Off-Topic / The EU's New Pact on Migration and Asylum [34]


Sure. Not that nonbelievers have usually difficulties of understanding Jesus message, wthey just chose to not believe in them. This particular story is easy enough to understand though. And nonbelievers have of course every right to point out hipocrisy by those who claim to be Christian.


Because we are better than that. Like the despised Samaritan was better than those who were supposedly better than him - including a priest.


Iraq destabilized the entire region. Former Saddam loyalists who were ousted from power played a key role in building up IS and it encouraged the kind of secretarian strife we see today. The direct consequences of Libya pale compared to that. Libyans make only up a small number of asylum applicants.

Off-Topic / The EU's New Pact on Migration and Asylum [34]


Sure, but they won't because they are run autocrats who don't care for anything but their embezzled money. Not to mention that you can hardly expect e.g. of an Iranian apostate to go to Saudi Arabia.

Many posters on this forum claim to be Christians. As such they must know the story of the good Samaritan. Not helping others because those in an easier position have refused so first was certainly not the message Jesus wanted to spread.


In most cases, there are not.


Just because there may be others in more need outside of our reach doesn't mean we can ignore those who are in also in need but in our reach.


Not that I have any love for this foolhardy intervention, but I really don't think that this kind of accounting would suit Polish interests. Because Poland participated in the illegal Iraq war that did more than anything to destabilize the region, with consequences we feel to this day.

Off-Topic / USA News and Poland - Part 3 [1410]

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Off-Topic / USA News and Poland - Part 3 [1410]

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News / E.U. Denounces Poland's Authority on LBGTQ Free Zones [150]

Well, so far no one on this side has ever cited a rational reason for this descrimination so... .

News / E.U. Denounces Poland's Authority on LBGTQ Free Zones [150]

What facts? There is nothing rational behind this. Just pure hatred against a minority.

News / E.U. Denounces Poland's Authority on LBGTQ Free Zones [150]

Preaching hatred is the opposite of wholesome. Not to mention that some of them are bound to have gay children who will directly suffer from this.

News / E.U. Denounces Poland's Authority on LBGTQ Free Zones [150]


There is nothing "decent" about this at all. There is no justification for it whatsoever, just catering to bigotry and hatred.

News / E.U. Denounces Poland's Authority on LBGTQ Free Zones [150]


Human rights violations and forms of stigmatizations are of course of greatest concern to the EU because they directly violate its' core values.

The EU has been silent on this topic for way too long. By speakibg out against this it helps Poland regaining its' honour and sanity.

News / 15 years of Poland in the EU - assessment of pros and cons [352]


So you admit that EU ascenssion did have aomethibg to do with it? We can argue about the degree, but the prospect of EU membership certainly helped in this endeavour.


You make it sound so negative, as if trade with the SU wasn't a way to decrease tensions in Europe and thus the danger of war, not to mention a tool to get the SU to agree to important treaties like the Helsinki accords? Not to mention that trade between the SU and West Germany remained on a very low level during most of the Cold War, even the gas imports to WG only really picked up in the last 1980s. Therefore the "bottomless German desire for gas" had no real impact on the Soviet Union's economic model.

News / 15 years of Poland in the EU - assessment of pros and cons [352]


Indeed. The prospect of EU membership already did a lot of good for the country, encouraging its' politicians to implement the necessary reforms and increasing the trust of foreign investors. Particulary Germany agreed alread during the negotiations for reunification that the government would encourage credits to Poland. And the reforms prevented the rise of corrupt Oligarchs like in the Ukraine or Russia.

Just goes to show how invaluable the EU has been for Poland.

Off-Topic / Random Chat Poland [736]

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History / Battle of Vienna - history movie about Poland / Commemoration [36]

It is interesting to see how much the perception of historical events can differ between countries. In Europe the siege of Vienna is often seen as a pivotal moment, while e.g. from a Turkish point of view, it is oftwn seen as a minor setback. This view is supported by the fact that the Ottoman Empire was capable of conducting a succesful war against Russia only a few years later. Instead Turkish historians often view the the the Austro-Ottoman war of 1716-1718 as the decisive moment, because it not only lead to the most humiliating military defeat in Ottomam history, but also definitely showed that the Ottoman Empire no longer required a large coalition against it.

One way to reconcile those views may be to speculate about what would have happenes if the Ottoman army had taken Vienna. No doubt that the Ottomans would have been able to gain favourable peace terms, but would they have been able to demand the city? And if they did, would they have been able to hold on to it? As historians have pointed out, the Balkans were always an unprofitable part of the Ottoman Empire and a drag on its' ressources. Pacifying a conquered Austria might have been even more taxing. Adding to that the Ottoman Empire faced several internal and external threats, thus making holding on Vienna even more untenable. Furthermore if we look on how politics unfolded at this time, a great deal was placed by the actors to prevent too large gains by a single party, thus upsetting the balance of power. It is thus entirely possible that an Ottoman victory at Vienna would have lead to a bigger anti-Ottoman coalition down the line.

Personally I suspect that an Ottoman victory would have benefited France the most, and allowed it to make even bigger gains into Germany than it already did.

Off-Topic / Additional capacity for Nordstream II - Germany plans to buy hydrogen from Russia and use NS II for transport [90]

Let me get this straight? You believe that LBGT rights are part of a Neo-marxist conspiracy that is behind the EU?

Off-Topic / Serbia etc. thread 2 [66]

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News / Coronavirus in Poland [3249]

So basically, chances are high that the number of deaths in the USA might be significantly higher than reported. In any case a truly appalling record for the USA, considering that the EU not only consists of rich countries like France and Belgium, but also very poor ones like Rumania and Greece.

News / What should Poland do with the problem of Belarus? [242]


He justified paying women less because they are "smaller, weaker and less intelligent" than men. If you read his English Wikipedia entry, he seems to have a seriously scr*wed up picture of women in general.

News / What should Poland do with the problem of Belarus? [242]


Is this the nutcase who claimed among other things that women were less intelligent than men?

If so, it is hardly a surprise that the party couldn't get more votes.

News / Coronavirus in Poland [3249]


I'd like a source on that having happened in any other country than Spain. Especially one for Germany.

News / Coronavirus in Poland [3249]

According to this article, there has been a notable increase in corona-cases during thr last day on Poland? Can someone verify that?

theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/16/workers-cancel-family-trips-home-amid-fears-poland-is-next-on-quarantine-list

Off-Topic / Serbia etc. thread 2 [66]

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News / Coronavirus in Poland [3249]


Except it looks like a natural immunity is not an option since antibodies disappear after some time.

Which really sucks because as it turns out I have antibodies in my blood. I suspect that I got in at the end of february when I had what I assumed was a horrible cough. So far it looks like I was lucky but who knows.

News / 15 years of Poland in the EU - assessment of pros and cons [352]


Nothing of that was "long-sighted". It was just a cheap trick to whip up a domestic frenzy, which did lasting damage to Poland's diplomatic position in the EU. Thanks to that the countries in Southern Europe have one more reason to e.g. oppose the sanctions against Russia. And all of that because a supposedly "christian" country was unwilling to help people in need.


The plan wasnt to take refugees from Germany, but from Southern Europe.


Just another reason why Poland's opposition was so short-sighted. They could have taken some refugees, and if they had left on their own volition, they had been out of their hand.

News / 15 years of Poland in the EU - assessment of pros and cons [352]


You could not be more wrong. Poland is one of the biggest geopolitical losers of the last five years.

PiS has succesfully isolated itself from Western Europe, and its' incredibly short-sighted position in the refugee crisis has antognized Southeen Europe. It has since not played any role in European politics.

Poland lost one of its' biggest allies with Brexit.

Trump's presidency will have serious long-term consequences for the American commitment to Europe. Especially of he wins another term it is entirely possible that he will take the USA out of Nato. Not to mention his huge sympathies for Putin.

Poland stands now without any mayor allies that would support them.

News / 15 years of Poland in the EU - assessment of pros and cons [352]

Trump hates everything and everyone that is successful and not him. Thus the EU can consider this a badge of honor ;)

It is also too bad that the EU is the such a powerful beacon of democracy und civilization. If it were a dictatorship, no doubt Trump would love it.

News / 15 years of Poland in the EU - assessment of pros and cons [352]

And the political right with the AfD who are selling out to Russia.

News / 15 years of Poland in the EU - assessment of pros and cons [352]


That is indeed something that gets conveniently overlooked. If not for Germany, there would not have been any coordinated response to Russia's agression towards the Ukraine, since many countries like Hungary, Greece and Italy just wanted to resume buisness as usual. Even France is not longer really in favour of them. Those sanctions would have been lifted long time ago if not for Berlin's insistence to first see a peace in Ukraine.

News / 15 years of Poland in the EU - assessment of pros and cons [352]


By the same logic, they also excluded the USA, Turkey and the UK. Which is a ridiculous notion.

You could have tried to include all those countries since they are either neighbours or signatory powers of the Budapest memorandum, but it is clear that Russia would have never agreed to such a constellation that would leave itself so vastly outnumbered.

The Ukraine asked Germany and specifically Merkel for help, since she is known to be a skilled negotiator and and as the only Western politician that Putin takes seriously. Merkel than asked Hollande for assistance, since it can for historically reason not negotiate in such a delicate constellation. As such Merkel could play the honest broker and did in fact achieve a significant success with Minsk II.

Poland was never in consideration, since it both lacked the influence on Russia and was seen as far to hostile to Russia to act in good faith. Though Berlin and Paris did try to include Poland into their East European strategy via the Weimar triangle, and they consult them frequently on Russia and the Ukraine while Poland was governed by PO. But sadly, PiS was fully succesful with their attempts to self-isolate Poland and thus Poland has lost most of its' pre-2015 influence.

News / 15 years of Poland in the EU - assessment of pros and cons [352]

Keep in mind that this article is from March, when it was yet unclear how fast Germany and the EU would response to the crisis.

There is now reason to believe that Germany might master the crisis better than other countries, though it will - like all mayor economies - no doubt be severely affected by it.

nytimes.com/2020/07/19/opinion/coronavirus-germany-economy.html

All the money Germany saved up under Schäuble might now come in handy.

Off-Topic / USA News and Poland - Part 3 [1410]

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