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Posts by Varsovian  

Joined: 23 Nov 2006 / Male ♂ 		Last Post: 22 Feb 2016
Threads: Total: 91 / Live: 89 / Archived: 2
Posts: Total: 634 / Live: 547 / Archived: 87 		From: Warsaw

Displayed posts: 636 / page 8 of 22
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Varsovian   
27 Sep 2012
History / People the Soviets planted in Poland [75]

I have never voted for PiS in my life!
Why do you behave like an obsessive Platforma activist? Ooops! Sorry, I didn't mean to let that drop ...
Varsovian   
27 Sep 2012
News / Poland versus Greece in economy [175]

Rzeczpospolita is a fine independently-minded newspaper. Bit boring though.

The investigations - they were widely reported in the press at the time. I have distant links to Krauze. You might have heard of him.
Varsovian   
27 Sep 2012
History / People the Soviets planted in Poland [75]

Russian foreign policy has been pretty consistent for centuries. Hence they started preparing for the demise of Communism in the 1980s, just in case.

In Poland they decided to run the underground press and legitimise the anti-system credentials of certain individuals. The byword was credibility. Opposition figures had to look and smell like opposition figures. They also had to be slightly conservative, holding back the more extreme elements and maintaining some sort of cohesion that steered away from rampant populism, which by its very nature is unpredictable and uncontrollable.

In the worst-case scenario of Communist collapse, their medium term goal was to infiltrate the body politic and military and to ensure that bad business practice and corruption delivered: (i) personal benefit (ii) long-term disruption to the administration and economy and (iii) military intelligence.

Longer term, they were to try their utmost to (i) infiltrate EU and especially NATO bodies and (ii) try to sow discord and confusion in EU politics. The byword - credibility. "Of course people in these circles would say this or do that - it's normal isn't it?" - that's the reaction they seek.

Who fits these criteria? Who is in the 21st Century Big Game?

Or perhaps the Russians decided to capitulate their position entirely and say "We lost fair and square!" Does that sound believable? A total and utter volte-face after hundreds of years of subterfuge? Really. Has anyone seen Russia Today run a positive news story about any of Russia's neighbours?
Varsovian   
27 Sep 2012
News / Poland versus Greece in economy [175]

As someone who knows Greece to a certain extent, I would say that there are huge differences between the countries and work cultures. Greece in mentality is scarcely European, and the level of cheating and lying in every walk of life beggars belief - and this is in the opinion of Poles living in Greece. Udawać Greka - never a truer word spoken in Polish.

And as for Tusk being free-market. Hmmm. He's certainly in favour of big business. Doesn't like the smaller ones though - because they don't pay him. His first act when he took office was to stop all criminal investigations into his big business pals. In a normal country this would have led to a total catastrophic scandal from which he wouldn't have recovered. But Poland has a largely supine press and people are genuinely unconcerned about certain sorts of graft.
Varsovian   
13 Sep 2012
Work / Will i have to redo my schooling if I move to Poland? [4]

Be very, very careful. Your Canadian qualification may not be recognized in Poland or you may need to complete an extra course. Polish bureaucratic extremes are commonplace.

Give you an example: my wife has a full-blown teaching qualification from Warsaw University. It says so in her student documentation. An idiot of a bureaucrat in the local administration said he didn't know whether that qualified her to teach, so he demanded that she go and get a letter from university saying that the document is what it says it is. To cut a very long story short, she eventually met up with a bureaucrat at Warsaw University (who works one hour a week) who said she couldn't simply write a letter saying that the document from Warsaw University, which says it is a teaching qualification, is actually a teaching qualification.

So, not only is a teaching qualification from a leading Polish university not recognized immediately in local administration, it is not even recognized immediately at the institute that issued it! The situation will eventually be resolved this week - but it should never have arisen in the first place. Moreover, her years of teaching in UK state schools (and UK teaching qualified teacher status) count for nothing in terms of seniority in Poland.

Still, you shouldn't be too surprised - teaching is a closed profession across the whole of the European Union, despite EU rules. I think only the UK and Ireland actually fully accept foreign-qualified teachers on the same conditions as domestically-qualified ones.
Varsovian   
13 Sep 2012
History / Poles embraced Communism at the end of WW2 [8]

Thanks guys, for proving my points one by one!

Communism = a force for good

Anti-Communists = twisted

Theft is fine

No-one in a totalitarian system remains squeeky clean

"Nuff said"
Varsovian   
12 Sep 2012
History / Poles embraced Communism at the end of WW2 [8]

There are people around who want to rehabilitate Communism, in an understated way of course.

The fact was that at the end of WW2 Poles overwhelmingly wanted to rebuild Poland. Later on, everyone was affected by the totalitarian regime to a lesser or greater extent. Like it or not. Lives had to be lived - most people just wanted to get on as normally as they could, despite the bizarre situation.

However, it was an illegal regime founded on the threat of violence. The Czechs have acknowledged this in law, and handed back the stolen property. Poland's political elite decided it should stay stolen. The regime's crowning glory came in its last few years, as its elite handled the transition to perfection - keeping their ill-gotten gains.

Now we have people, like the moderators of this forum, doing the final bit of PR work connected with the transition. The villains weren't that bad, and if they were, it all happened a very long time ago and nobody is squeeky clean, are they?

Discuss.
Varsovian   
12 Sep 2012
History / Polish Officer in NATO, Col. Ryszard Kukliński. [145]

Weird logic, Delphi.
Acts that were imposed by a regime imposed by force should be ruled illegal. They were in the Czech Republic where the opposition took over after the fall of Communism. In Poland the Communists carried on. You are an apologist for them and their acts. And puerile remarks about ducks reflect on the level of training you have received to do your job.

I wasn't there - true. My only anti-Communist activity came at an illegal demo in 1988. Attended by Michnik, who had no hassle from ZOMO. Unlike me.
Varsovian   
12 Sep 2012
History / Polish Officer in NATO, Col. Ryszard Kukliński. [145]

Delphi - "I think you'll find that much of what was done was entirely legal - Communists were very big on legitimacy."

And why are those acts in law still legal now? Because in Poland, as opposed to the Czech Republic where the democratic state passed legislation ruling the Communist state to have been an illegal entity devoid of legal capacity, the deal was that the Commies were half-good guys who needed a helping hand in the future.

BINGO!

But why did the Polish "democratic" opposition deal so sweetly with the Communists?

Who set up the underground press? The Commies. Who ran the opposition? The Commies - such as Adam Michnik. Father Commie, mother Commie, brother a Stalinist mass murderer, called General Kiszczak honourable, was always very pally with leading Commies, travelled round Europe without restrictions and stayed in consular accommodation ... but he wasn't a plant!
Varsovian   
12 Sep 2012
UK, Ireland / Poles becoming British subjects [39]

My Polish wife swore allegiance to Her Majesty the Queen a few years back because it was cheaper at the time to take out UK citizenship and get a UK passport than to get a Polish passport renewed at the Polish Consulate in London.

What a bunch of useless wasters they were at the Consulate when we sought advice on emigrating/returning to Poland with our accumulated marital junk plus car. We followed their advice to the letter and got threatened with arrest on arrival at the Polish border. What's more, seeing as we had sold our house in England I had no "registered address" which in their eyes meant I had no residence status in the UK (not joking) ... which left political asylum (!!) as the only avenue left for me to emigrate to Poland. Fortunately, the consular official said all this without removing my application from the desk. I picked it up, she grabbed it, but I pulled harder and came back the following day to a different person with a different story. I still absurdly get asked by Polish bureaucrats for my address in the UK. I don't bother telling them the truth. It's at my late father's sold house.
Varsovian   
5 Sep 2012
News / Amber Gold and other Poland's suspicious institutions [139]

Hmmm - it appears Plichta is from the Gdansk underworld.

Also, of passing interest: ABW (internal state security) gave the Prime Minister's office a damning report on illegal activities at AmberGold back in May 2012. The Prime Minister obviously felt impotent ...

Now there is talk of getting rid of ABW.
Varsovian   
31 Aug 2012
Language / GCSE Polish experience. [51]

French is easy compared to Polish. In fact, French is easy compared to virtually any language except Spanish. It's just a shame I don't like the French (though I like the Suisses Romands and love the Walloons) - gimme Poles and their awful language any day!
Varsovian   
24 Aug 2012
News / Poland's Truth Commission "IPN" to be de facto closed [80]

You see folks, Delphi has all the answers worked out in advance and rehearsed. You wonder why that is ...
And fails to answer the question of why Nazi murderers are rightly hunted, whereas Commie murderers and fellow travellers are fine, brave chaps who saved the nation and lined their pockets in the process.
Varsovian   
24 Aug 2012
News / Poland's Truth Commission "IPN" to be de facto closed [80]

As I said, the transformation is just a repeat of the AK turned Commie routine. This time round they simply had to improve the style and presentation a bit. See how the regular posters all suddenly gang up and start wailing when a thread poses a danger to the regime they are loyally serving?
Varsovian   
24 Aug 2012
News / Poland's Truth Commission "IPN" to be de facto closed [80]

KOR were fighting to get back into power after their clique had been ousted. Later on came the collaborator Lech Wałęsa and the stage was set for the likes of self-proclaimed Poland-hating Adam Michnik (who'd had a remarkably cushy time of it as a dissident - studying and having private seminars 'in secret' in prison!) et al. to manage the transformation from state capitalism to crony capitalism led by tycoons with a secret police past. They feature among the richest men in Poland. You see Warsaw University lecturers of the 1980s, who were faithful Commies spouting forth commie economics in the lecture halls, portraying themselves on national TV as economic pundits. Brussels gets infected by people who got there on the back of fathers who were torturers and murderers.

The Czech Republic handed back private property. In Poland there was no property restitution except by the back door. Why? Because the elite stole on a grand scale during the transformation and their fellow-travellers - as exemplified by the 'leading lights' of this forum - have covered for them.

In Poland the truth seldom gets a fair hearing. Ever wondered why so many AK ended up being important people in PRL? Because they were placed there by the Commies. Ever wondered why history has repeated itself so perfectly over the last 20 years? Because it worked so well the first time.

As for the privatisation of the IPN building - sobieski is being economical with the truth.
Varsovian   
23 Aug 2012
News / Poland's Truth Commission "IPN" to be de facto closed [80]

The whiter than white govt with nothing to hide has manufactured a situation where the owner of the building housing IPN is going to kick them out.

Great idea to save embarrassing the guilty.

Anyway, it all happened a very long time ago and the people the poor ageing criminals killed aren't going to jump out of the grave.
Varsovian   
11 Jun 2012
News / British senior politician compares Poland to South Africa during apartheid [129]

Though I do feel, and so do quite a few Poles I know, that the world is better off without Lech Kaczynski. His passing is not to be mourned.

What a funny little man you are! You could happily say the same thing about Lenin, Stalin, Hitler and Mao - but this is ridiculous and in exceptionally poor taste.

Given the great success that the English Football Association has had in sorting out hooliganism, I would suggest there's a lot of know how. Know how that Poland and Ukraine evidently lack.

I chatted with people at the Leicester University centre on football hooliganism - clever people, and they have to deal with a substantially greater problem. Don't forget though that England only really got moving after 150 people died. Poland has yet to catch up in terms of fatalities caused in part through crowd management issues, part through football culture issues.

Redneck - I would include the management at secondary schools in England that strangely didn't want to know about my Polish wife's teaching abilities. That's racism.
Varsovian   
6 Apr 2012
News / History lessons no more in Poland (Tusk's change) [61]

As can be seen by the sometimes hysterical posts in this thread, education debates are marred by politics. Yes, the government is wishing to water down history teaching. And there is a case to be made for change, but you won't hear decent arguments being made by either "side" because they will be drowned out by the media. Often Polish education in the past has demanded too much content. Unfortunately, it seems that the future is going to be characterised by the exact opposite.

Even more unfortunately, history is not the biggest loser in the educational shake-up that's been ongoing over the last few years - including pre-Tusk. The biggest losers have been the sciences and maths. If you talk to higher education staff, they will readily bemoan the remedial lessons forced on them by the substandard knowledge base of their students. It's a general dumbing down process afflicting all aspects of Polish education.

Why is this happening? A leading educationalist explained to me that the original decision was taken in the 90s to open up educational qualifications to the huge number of people who were treated as failures under the old system. The end result of this is that a lot of people have qualifications of lower worth and some highly intelligent people have under-appreciated qualifications. And general levels of knowledge and ability have gone down.
Varsovian   
28 Mar 2012
News / The spiritual heirs of the Polish Communist Party [91]

Des Essientes - you've really earned my respect by your intelligent arguments and persistence. The PO activists who moderate this forum can afford to be persistent, as it is their job to post. It's interesting how weakly they argue and how quick they are to argue against freedom of speech. It's also slightly bizarre for individuals like Pawian to start insulting me for living the life of Riley in 1980s Communist Poland. He can't possibly think that I'm not Polish and yet have been present at an anti-Communist demo at Warsaw University in 1988. It might also surprise him to know that I was part of a letter-writing campaign on behalf of Michnik. Amneswty International - I think it was the Diss group. Instead Pawian made no bones about thinking me hypocritical scum. Jon, meanwhile, tends to view people living out of town as right-wing racists.

So, folks, there we have it. Freedom of speech sucks, get used to it. And anybody who argues for freedom of speech is a right-wing loon worthy of insults chosen at random.
Varsovian   
24 Mar 2012
News / The spiritual heirs of the Polish Communist Party [91]

Compare Michnik's conditions in jail with the fate of ordinary mortals who ended up there and you will see the massive, undisputable difference. Something you fail to see through your intentional blindness.

Normal mortal student thrown in jail - kicked off course, endures harsh conditions in jail.
Michnik - received good conditions in jail. Bed, study materials, received visits from his course leader, finished his course.

You can't see the difference?

Normal mortal student in 1988 - faced by large numbers of charging zomo, he runs.
Michnik, wearing skullcap to indicate who he is, calmly watches as zomo run right past him - protected by his cloak of invisibility borrowed from Harry Potter (idea picked up later by JK Rowling.
Varsovian   
23 Mar 2012
News / The spiritual heirs of the Polish Communist Party [91]

Jon Jon, you really should know that trite argument doesn't cut the mustard with someone who has the slightest bit of knowledge. That sounds like spin from a hired politico.

A few pointers to those who might otherwise naively believe you: While other prisoners lived in appalling conditions, Michnik was allowed to finish his studies - Kuron being allowed to have one on one seminars. Michnik travelled around Europe staying in consular accommodation when normal Poles couldn't even get out of the country. When Warsaw University students held a protest in 1988, Michnik was there. Me too. He didn't have to run from the Zomo.
Varsovian   
23 Mar 2012
News / The spiritual heirs of the Polish Communist Party [91]

Ironside
Of course he's right to say that! Only someone who is utterly naive would view GW as anything else. I don't know how this bloke expressed himself however.It's the sum of their chosen stories and the slant given in them. Some articles are balanced, though. As for Michnik, he was undeniably given special treatment by the Communists.