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Posts by Bobko  

Joined: 13 Mar 2017 / Male ♂
Warnings: 2 - OO
Last Post: 1 hr ago
Threads: 25
Posts: 1,920
From: New York
Speaks Polish?: Y
Interests: reading, camping

Displayed posts: 1945 / page 4 of 65
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Bobko   
5 Sep 2017
Food / Papa John's Pizza coming to Poland [28]

Polish chains like Dominum and Gruby Benek

I've actually been to a Dominium on a previous visit and thought it was quite nice. Certainly no worse than any American joint! Have never been to Gruby Benek, however.
Bobko   
6 Sep 2017
Food / Papa John's Pizza coming to Poland [28]

Does anyone think it's funny that's it's a Russian franchisee bringing in Papa John's? What with the sanctions and all.

Just goes to show that while politicians talk the talk, normal people will carry on business as usual.
Bobko   
6 Sep 2017
Food / Papa John's Pizza coming to Poland [28]

better than 'Papa John's' or other chains.

Don't get me wrong please! I only go to my neighborhood pizza shop, and never to any of the chains. I just thought it might be a curious topic for a thread.

Pizza in New York (those squares) are excellent

Here in NYC that square style is called Sicilian (if you're talking about the fat one, rather than the thin squares). I love it, but really it's such a guilty pleasure. One slice has a good half a pound of dough in it, and its about an inch thick. Talk about carb overload.

The thing that makes a difference in a pizza to me is the sauce as the rest of it is basically the same.

First time I've ever head anyone say that. Sauce is important, sure, but it's the crust that makes the pizza!
Bobko   
8 Sep 2017
News / Stateless ex-President of Georgia and ex-governor of Odessa is in Poland [8]

rferl.org/a/ukraine-georgia-saakashvili-bracing-for-return/28724787.html

This Sunday Saakashvilli is planning to enter Ukraine through the Krakovets border crossing in the Lviv region. Earlier this week Georgian authorities filed a formal extradition request, which one would think, can be acted upon promptly if the Ukrainian government so chooses. So far they have been vague on the consequences, rather putting more efforts into dissuading him from entering the country.

Prominent Ukrainian opposition politicians and EU parliamentarians have agreed to escort Saakashvilli through the border crossing.
Bobko   
12 Sep 2017
News / Stateless ex-President of Georgia and ex-governor of Odessa is in Poland [8]

Is this getting any coverage in Polish media?

It's been an interesting weekend. Initially Saakashvilli and a bunch of supporters got on the Przemyśl-Lviv Intercity train, which successfully left the platform. Then it was stopped, and the dispatcher announced that it would not continue until a person on board who was barred entry into the Ukraine (Saakashvilli) would disembark.

Saakashvilli on train

After a standoff lasting a couple of hours, Saakashvili and Co. turned around and decided to try entering through the Medyka-Shehyni border checkpoint by bus (about 30 km away from the Krakovets rail border checkpoint). There they were barred by border patrol with barbed wire and mines!!! Yes mines! At least that is what the border patrol declared. After a few hours, and the arrival of a Ukrainian border patrol general, the situation was super tense. And then, at one point, Saakashvilli's supporters, including former Primer Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, rushed the border checkpoint, overwhelming the guards and successfully entering Ukraine. In the process around 200 people entered Ukraine without any kind of border processing.

Now the circus enters a new, more dangerous phase, as the President and his team begin to circle the wagons for a fight with Saakashvilli. Great stuff!

Now what is Poland's role in all this? It seems to have adopted a most curious position.
Bobko   
12 Nov 2017
News / Future of Polish-Ukrainian relations [560]

Looks like a shared hate for Russia isn't enough to keep Ukraine and Poland on friendly terms any longer.

After returning from a recent trip to Lviv, on Nov 2 Polish FM Witold Waszczykowski told TVP1 that "both countries have a different notion of reconciliation."

He went on to say in that interview that the Ukrainians are basically exploiting Poland, because they know how important they are for Poland's geopolitical security. In response, Waszczykowski announced that unless Ukraine changes it's behavior, official Poland will launch procedures with serious consequences, including banning certain Ukrainian officials entry into Poland.

The reaction in Ukrainian media has been howling. The general consensus seems to be that Poland has taken it's mask off, and is behaving like the magnates of old. Basically pany trying to punish the chlops for raising their heads. Some are talking about how Ukraine now has to fight old imperial masters on two fronts.

In the most recent days the Polish FM's office has actually begun rolling out those travel bans, and the first ban was against Vladimir Vyatrovich, head of the Ukranian National Institute of Historic Memory. This has obviously incensed the Ukrainians even more, making it very hard for their President to make amends with the Polish government without looking like Kaczynski's poodle. So the ****-slinging continued.

Now finally - yesterday, the Polish deputy FM Cichocki told the state broadcaster that Ukraine is pursuing a destructive path in its relations with Poland. He said the current issues in Polish-Ukrainian relations are old, and were raised by previous Sejms not just the current one. These issues include use of Soviet-era terms like Polish occupied territories in relation to certain parts of Western Ukraine, the non-return of property to Polish Roman Catholic churches, the rehabilitation and glorification of the UPA, and insufficient contrition over the question of Katyn. It's not really clear to me how he expects the Ukrainians to apologize for Katyn. Perhaps he misspoke and actually meant Volhyn.

newsweek.pl/polska/polityka/relacje-polska-ukraina-coraz-gorsze-stosunki-polsko-ukrainskie,artykuly,418731,1.html
Bobko   
13 Nov 2017
News / Future of Polish-Ukrainian relations [560]

The other thing that chaps the ass of Russians is tearing down statues of the genocidal murderer Stalin.

That's not accurate, to say the least. You're most likely referring to Lenin statues. Most statues of Stalin were torn down in the late 1950s during Khruschev's de-Stalinization era. Those few that remained were all torn down, even in Russia, in those frenzied months in 1991 when the Soviet Union was collapsing. Now there's even a cute park in Moscow where you can go and look at all the old Stalin statues that were torn out of their foundations from squares all around the city.

Now Lenin is a completely different story. Still plenty of statues of him in Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, and until recently in Ukraine. It's his statues that the Ukrainians have been tearing down with abandon. And truthfully, there are a lot of butt-hurt Russians who are pissed that the Ukrainians are disrespecting the Leader of the World Revolution.

That being said, there is a weird Stalin-worship revival in Putin's Russia during the last two years, and not all Russians are happy about this. Specifically the millions and millions who had relatives in their family perish during the Stalinist repressions. The Kremlin is trying to subvert his image as a national saviour who kept the country together in one piece, albeit through the use of brutal tactics, in the face of an existential threat, as a way of reminding Russians of the importance of keeping in-line as the country is involved now simultaneously in two wars (Ukraine and Syria) and chafing under Western sanctions. Outside of domestic purposes, Putin has been using Stalin to subtly troll Ukrainians by reminding them that a good third of their country is theirs because Stalin cut it off from Poland. Ukrainians only seem to remember the Holodomor, and prefer to imagine that Lviv simply materialized inside Ukraine on one fine day.
Bobko   
30 Jan 2018
History / What are Polish opinions regarding Felix Dzerzhinsky? [17]

Dzerzhinsky was the first head of the Soviet secret police, the Cheka, which is a forerunner of the KGB, and the modern FSB. He was also perhaps one of the highest ranking Poles in Soviet government, earning the nickname "Iron Felix" from his fellow revolutionaries. While skimming through his biography on Wiki I was surprised to learn that he attended the Wilno Gymnasium at the same time as Pilsudski. What two different Poles, what two different lives....
Bobko   
31 Jan 2018
History / What are Polish opinions regarding Felix Dzerzhinsky? [17]

he is known as Bloody Feliks which sums it all up

It seems that he was a more complex character, than the way he's been popularly remembered. I was surprised to read in his wiki biography, what Pilsudski wrote about him in his memoirs: "[He] distinguished himself as a student with delicacy and modesty. He was rather tall, thin and demure, making the impression of an ascetic with the face of an icon... Tormented or not, this is an issue history will clarify; in any case this person did not know how to lie."

In other places, he is described as a peculiar murderer, in that he wasn't driven by any of the usual impulses, i.e. lust for power, or banal cruelty/sadism. The consensus being that what defined him was his fanaticism. Now whether this makes much of a difference is a different question.

It's interesting to me that you say he is remembered in Poland as Bloody Felix, when in fact he spent very little time involved in Polish affairs, and for most of the duration of him being a member of the Soviet government Poland was an independent entity outside of his reach (remember, he died in 1926). I thought that the Polish people may have a sort of grudging respect for a former compatriot that had laid the foundations for one of the most powerful and feared intelligence agencies of the 20th century. On the other hand, another thing he is famous for is being a Great Russian chauvinist and an opponent of the right for self-determination for the varied peoples of the Russian Empire. Even Lenin once accused Dzerzhinsky of crass Great Russian chauvinism, to which Dzerzhinsky replied: "I can reproach him (Lenin) with standing at the point of view of the Polish, Ukrainian and other chauvinists."

It's quite hilarious imagining Lenin, a Russian, accusing Dzerzhinsky, a Pole, of being a Russian nationalist and getting "well you're a Polish nationalist" thrown back at him!
Bobko   
3 Aug 2018
History / Why is Poland weaker than Russia? [390]

This is a historical question I've become somewhat obsessed with, though it may seem an absurd framing to modern observers. After having read some books this summer covering the "Time of Troubles" in Russia, and the reign of Sigismund III in Poland, I became engrossed in the the possible historical counterfactuals. What if Sigismund III did not insist on taking the crown of Russia himself, and allowed his son Wladislaw to continue to reign as Tsar of Russia? What if Poland had a more accommodating policy towards the Cossacks and Tatars, and instead focused more of its attention on Russia? What would the world look like right now if Sigismund was successful in building a Polish-Lithuanian-Muscovite Union?

Lots of questions, basically. Now I want to ask the forum members why they think Muscovy entered an ascendant position in European politics by the middle of the 17th century, while Poland became progressively weaker. Was it the authoritarian nature of Russian government which gave it an edge over the more decentralized, szlachta-run Poland? Was it pre-determined by pure demographics? Or can everything just be blamed on the Swedes?

Finally, do you think if a Polish-Lithuanian-Muscovite Union was formed that it could actually survive? Would the differences between the Catholic and Orthodox parts of the country eventually tear it apart? What language would they speak?

Thanks
Bobko   
3 Aug 2018
History / Why is Poland weaker than Russia? [390]

If not for the Rome, Romans and Christianity, Russia would be joke for Poland. No, Russia wouldn`t even exist.

Sorry to rain on your parade, but the Rus state predates the founding of Poland under the Piast dynasty by at least a century and a half. That is, Russia would have "existed" whether Poland embraced Catholicism or not.
Bobko   
3 Aug 2018
History / Why is Poland weaker than Russia? [390]

all what is White on this planet is of Sarmatian origin

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha. Thanks for a good laugh.

So in your theory the Goths, which kicked Sarmatian ass from the West, and the Proto-Slavs that kicked their ass from the East, were black Africans, or yellow Asiatics??
Bobko   
12 Dec 2018
History / Would Poland be better off if it had lost in the Polish-Soviet War? [44]

Big historical counterfactual I found myself thinking about while reading about the Nazi-led Siege of Warszawa (1939, not 1944).

Here's what I think:

Pros:
Germany may not have attacked in 1939, or at all, as the USSR would have be much closer to the German heartland, and stronger demographically and industrially.

Poland would have preserved an enormous part of its population (Jews and Poles), and might have had a population of 45-50 million people today.

Poland would probably still control the Western Ukraine, in addition to any territories it would have gained in the West. Logic here is that if Poland is already part of the USSR, there is no need to transfer territories internally to Belarus and Ukraine.

Though it would have still had to live under decades of Communist rule, Poland would likely still be an independent country right now, because even small constituent republics of the USSR like Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have gained independence since the failed social experiment collapsed.

Cons:

Poland would have likely still lost a great proportion of its population to famine, labor camps, elimination of political undesirables etc., just like Ukraine did. But still probably far fewer people would have died than under the German occupation.

Without the 20 year period of independence between the wars, Polish national consciousness might have been stamped out completely and would not survive to the present.

If the USSR had won the Polish-Soviet War, it likely would have continued rolling West until it reached the English Channel. We'd all be speaking Russian right now!

Finally, the Wehrmacht advanced over thousands of kilometers in the first year of Operation Barbarossa, before the Russians managed to finally stop them right at the doorstep of Moscow - so whether or not Poland was part of the USSR, it's very likely it would have been rolled over just the same, if Hitler had still decided to attack the USSR.
Bobko   
12 Dec 2018
History / Would Poland be better off if it had lost in the Polish-Soviet War? [44]

Not sure if you're trolling Jon, or are just an avowed socialist ;)

There's an argument out there, that Poland's victory in that war is what saved the West from Bolshevism (see: "Miracle on the Vistula"). Weimar Germany was in a very weak state, and was the true target of the Polish campaign. If Germany fell, France with its enormous communist electorate would have been the next target to flip.

The other argument is that the Bolsheviks didn't give up on the idea of exporting revolution all around the world up until Roosevelt and Churchill asked Stalin to stop, because... you know... it's not cool to try to overthrow the government of your allies. At that point, Stalin decided on the idea of first building "socialism in one country".
Bobko   
13 Dec 2018
History / Would Poland be better off if it had lost in the Polish-Soviet War? [44]

no it wouldnt have, quit patrionizing the polish propaganda. theyre now west or euorope and esp in the 19th and eaely 20th century.

I'm not saying Poland is the West, but that it protected the West from further communist encroachment by erecting a sort of cordon sanitaire on the USSR's western border. In the first years of the Soviet state worldwide revolution was the number one driving force. It was considered an accident that Communists had first triumphed in an agrarian and semi-feudal Russia, rather than the much more industrial Germany or GB (workers > peasants for Communists). From this, came the thinking that if a major industrial nation could not be flipped to join the communist international in the very nearest future, then the project of the Soviets in Russia was doomed. It was considered that the two systems (capitalism and communism) can not coexist, and one would have to defeat the other. This is present in Marx and Engels' writing, all the way through to Lenin and Trotsky, and then even young Stalin.
Bobko   
20 Dec 2018
History / Would Poland be better off if it had lost in the Polish-Soviet War? [44]

Goddammit.... My precious thread has become derailed... once again.

Folks! Distilled - the question boiled down to: "Would Poland be better off if it never gained independence in 1921?" Not whether or not Hitler would attack anyway, as suggested by Lyzko. Not whether or not Poland belongs to the West. Not even regarding the geographic origins of the Enlightenment, and so on and so forth. Bah!
Bobko   
27 Dec 2018
History / Would Poland be better off if it had lost in the Polish-Soviet War? [44]

at some points of 1919-1920 they controlled just a territories around Moscow and St-Petersburg and were on the verge of collapse.

In very early 1919 perhaps, but by the beginning of 1920 the Bolsheviks had defeated their enemies on practically all fronts.

The Whites had been crushed by the Reds in the South, and no longer presented a credible threat. The British, French, American and Czechoslovak forces of the "Allied Intervention" also gave up and started pulling out through the port of Vladivostok. Peace was made with Estonia and Lithuania. Central Asian separatist movements were crushed.

By the Spring of 1920 Poland had become the main focus of the Bolsheviks. They were able to put together a front consisting of more than 700,000 men and thousands of pieces of artillery.

Basically, I want to point out that this was a much closer call than you describe. Indeed, at one point Poland's fortunes in the war looked so bad that Pilsudski's government was teetering on the verge of collapse, as Roman Dmowski's opposition grew in power. They don't call it "The Miracle on the Vistula" because it was a miracle how the Soviets made it so far, but because it was a miracle Poland survived.
Bobko   
27 Dec 2018
History / Would Poland be better off if it had lost in the Polish-Soviet War? [44]

Sorry to say, Pilsudski was not a huge fan of Jews either, and was only slightly less Nationalist than Dmowski.

To a great extent it was the noises that Pilsudski was making about building an Intermarum that provoked the Soviets to act on the scale they did.
Bobko   
30 Jan 2019
Classifieds / Fabricator sought for 1:1 scale mockup for MSPO Defence Exhibition. [14]

No problem, I understand. It's quite interesting to me how this works, and what use the manufacturer believes he extracts from it. I've brought my little nephew to some defense expos (last day, open to public), and he naturally would gravitate to the scaled down submarines and jet-fighters. For the 1:1 mock-ups of missile systems he would attempt to of course climb on top :)) Speaking for myself, the model didn't matter at all. The procurement contract usually specifies very exact specs demanded from the hardware, and so it was the little brochures which mattered most (and of course, price). But certainly, the models made for great photos)

I always thought the manufacturer's performed the work in-house. I'm not certain what it's called in English, but in Russian there is a term, «массо-габаритная модель», or "mass-dimensions model" which is used on the carrying platform during trials to evaluate how the hardware would affect aerodynamics, the security of the points of fixation, etc. I figured that something similar is what was brought to shows since presumably it would already be on hand.

I know that in your case you are looking for small local manufacturers (good on you!), but is this something that the companies that design and fabricate booths for trade shows usually would do?

Apologies for the double post. Is the English term for what I mentioned above, simply "Dummy"? Thanks!
Bobko   
1 Feb 2019
Classifieds / Fabricator sought for 1:1 scale mockup for MSPO Defence Exhibition. [14]

Were you asking because you know I speak Russian, or were you asking if the terms were equivalent?

Thanks for your response!

Didn't know you speak Russian. Yes, asking if the terms were equivalent, but it seems it's not the case.

I kind of arrived at the answer myself (hassle with export licences, pain-in-the-ass logistical arrangements, etc), while waiting on your reply :)

As regards the "moralizing" - am I missing something? Were there messages in the thread that had been deleted? I hope it wasn't anything I said, because I completely agree with you on this point.

Sig,

Different type of modelling here... but what can you say about this? Why do manufacturers do this, and when is it going to stop?!

Photo is from MSPO 2017: pbs.twimg.com/media/DHdFna7XcAYQpGu.jpg
Bobko   
15 Feb 2019
History / Why are Jews pestering Poland for "proper" WW2 monetary restitution/reparations? [750]

Clever, no doubt...

I try never to wade into these questions, b/c more often than not it's a fool's errand. However, it's necessary to point out that Jews are special in this sense, in that it's not just a religion, but also an ethnicity. The "blood" aspect is important here, and the Catholic analogy does not cover that.

That's it from me, I'm out :)
Bobko   
22 Feb 2019
History / Why is Poland weaker than Russia? [390]

In 1920 Poland was the one stronger

So the OP premise is rather silly. what is now can be something else in the future.

I said that the framing of the question might seem silly, because I was concerned that people would treat this as a no-brainer (i.e. Russia is just so much bigger). However, here you are Ironside :)))

Economically the distance is still huge. Poland has a nominal GDP of around $520 billion, or approximately the size of Sweden. Russia has a nominal GDP of around $1.5 trillion, or about the size of Italy. Before the enormous currency devaluation that followed the annexation of Crimea in 2014, and imposition of sanctions, Russia had a GDP of around $2.3 trillion. So it's not just oil and nukes.

Also not mentioned, is the Security Council veto, G8 membership, and unilateral operations in Ukraine and Syria. Do you, for example, realistically envision Poland acting independently in any military conflict (one measure of Great Power status)?

Finally, how can you be serious saying that only 100 years ago Poland was stronger? In that decade Poland had just gotten its independence from Russia, miraculously, and only after Russia was wracked by a World War, then a revolution, which was immediately followed up by a civil war in which at least 9 million perished.
Bobko   
23 Feb 2019
History / Why is Poland weaker than Russia? [390]

For a country as large as and with a population as large as Russia that is truly pathetic......no,nobody is overly scared or worried by Russia...

Italy has a population of 60 million people, while Russia has 142 million. Given how Russia was plunged into absolute poverty during the transition to a market economy in the '90s, I see nothing pathetic in Russians achieving a standard of living just 2.3 times worse than the Italian one (without 100s of billions of EU infusions, a là Poland). Italy is a export powerhouse second only to Germany, with world-leading competencies in many crucial sectors.

Furthermore, as I explained in my post, these are nominal figures. When the ruble/usd exchange rate plunged from 30 rubles to the dollar to 68, following the annexation of Crimea, it wiped out nearly 50% of Russia's nominal GDP as expressed in US dollars. However, it would be economically illiterate to argue that because of this the Russian economy was halved. Yes, Russia relies on imports for many important types of industrial machinery, and these need to be paid for in USD or EUR. Now it's 50% more expensive to pay for these imports. However, Russia also sells its oil and metals for USD (Russia sells a lot more than it imports, about $200 billion more), and then changes it back to rubles inside the country. This is why despite sanctions and a recession Russian state finances remain robust (lowest debt to GDP ratio in the developed world, and fourth largest fx reserves, with a healthy budget proficit this year).

If a purchasing power parity metric is used instead of nominal USD, then Russia has a GDP of around 4 trillion USD, which puts it above Great Britain and France, and on par with Germany. By comparison, Poland has a PPP GDP of 1.2 trillion.

The swings in the exchange rate have meant that Russia has lost a share of GDP in the last 5 years that is larger than the entire Polish GDP (to those arguing that modern Poland is comparable to russia). If oil and metal prices rally tomorrow, and the ruble consequently strengthens to the 40s-50s, then Russia will add at least half a trillion to its GDP. This is why nominal GDP figures are not very useful.