News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 24 [882]


Does it really work any better now than when it imploded the economies of Southern Europe?

Has it formally adopted transfers yet? Those are about the only possible way of sort of making it work...

History / 81st Anniversary of Warsaw Uprising [72]


"Real" communism has never existed anywhere.... even the cccp never claimed to be communist. Communism could only be achieved after a transitory period of socialism.

The problem was that socialism sucks and destroys economies (despite what marx thought) and so the level of prosperity needed for communism could never come into being.

Off-Topic / Happy Independence Day, Ukraine! [20]

Unrelated question.... does anyone know off the top of their heads what kind of family/hereditary model is traditional in Ukraine?

I came across this video and now I'm wondering...

youtube.com/watch?v=-RFFwhbVqeU

russia followed the 'exogamous communitarian' model (more closely than any other) with patriarchs having absolute power over their adult sons and their wives... these societies tend toward totalitarianism being controlled by unaccountable absolute leaders (putin and xi being prime examples)

Poland followed the 'egalitarian nuclear' model with all sons inheriting equally (lots of tension between equality (redistributionist populists) and freedom (capitalistic technocrats) as seen in current Polish politics)

Germany followed the 'authoritarian' model with only oldest sons inheriting... (capable of rapid transformation and concerned with perpetuating the lineage and when under attack will never. give. up.).

Ukrainian response to the russian invasion suggests an authoritarian family model....

(nb of course no society perfectly matches one model as there will be regional differentiation and other factors that affect implementation).

Off-Topic / Happy Independence Day, Ukraine! [20]


-am

Слава Україні! Героям слава!


It predates him by a few decades.

News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 24 [882]


I don't understand.... have they had a referendum? Has the russian citizenry demanded the arrival of a bunch of hindu or muslim or sikh immigrants?

I thought only the democratic west pulled crap like this...

Waiting for the pro-russian rationalizations to start: 10, 9, 8, ...

History / 81st Anniversary of Warsaw Uprising [72]


Compared with some other countries (Czechoslovakia, DDR, Bulgaria, Romania) the PRL was pretty chill. It didn't feel like that to many Poles but lots of things went on that were unthinkable in those other countries...

the equivalent of Pewex were off limits to citizens in the other countries but Poles were encouraged to use them, there were attempts to maintain relations with the diaspora, the church functioned as a de facto opposition party, talk with people (or people who lived in the cccp) and the differences were very stark.

This leads to the paradox: The easier a time a country had during communism, the harder it will be to figure out who can/should be excised from public life.

In the DDR and Czechoslovakia it was easier to figure out who to prevent from holding office. In Poland... it wasn't so clear.

Also, in Poland (I don't know about other Eastern Bloc countries) there was a large gray area between members of the communist party and those with no connection... people with connections to the party but who didn't belong and a fair number of party members did so merely for work-related purposes...

It's a tough question that will only be resolved by time.... (society changes, they say, one funeral at a time).

News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 24 [882]


Harvests are less than half of what they were before the invasion...


Galeev pointed out that comparisons of russia with other countries don't work because the russian government is allergic to releasing accurate numbers... which are impossible to find.


This link is very informative, the biggest takeaway is that there is no internal market for accurate numbers so none are produced....

therussianreader.com/2019/05/15/simon-kordonsky/

russia has regressed decades in socio-economic terms since the beginning of the invasion. If the war stopped tomorrow it would take decades to get back to where they were in 2019...

But of course, the well-being of russian citizens is a trivial matter of no concern to any russian government.... but r

News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 24 [882]


That's why I favor a German/Korea option. Freeze the current front, let russia run the parts it occupies without international recognition (like the annexation of the Baltics which was never recognized by most countries until they got their freedom).

Then watch the difference between the two....

News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 24 [882]

Is russia planning on going ever fuller retard?

russian state media has been ramping up stories about Estonia preparing to attack it.... same playbook from Ukraine, pretend they're going to attack and invade them first...

x.com/nexta_tv/status/1959201450464260468

here's a nice song, lyrics by a Tolstoj (not the famous one) and set to music by Rahmaninov (sung by the Swedish soprano Elisabeth Söderström accompanied by a Russian? Jewish? pianist named Ashkenazy....) just so that people won't think I'm a russophobe or anything....

very relevant...

News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 24 [882]


I have admiration for Rostopovich and Vishnevskaya who were stripped of their soviet citizenship and found themselves exiled....

They also made one of the great recordings of the century of Shoshtakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtensk.... (itself one of the pinnacles of russian classical music and a devastating critique of traditional russian life).

Vishnevshaya's life story sounds like an opera (I think one was written about her) from being an unwanted hirsute baby of a military officer (IIRC) to almost starving to death in the siege of Leningrad to becoming one of the very few Soviet classical singers in international demand to de facto exiled dissident.

When I wrote about that before a russian just tried to make them into a dirty joke...

So.....


answered in random....

Off-Topic / Random Chat Thread [1018]

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News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 24 [882]


There are russians I agree with an admire, Galeev, Denis Zakharov, a few others.

I despise the traditional russian values that shape their socio-political system (apolitical apathy, preemptive obedience to authority, passive conformity, submission to any authority, loving their oppressors etc).

Of course I don't hate every individual russian - but I'm not going to be suckered into separating the government from the people - the people shape the government, not the other way around. I hold 'the russian people' responsible for creating one monster after another. Absolving them of responsibility is enabling.

News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 24 [882]


what do you mean by culture?

do you mean the literature, visual and performing arts?

do you mean the social structures (how people deal with each other at home, at work or with their government)?

there are some russian works of art that I appreciate

but I have nothing but contempt for russian social structures _because_ they inevitably give rise to kleptocratic governments that engage in domestic oppression and foreign invasions

and, unfortunately, the first (arts) are used to justify or excuse the second (state violence) again and again and again...

have you ever seen the movie kubanske kozaki? total fascist ethos about the bounty produced by collective farms filmed in the midst of a famine...

Off-Topic / Random Chat Thread [1018]

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History / 81st Anniversary of Warsaw Uprising [72]


That's kind of a myth.... not even Kruschev could just arbitrarily do that. It was based on real policy and even a kind of attempt (by weird soviet standards) to make things more efficient.
It was dependent on water from Ukraine (so easier to coordinate in the same ssr) and they wanted to improve agriculture (Ukrainians have always been better farmers than russians).
The idea it was some kind of spontaneous gesture or whatnot is a russian propaganda lie.
Stop believing russian propaganda!

News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 24 [882]


Haven't russians spilled enough blood? What a bunch of ghouls....

Polish values have always aligned more with western ones regarding individual rights the value of human dignity and human life and intellectual honesty.

More than a few times Poland has been ahead of the curve in terms of expressing western values.

russian values, on the other hand, revolve around worship of a god-king (tsar, first secretary, president) and the idea that individuals have no right to life or dignity if the god-king wishes otherwise and unremitting brutality against each other (outsiders have been repelled by russian intepersonal relations for centuries).

A few individuals might be charming, a few artists might do something okay but russian culture is vile and rotten to the core.

A plea to you (through Blanch Du Bois): Break free of your conformist, submissive russian values... don't hang with the brutes!!!!

News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 24 [882]

Meanwhile, Trump implicitly recognizes Ukraine's right to attack targets within russia...

"Joe Biden would not let Ukraine fight back"

Implying a change in policy after the usual russin fvkkery in and after Alaska... he finishes

"Interesting times ahead!!!"

x.com/JPLindsley/status/1958540637533282317

History / Poland's borders throughout history [52]


Like the Baltics after WWII until the end of the ussr.

Lots of cases with overlapping border claims (as in Latin America where the maps of a number of Spanish speaking countries overlap a lot).

And there are cases where no particular solution seems in sight (IINM Western Sahara.... forget what the current status is).

News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 24 [882]


I'm sure the kremlin is terrified.... what's he gonna do, give them another two weeks?

News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 24 [882]


how do you explain the fact that the part of Finland that russia stole is in about 10 times worse condition than the worst part of Finalnd proper?

russians cannot run a decent country.... it's theft and brutalization and intoxication to deal with the cognitive dissonance 24/7

russia could be a super power but russians doesn't want to do the work it wants to force others into pretending it's not a big garbage heap

History / Poland's borders throughout history [52]


he doesn't believe anything he writes, he just does it for attention.... stop giving it to him and he'll go away

this forum should be renamed the Feed the Trolls Foundation....

News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 24 [882]


I'm sure they're terrified.....

News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 24 [882]


Apres vous....

Do more North Koreans try to get to South Korea or vice versa?

Which one starved about 20% (conservatively speaking) of its population to death in the 1990s?

Which one is a cultural superpower?

News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 24 [882]


Did I miss something? When did the Presidency become a policy making position in Poland?

One thing I've noticed in the last week or so is more Ukrainian employees in stores (after a period of absence/decline). You might not like it but Ukrainian labor was an important part of Poland's economic rise and it's better to have friends than follow the PiS policy of treating all neighbors as sworn enemies for all time....

News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 24 [882]


You're a westerner and think of people as individuals --- very unrussian.

russians think of people as a fungible substance... if they destroy a city of 200,000 killing tens of thousands and driving more away and then they 'rebuild' it and ship in people so that it has 200,000 people again --- then they haven't done anything bad to the city.

You're cooking an need a cup of milk... you spill it on the counter so you clean up and take more from the fridge and the recipe turns out...

That's how russians think of people

News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 24 [882]


russia is not capable of making a display model...

Authoritarian systems always loose against freeer systems --- compare East and West Berlin.... compare Seoul and Pyongyang...


yes, there are no impersonal systemic controls in russia (which is what you need for true prosperity) it's all personalized which creates too many holes for money to be transported...

if russia _could_ compete in the lifestyle race it would, it can't so it doesn't

News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 24 [882]


Poland is in a weird position...

Germany has a president and a chancellor and the chancellor is the policy making position so the chancellor gets invited.

France has a president and a prime minister but the president is the policy making position so the president is invited.

Poland has a president and a prime minister and the prime minister is the policy making position so theoretically he should be invited.

On the other hand Tusk has EU connections and an experience politician (whether you like him or not) and Trump prefers those who are either big men authoritarian types (putin, orban) or gullible types who will feed his ego (like Duda).

Nawrocki (whether you like him or not) is neither an experienced politician nor self-effacing and I could easily see him getting on Trump's nerves.

My new prediction (possible solution): The split German model.

The current front line is frozen. russia is still there but is not recognized internationally (similar to the Balkan states after WWII).

Then we see which does better, westernized Ukrainian Ukraine or neo-soviet russian controlled "Ukraine"

Downsides: This will only work with NATO/US troops on the border to prevent russian incursions (because only the credible threat of immediate military force will keep russia out) and will be followed by russian style forced population transfers to try to russify the new and ever impoverished russian controlled part.

News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 24 [882]


you're killing me! Another zinger!!!! russians don't care about what Americans think of them.... hilarious!!!!! You really should get into stand up!


they (like you) support whatever the government tells them to and they (like you) will just accept whatever the government decides...


Karma is indeed a b)tch.

News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 24 [882]


HA HA HA HA HA HA HAHA HA HA HA HAAAHHAAAA HAAAAAA (coughing fit from laughing so hard) HA HA HA H AHA HHAHA HAH A (laughs for another 20 mintues).

Funniest comment..... ever!

News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 24 [882]


Here's the choice that many stupid people don't realize....

The Ukrainian army is incredibly effective but it won't continue independently.

It will either be integrated into western structures or integrated into russia (which is transparently determined to go to war with Europe).

Do you want the Ukrainian army with the west or against it?