often impossible in this war - unless you are advancing. Because we are advancing, we are able to return to the Ukrainians ten times the amount of bodies they are able to return to us.

As the battlefield starts becoming your rear, it's easy enough to go and collect all the bodies and ship em back to the Ukrainians. The Ukrainians are only able to send us back the bodies that pile up after an UNSUCCESSFUL assault.

-//-

The few videos I had seen, where Russian soldiers appear to shoot wounded comrades - it's clear that the wounded person is the one requesting it.

Besides concern for the men that will likely get killed trying to evacuate you... there is also the fact that Ukrainian drone operators are sadists. They will taunt a wounded man by flying around him in circles. They'll play games with him.

Nobody wants to be a clown for Ukrainians in the last 15 minutes of his life.

--//--

There are uncrewed ground drones now that do much of the evacuation work. Basically a remotely controlled cart. The wounded guy only has to be able to climb inside, and then the drone will carry him back to his lines.
Bobko   
24 Jul 2025
News / Why should Poland consider pursuing a strategic alliance with Russia? [392]

I meant those who care about Russia and can actually do something to stop the madness.

It cannot be stopped, to try to do so - would be suicidal, not just for the individual but likely for the Russian state as well.

They say that "the road to hell is paved with good intentions". Russia's history is the best example of this.

1) The "good" Decembrists... in their drive for liberalism - freaked out the Tsar to such an extent, that we got an autocratic backlash that lasted for nearly half a century. While Europe modernized, we sat in a dark dungeon, thanks to their work.

2) The "good" Democrats in the Spring of 1917 succeeded in toppling the monarchy and burying the empire. They also lost us WW1, which led to the independence of Finland, Poland, the Baltics. They plunged the country into a Civil War. They handed it over, ultimately, to the Bolsheviks.

3) The "good" and "virtuous" Gorbachev, destroyed the largest country on Earth, destroyed our alliances, and plunged the country into two decades of poverty. China meanwhile, carefully took notes, and instead ran their own people over with tanks in a public square. Now China has one of the largest economies in the world, and we export mainly oil and metals.

The "good guys" don't really have a good reputation in Russia. They usually make things much worse. Only some nice literature, some nice music, and some nice art can be considered a positive side effect.
Bobko   
18 Jul 2025
News / Why should Poland consider pursuing a strategic alliance with Russia? [392]

How can poland trust Russia?

Better question is - how has Russia ever betrayed Poland?

Did we use you as cannon fodder, while holding our men back?

Did we ever stop at your border - and announce the mission complete - or did we liberate you fully and then others?

Did we rob your industry and your treasure - leaving you on a starvation diet - or did we help you rebuild?

When has a Russian ever asked a Pole to do something, that a Russian wasn't willing to do himself?

What is betrayal? Occupation? Conquest? That's not betrayal.
Bobko   
17 Jul 2025
News / Why should Poland consider pursuing a strategic alliance with Russia? [392]

What is the cause that neither you nor your dwarfish little tsarek can articulate?

The cause is the glory of Russia and protection of our homeland from the encroachment of hostile parties.

It does not accrue to the glory of Russia, when we kill innocent people with FPV drones, for the crime of "surrendering Kherson back to the Ukrainians".

If we are to rely on Khersonians to defend Kherson against Ukrainians, instead of our Ground Forces, Naval Infantry, Airborne, and Spetsnaz - then our worth is zero.

We pulled out, to the other side of the river, to preserve our forces. This - after promising Khersonians we would never abandon them. AND NOW WE PUNISH THEM FOR BEING RE-OCCUPIED?

I would personally visit this unit, and put against a wall every single drone operator that thinks this is "cool" or "funny". I would send such an FPV team into storm assault infantry, but not before breaking their faces and cutting their tendons - so they have an especially joyous time advancing across the open stretch.
Bobko   
17 Jul 2025
News / Why should Poland consider pursuing a strategic alliance with Russia? [392]

God likes hunting civilians with drones?

I refuse to believe that there is a unit on the Dnieper that uses Khersonian civilians as hunting exercises.

I have seen the footage like you have. It's disgusting. But I hope it is some kind of a mistake.

If it's truly the case, then they should be executed summarily like the dogs that they are. They are worse than enemies, and are doing immeasurable damage to the cause.
Bobko   
17 Jul 2025
News / Why should Poland consider pursuing a strategic alliance with Russia? [392]

Poor Russian dindu nuffin.

Our cause is right.

God is with us.

If the Almighty thought we were killing too many innocents, he would send us problems. Instead, he gives us at every step exactly what we need - including Donald J. Trump.

We take what is ours, and we restore the natural balance of the universe - cleaning the Earth of its impurities in the process.
Bobko   
17 Jul 2025
News / Why should Poland consider pursuing a strategic alliance with Russia? [392]

And why is anti-Catholicism the last acceptable bigotry?

One theory that I've come across, is that Western liberals still want to be racist (but without appearing so), and therefore unload on poor whites, Russians, and Christians - the only three groups safe to hate.

--//--

Then I also hear, especially from my Ukrainian friends, that it's "Kosher" to hate Russia, because it is so big and so heavily armed. That is - being the aggressor, being bigger, and being stronger - means it's fair game to troll you in whatever way the smaller fella wants to. In other words - we hate what we fear.

This logic can also be applied to white people and Christians. They are so rich, so dominant, and their influence so entrenched - that it's permissible to troll them.

--//--

Absence of guilt is another popular explanation. The West's collective guilt over the Holocaust dictates the pussyfooting attitude towards Israel and Jews. Nobody except Germany really feels any guilt in regards to what happened to Russia. That's why Germany is the only large country in the enemy camp that advocates moderation.

--//--

The most charitable explanation for why Russia receives so much more toxicity than the Netanyahu regime, or the Sudanese government, or the junta of Myanmar, or the Islamist government of Syria - is that on some level we are still seen as family. Psychotic, impulsive, infantile, paranoid... but still family.

That is, the West is genuinely DISAPPOINTED with Russia. They expect this type of behavior from Sudan and from Myanmar - but they did not expect it from us.

And in the way that only family members are able to be harsh - so the West is hard on us.

The amount of responsibility accorded to you, is proportionate to how stable and predictable you are. And Russia was rewarded with a lot of responsibility. Security Council veto, nuclear arsenal, G8, IMF and World Bank boards, Russia-NATO Council, etc. And with all this responsibility, Russia decided to act like a wild gorilla.

This is the most charitable explanation for why it's ok to hate Russians.
Bobko   
16 Jul 2025
News / Why should Poland consider pursuing a strategic alliance with Russia? [392]

you have an over the top opinion of Russian power

Asking people not to use genocidal language towards Russians, means to have an inflated opinion of self?

P.S. - I don't know why I bother replying to you, since you always misunderstand my meaning - and then reply with something that is completely orthogonal to what I was writing.
Bobko   
16 Jul 2025
News / Why should Poland consider pursuing a strategic alliance with Russia? [392]

@Mr Grunwald

The wanton racism towards Russians will one day bite "Civilized Europeans" in the ass, and in a way they can probably scarcely predict now.

--//--

Sort of off-topic, but also... on-topic - I've been very disappointed with the Financial Times' editorial boards policy towards comments under articles.

All articles written on the topic of Israel have comments disabled.

All articles written on the topic of Russia are free to be commented on. The comments under Russian articles are full, just as on PF, with references to orcs and slaves, and frequent celebrations of the death of Russian bureaucrats or even tourists vacationing in Egypt.

Now I understand why the FT does not want comments under Israel articles. British law has powerful guardrails against platforming hate speech, and antisemitism is especially fiercely policed. So they do not want that liability. They don't want problems with advertisers, who might not want their handbag advertised next to a Nazi screed. They don't want the burden or expense of moderating the threads for antisemitic speech, etc.

But why... does the FT not care about dehumanizing Russians? Why is it safe and even encouraged to use the worst slurs and epithets against Russia? Because we had not been the primary target of the Holocaust? Because we are your favorite boogeyman for the past century, and everyone loves to hate a villain? To hate Russians means to stand up for freedom - so much so, that even genocidal language is treated as "anti-authoritarianism"?

......

This duplicity, hypocrisy, and double think will f*ck you. I promise you this. You can't nourish and grow your hate for so long, without permanent repercussions for your soul.