News / Duda invited to march in Poland's Independence Day parade [182]

I really don't think the rantings of a solitary lunatic on the internet constitute "the voice of Poland".


If you march with them, you associate with them. It's that simple.

News / The Left wing (not-so Slow) death in Poland [120]


Which is fair enough, but it doesn't mean much when the 3rd biggest party only won 8% of the vote and that a huge amount of votes were disqualified as the parties didn't meet the threshold. Off the top of my head, around 20% of votes weren't counted. That's a huge number.


They needed a coalition. I forget the numbers, but they're very much in the minority if Gowin pulls out.


See, this is what I say - you're not very clued up at all.

To give an example - the SNP in Scotland won just over 50% of the popular vote in the 2015 General Election. The JxSi won 39.6% of the vote in the 2015 Catalonian elections. The PaF won 38.6% in Portugal. The UK Conservatives won 36.8% (which is only slightly less than PiS).

To suggest that a party that won the votes of a mere 19% of the eligible voting population has "incredible popular support" is quite frankly nonsense.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


Harry, let's remember to quote this when Kaczyński engineers a "crisis" and overthrows Szydło.


Article 1 of the IV RP.

It's quite remarkable that Polonius is openly saying that Kaczyński has an extraconstitutional position despite nominally not holding any post of power whatsoever.

News / Duda invited to march in Poland's Independence Day parade [182]


As if most of them would ever fight for Poland. They were the same people that formed the nucleus of the ZOMO troops, and before that, the same people that willingly collaborated with anti-democratic elements.

Let's not kid ourselves here - there are patriots, and then there are "patriots".

News / The Left wing (not-so Slow) death in Poland [120]


You really are living in dreamland if you think that there's such a division in Poland. That's just the kind of nonsense spouted by someone that isn't actually familiar with PiS.

PiS tend to be about a lot of hot air, but their policies tend to tell the truth. Let's not forget that PiS are very much made up of the Communist nomeklatura, as well.


Wasn't really a storming victory. They fell far short of the numbers needed to change the constitution, for instance.


Lost? Not quite. Remember, Poland has a multi-level political system, and the Left are still very strong at the provincial and local level.

News / The Left wing (not-so Slow) death in Poland [120]


You're clearly not very familiar with Polish politics, are you?

For a start, there are no real classical "left" or "right" wing parties in Poland. PO are centrist economically, but their members (and their policies) are anything from left to right socially. PiS are (very) left wing economically, but sit anywhere between centrist to far right socially. Nowoczesna are left wing socially, centre-right economically. Kukiz is...who knows. PSL are centre-left economically, but centre-right socially. The list goes on...


Miller is finished. But the Left is already regrouping.

What you won't be aware of is that the Left has considerable support when it comes to "soft power".


No popular support? You're clearly struggling to comprehend that the left wing economically is very, very strong in Poland.


You should be worried, given that PiS are highly likely to change immigration law to keep out non-EU foreigners from non-first world countries, like you.

News / Duda invited to march in Poland's Independence Day parade [182]


Are you kidding me? PiS are about as Jewish-friendly as it gets behind it all - Lech Kaczyński was noted for his excellent relations with the Jewish community, and there was this little gem a while ago - https://polishforums.com/news/pro-israel-lobby-formed-parliament-74662/

PiS support the Washington line, which means supporting Israel. It's pretty simple.


No-one said he was, except you.


He's only pro Catholic because it suits him politically. Kaczyński's entire career has been spent jumping around platforms - it's clear that he has no real political leanings.


I think the clear threat to PiS was made that the same thing will happen again if they don't get their way.


Highly unlikely, especially given the 1GBP-6PLN exchange rate at the minute. They're not going to give up washing dishes for 35zl+ an hour plus benefits in exchange for 10zł an hour and no benefits, even assuming anyone would hire them in the village that they came from.


I haven't, but there are others online suggesting exactly that.

News / Duda invited to march in Poland's Independence Day parade [182]


Or more accurately, read what they actually had to say. It was a very clear warning to PiS that right now, they're tolerating them, but they also know that it's a party of Israel and Washington and that they won't stand for it.

News / Anti-Defamation League want Macierewicz (Poland defense minister) appointment withdrawn - GW [42]


Don't worry, he'll soon make a fool out of himself when he tries to scare Russia and Russia replies by sticking some nice missiles in Kaliningrad pointed straight at Warsaw.

Law / Old Polish money banknotes - what's their value today? [415]


Send them to me. I'll give you the value of them in any currency that you want.

News / Poland hates Poland [24]

Yet again, you're mixing up the two issues. We're talking about how PiS are financed, not how PO are financed.

News / Poland hates Poland [24]

Again, you're not presenting any evidence to the contrary.

Then again, it's because you know fine well that it's true that the SKOKi network has more or less provided the funding for PiS and their media.

News / Poland hates Poland [24]


Attack the person rather than discussing the article. Normal for PiS supporters.

If you actually read the article, you'd see that it makes one very very good point - the media landscape is now clearly divided between PO and PiS and not much else except a few fringe publications. It's very American, I suppose.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


But we live in Poland... I don't know about Harry, but I don't vote in UK elections and don't pay tax there.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

Well, I think we can suspect anyone involved with law (including prosecutors and judges, given that they executed the judgements given to them by the UB/SB) as likely to have had some dealings with the secret police, can't we?

It seems rather unfair to only look at one aspect of Polish history.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


I'm glad it's not here. It stops us getting involved in huge fights over it and stops it becoming some sort of shrine.


And I suppose you also thoroughly support making sure that everyone has a clean family background, right?

I mean, if someone grew up benefiting from "connections", they shouldn't be allowed to hold public office, right?

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


I think all of us can see the difference between 'travel for parliamentary reasons' and 'travel in order to work privately'.


It was resolved.

More to the point Polonius, when we can expect you to support a thorough lustration process that also involves looking in great detail about how someone was able to star in movies as a child and even access the "aplikacja" to become a prosecutor in the PRL?

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


What makes you think that a party comprised of PRL nomeklatura has Poland's best interests at heart?

PiS are merely pretending to care about Poland. In reality, they only care about the country as a personal chequebook.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


Poor Polonius. He's forgotten that PO are still very much in control of many provinces and local authorities, and that they will use this power base to come back stronger than ever.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


Nice propaganda, but the reality is that if it wasn't for a certain Zandberg, they would have been considerably short of a majority in the Sejm.


Nice theory, but we already saw a couple of days after the election how Gowin was willing to go against the official line.


Oh, there's no frustration here. I already know how the PiS reforms are going to come up against some very strong opposition. The ZNP is already preparing to go on strike against the PiS proposals to get rid of gimnazja, and I'm hearing a consistent message that local authorities will simply refuse to execute the plans.

When the time comes, we'll hear nothing but bitter excuses from PiS about how the media destroyed them.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

Well, without a very strong Szydło as the Prime Minister, he wouldn't stand a chance.

I read an interesting article somewhere that outlined how almost everyone in Duda's office is also a Kaczyński loyalist and that Duda was more or less told who to appoint to what position. It really is cult-like behaviour.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


She certainly put a lot of effort in, but taking a break during the formation of the new cabinet is quite surreal. I'm still wondering why you can't just admit that it's obvious that there's a lot of discussion going on as to whether she should be allowed to become Prime Minister.

The fact that she's absent from all the right-wing weeklies says it all - there's no plan to allow her to be a genuine leader. She might be a figurehead, but she'll be gone within months. Kaczyński's no fool - he knows that if Szydło was to gain a lot of personal power, then it would be very easy for the Szydło-Duda tandem to force him out of PiS.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


Indeed, if you look online, there are a lot of female voices saying that they voted for Szydło, not Kaczyński. Polonius has no defence - she ran the entire campaign on being the Prime Minister if PiS won, yet Kaczyński has dominated the media since then. I was looking at the right-wing weeklies today, and what was astounding was the absence of Szydło.

After Kaczyński's victory speech, there's no way that Szydło will survive more than a few months. And if the PiS populist promises come off, there's no way that Kaczyński is going to tolerate a popular leader that might threaten his position.


What's he done now? Protocol has always been a difficult topic for them :D

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

Given the election results (a shift from PO towards Nowoczesna in many places), I think you'll be waiting a long time for anything to change.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


Except it's backfiring already. There's a lot of centrist female voters that are furious about how Szydło has been sidelined.


Not really. The opposition is now having a field day with pointing out that Macierewicz is back after he was hidden away during the election campaign.


I think you've forgotten just how strong PO are in many local areas. One bad election result doesn't change the fact that Warsaw, Poznań and many other places are PO strongholds.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


Where is Szydło, Polonius?

I feel sorry for her, personally. All that effort criss-crossing Poland and Kaczyński threw her onto the scrapheap as soon as the polls closed. Now she's on "holiday" (what Prime Minister-elect goes on holiday after winning an election when there's a cabinet to form?) - and it's clearly that she has no role in the formation of the government.

Law / Poland's Temporary residence card after marriage; I entered Europe without visa, the officials are stalking me [48]


I think something changed in the last few years, because (where's Harry when you need him) I seem to remember the law requiring you to apply at least 45 days in advance, because they had a duty to issue the decision within 45 days. I think - also - if he wasn't legally in Poland, then they might have refused to grant him permission to stay on that grounds. I have a faint recollection that if you're not legally in Poland, you can't actually apply for temporary residency - you need to apply for some "tolerated stay" permit from the Straz Graniczna instead.

Law / Poland's Temporary residence card after marriage; I entered Europe without visa, the officials are stalking me [48]


I seem to remember that you can cancel the application by simply writing them a letter saying that you wish to do so. I don't remember where I've seen it, but it rings a bell from my application for permanent residency. I've got a suspicion that it was in one of the information booklets that I was reading when bored and waiting to pick up the card.

Work / Job opportunities for guitar teacher in Poland [4]

Next to non-existent. Professional teachers will have a lot of qualifications in music, often university level - you won't find much demand for a foreigner that doesn't have such qualifications.

If you're qualified to teach music to school children, then there might be possibilities there.

Life / Can someone tell me about the reason behind being gay in Poland being wrong [148]


Anyone that spends their time obsessing about gay sex on the internet probably isn't of average intelligence, to be fair.