History / What should Russia and Poland do to become if not friends, then at least not enemies? [945]


Russia's behaviour in the Ukraine is more than enough reason to condemn it. Russia broke with the ultimate taboo in European foreign policy by redrawing the borders by force. Consequently it's neighbours are justified to fear Russia and rely on Nato to protect them, since Russia has no qualm pressuring those who are not protected by it.

In a way I feel sorry for the Russians. They have had so many incompetent and coŕrupt rulers that they are now satisfied to live under a man who promises them national greatness, yet has no viable long-term strategy for his country and enables corruption even more than his predecessors (just more covertly). Russia could be a wealthy country, bit its' citizen are poor because its' elite pluders its' wealth (just look at the number of oligarchs, and the official number is probably too low). However Poland can not affort to go soft on them, because the predictable collapse of the system might encourage Putin to act even more agressively to stabilize his power,

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]

And here I thought that Americans needing a gun to receive validation as a man was just a silly stereotype.... .

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]

That just goes to show you that strict gun laws and low gun ownserhip is better at preventing fire arm related deaths than merely strict gun control.

That being said, strict gun control is better than nothing.

History / What should Russia and Poland do to become if not friends, then at least not enemies? [945]

You mean the one before the last one?

One can criticize a lot about Obama, but it is obvious that he is a highly intelligent man. Bush Jr. on the other hand... .

History / What should Russia and Poland do to become if not friends, then at least not enemies? [945]

Besides, as the current president clearly demonstrates, you don't need intelligence to convince others to follow you.

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

I hope you don't really believe this. Jews faced the same hardships as other Poles (since they were Poles before) while already being widely discriminated before 1841 and denied most civil services.

@G (undercover)


Interesting how this thread confirms the stereotype that antisemtism is still prevalent in Poland. T

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

Because Polish people were not necessarily in the same position as their Jewish citizens. If you were in a Ghetto or KZ collaborating with the Nazis might be one of the few ways you thought you could survive. I would never pass judgement on someone like this since no one could with certainty claim that given the situation, he would have reacted differently. Besides most of them were later killed anyway.

Most Szmalcowce did not have this excuse.

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

You do realize that their is a moral difference between someone betraying his neighbours to the Nazis because of the reward, and someone who lives in a Ghetto/KZ and helps the Nazis because it might help him survive longer?

No one can seriously argue that the latter has morally compromised himself, while the latter is thoroughly despicable.

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

That could be problematic though, given that most offenses (excluding e.g. murder) have probably fallen under the statute of limitation.

@Lyzko


Which is a good thing, because it leaves room for an academic discussion on a very sensitive topic. Even today historians still disagree on how much responsibility Austrians bear for the Anschluss and its' consequences. The Nazis managed to get their supporters in high positions before 1938 and used them well, but there is a lot of evdence that the majority of the Austrians might not have been in favour of it, if given a choice. Hitler after all was desperate to prevent a plebiscite on the matter.

History / What should Russia and Poland do to become if not friends, then at least not enemies? [945]

Bit he did not talk about the Serbs in WWII here, and the fact that he furthermore compares the victims of Serbian agressions to the Nazis is just as outrageous. If I was Polish I would be furious about such comparisons.

History / What should Russia and Poland do to become if not friends, then at least not enemies? [945]


You have really no shame, that you attempt to compare the genocidal Serbs with the Polish victims on a Polish forum. That is all I am going to say about this.

History / What should Russia and Poland do to become if not friends, then at least not enemies? [945]

The result was the crushing of the genocidal ambitions of the Serbs and the restoration of order and peace in the Balkans. While not perfect, it is a good solution considering we are talking about the Balkans here.

History / What should Russia and Poland do to become if not friends, then at least not enemies? [945]

@gregy741


The one in Yugoslavia went very well.

News / Goodbye Sunday Shopping in Poland - Hello Electoral Reform [246]

Please just educate yourself about the applications of the Maastricht criterias before you continue to demonstrate your ignorance... .

Your attempts to link them to Polish own failures are as clumsy as they are wrong.

Not only are the Maastricht criterias more flexible in their application, they are something entirely different from the rules that Poland is breaking.

News / Goodbye Sunday Shopping in Poland - Hello Electoral Reform [246]


Poland can't be compared to other EU countries (at least not Western European countries) since it is not as developed as them. The fact that Poland is racking up a high deficite despite great economic growth is worrying, especially since the demographic outlook of Poland is particulary bleak. Western Europeans have acquired more personal wealth, and are thus more capable to bear the consequences of the demographic decline, but this is not yet the case in Poland. Either the current or next government will have to reduce the budget deficite.


Said debt requirement only affects the Euro members, not the EU.


Again, there is mechanism to kich out any Euro member, nor is it possible to kick a country out of the EU. A country can only voluntarily leave the EU, it can not be forced out.

bbc.com/news/business-15575751

News / Goodbye Sunday Shopping in Poland - Hello Electoral Reform [246]

I am not going to bother to correct all your false assumptions about inflation et al. since it is obvious that you have no idea of what you are talking about and simply use this to further your agenda. Though I give you credits for being inventive enough to create the assumption that Germany had economically stagnated last year.


It has actually a rather high annual budget deficite:

tradingeconomics.com/poland/government-budget


It only enforces laws that if can enforce, since the member states were (and still are) able to veto any sanctions, which they did in the past. Obviously that is detrimental to the whole process, and thus greater fiscal supervision will be granted to Bruessels with the next planned reforms.


The treaties to not include the possibility of forcing countries to leave the eurozone.


Yes, but Germany has been reducing its' deficite, while Poland is continuing to borrow money.


Poland is doing well, but it will take a lot more effort to catch up to Western Europe, and along the way, it will have to decide how to let all Polish people benefit from growth.

News / Goodbye Sunday Shopping in Poland - Hello Electoral Reform [246]


I meant to say that if shops have longer opened, people will roughly spend the same amount of money, during the longer buisness hours.


a) Germany had less than 2% inflation, and few economists would argue that even 2% are "too high". What is worrysome though it Poland's growing debt, given its' future demographic problems and overall economic outlook. If a government still records a high deficte even in times of economic growth, that does bode poorly for the future.

News / Goodbye Sunday Shopping in Poland - Hello Electoral Reform [246]

Inflation in Germany was in 2017 under 2%, indeed Poland had a higher inflation in the same time period.

inflation.eu/inflation-rates/germany/historic-inflation/cpi-inflation-germany-2017.aspx

tradingeconomics.com/poland/inflation-cpi

Besides, the fact that you continue to compare Poland's economic growth with that of Western Europe betrays your bias. Poland's economy is still developing compared to the saturated economies in Western Europe, and thus can achieve higher growth rate; in fact as delphie has pointed out, the distance might not even get closer because total growth might still be higher in the west. The important is now how Poland will be able to make sure that all citizens benefit from its' economic growth.

Regarding the topic of this thread, I can understand why many people are annoyed about these changes, but I can also understand why they are implemented. I have recently read a study that longer shopping times do not necessarily lead to an increase in total spending (because people usually know what they are going to buy, and how much they need), instead people are simply spending the same over a longer amount of time. While large companies can afford to pay their employees for the additional working times, smaller shops might find this difficult, since their profits do not necessarily increase. So this practice puts a lot of pressure on smaller shops.

It seems to me that we need to find a compromise regarding the shopping time, and to be honest I think that a ban on Sunday shopping could serve as a compromise. As long as you can shop 6 days a week, you ought to be able to get your shopping done in the allocated time.

News / Poland in the European Union. Polexit? [559]


They are far from the only one, the Benelux countries among others are also in favour. Anyway we shall see how their idea proceed in the next months.


No doubt the Eurozone will see some further reforms, and there have been many demands (including by EU sceptical countries like the Czech Republic) for greater military cooperation among European countries. Those are the two areas where we might see some drastic changes rather soon. It already started with the PESCO initiative.

News / Poland in the European Union. Polexit? [559]

[/quote]
Such reforms always have to be instigated by the member states, since they must agree to the loss of sovereignity. And France and Germany have usually the diving force behind deeper integrations, nohing unusual here.

As for the rest of your post. Macron won his election campaign with the promise to reform Europe, and Merkel has now formed a government and is thus fully legitimized to do the same. This will be her last term in office, and she knows that she can fully cement her legacy as the saviour of the EU by making sure that the EU is prepared for future crisis. She will also have little trouble with the AfD on this matter, since a) most Germans like the EU and want it to work and b) te AfD has so far done little to critize the EU because of this.


Not wanted in a few country perhaps, but the core countries are still very much commited to it. But I'd prefer it anyway if some countries press on with deeper integration, and leave the rest to either follow them, or be left behind.

News / Poland in the European Union. Polexit? [559]


Indeed, and there are very promising signs for this. Merkel and Macron will no doubt instigate great changes this year.


I hope you are not implying that the EU is any way responsible for the problems in Slovakia, when in fact the EU is usually cited (including by colleagues of the murdered journalist) as the main factor to keep those tendencies in check?


Again, the problem here was not the EU being blind to it, because even if it had been aware, there was nothing it could have done anyway. The memberstates have still reserved themselves the final decision-making in most cases, and as we are currently seeing with Poland, the EU can hardly interfere even when the rule of law is at stake. Even when Greece literally depended on the help of others, the influence on it was limited.

If we look at it objectively, most problems we currently have are not because of Bruessels' power, but because of its' impotence.

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

Another foreign policy masterstroke by PiS.

politico.eu/article/polands-leaders-barred-from-white-house-meetings-over-holocaust-law

News / Poland in the European Union. Polexit? [559]

And he was actually a succesful buisnessman... .

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]


There are mentally ill in every country, yet it is the USA which suffers again and again from mass shootings.

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]


I never understood this argument. Even strict gun control does not mean that people loose their right to own guns. It is entirely possible for law-abiding citizens to own guns in countries with strict gun control like Germany, which has a very high gun percitizen ratio, and even in Japan. It simply takes time to pass all backround checks and tests that show that you can handle a gun. And given the low number of mass shootings in these countries, the system clearly works.

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]


Because said military still follows (mostly) the basic rules of military conduct and fights on foreign soil with somewhat limited efdort. A tyrannic government would hardly have any of those limitations.

@mafketis


You still try to deflect from the desire to prevent mass shootings by bringing up migrant problems.

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]


This might have been justified 200 years ago bit nowadays this is simply laughable simply out of practically reasons. The government has now tanks, planes, drones, how do you think will some guys with guns stand up to this? We can see in Syria that a scrupulous government can stamp out any resistance as long as it is ruthless enough.

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]

Using guns to protect your family is a rather questionable anyway. If you are a responsible gun owner, you'll have your gun safely locked away where your children won't find them. But then it will be difficult to reach them in time.

I mean when I read statistics like this I am very happy that gun owners in Germany are legally obligated to have their guns locked away at home.

verywellfamily.com/gun-and-shooting-accidents-2634213

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]


And both are higher than in Germany according to this list:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-related_death_rate

It is also quite interesting that Germany and France have more guns per citizen than Switzerland and Czech Republic.


You should have read the list carefully like I did before you posted this here.

No mass shooting happened after Fort Arthur (mass shooting is usually described with 4 or more deaths). The only exception was the Hunt family murdersand as the name implies, that was a family tragedy. We are talking about cases when a deranged individual tries to kill a large number of people in a public space in a short amount of time.

Again, we are talking about mass shootings here.


Except cars are not primarily made for killing. AR15 are made for killing. Banning cars would drasitically inconvenience everybody, banning AR15s would only inconveniece a few and to a much smaller degree.

Do you really find it normal that school children in the USA have to learn how to behave in case a gunman storms the school? You keep on rambling about terror incidents in Europe when people are getting gunned down at a regular base in the USA. How many mass shootings have to happen until people like you change their mind?

Another excellent video that debunks those arguments against gun control (and it is even meant to be entertaining).

youtu.be/0rR9IaXH1M0?t=2m50s

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]


There have been 3 mass shooting incidents in France in this century according to Wikipedia.

If gun restrictions did nothing but decrease the number of mass shooting incidents, it would still be worth it.


Everything in this statement is wrong.

Switzerland has more gun crimes than France and Germany and Sweden. Czech Republic has more gun crimes than Germany and Sweden.

Both France and Germany had 3 mass shooting incidents in the last 20 years, yet each country has several more times (at least 6 or more) people than e.g. Switzerland (8,5m) and Czech Republic (10,6m).

Switzerland and the Czech Republic had one notable massacre:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zug_massacre

Uherský Brod shooting

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-related_death_rate

Of course statistics are difficult to apply in such small numbers, but claiming that those countries are less likely to have gun violence or mass shootings is wrong.