News / "It's too late for Germany" (but not for Poland) [1798]


Not for nothing. During the negotiations for German Reunification, the Polish government created a lot of smoke over the border issue. More specifically they wanted an assurance that a reunited Germany would forfeit its claims to former Germany territories. Previously only the FRG and GDR had done so 1953 and 1970 for their states. The Polish government was very insistent and almost derailed the entire negotiations, but in the end a solution was found. A reunited Germany confirmed the border and solved the reparation issue permanently.

Again, all the Polish government wanted was the border confirmed and accepted that the reparations would be ruled out. The PM of Poland told that Kohl in one of his phone calls. There are good books written about the entire negotiations that explain this in a lot of detail. And as side note, some of the historians I have read (quite a few British and French one) have noted that the Polish government has played their cards rather poorly in this one. There was never any chance for a border change back then, but their insistence (fuelled bythe Polish Domestic press) on it made them wave their last chance for reparations.


Those were linked from the very beginning. Poland always wanted the existing borders confirmed (because the Potsdam Protocol was not a permanent settlement) and they always treated the reparation issue as bargaining chip. Which was fine, because Germany did the same with the border question.

They are also linked today. Because when the Polish government claims that those treaties over the border and reparation were not final, they also obviously put the legal status of Western Poland in doubt.

News / "It's too late for Germany" (but not for Poland) [1798]


The impression is that the grand-children of the culprits are not going to pay a tn€ to the grand-children of the victims who already received compensation.


A moral argument can be decisive if it can be supported by a legal argument. The legal argument is already completely on Germany's side, and the moral one is very questionable, and getting weaker with time.


Yes, we might end up paying to Namibia and Greece. But thankfully, that is not the case with Poland ;)

News / "It's too late for Germany" (but not for Poland) [1798]


This is where you are wrong. The facts regarding war reparations are all on Germany's side. The question regarding war reparations has been settled in several binding treaties. And PiS knows this which is why they are forced to get creative in their arguments.

You are also mistaking with your argument about the passage of time. Time is on Germany's side in this argument. With every year that passes, Poland loses the moral argument and it becomes more and more ridiculous to claim 1tn reparations from the great-grandparents of the culprits. Once the last WWII surivor dies, it will become as ridiculous as e.g. demanding reparations for the Napoleonic Wars.


It would pressure on the opponent if that would deemed as a valid argument. The German government knows that those claims are invalid and thus simply ignore them. The irony is that among all of Germany's victims during the war, Poland -despite suffering the most - has the weakest claim for reparations because several Polish governments - including the democratic elected ones - have waved Poland's right to reparations several times over.


That is true. Germany waved the claim to its' former territories in the same treaties that included Polish demands for reparations. If you deem those treaties as invalid to justify war reparations, you would also invalid the German agreement to forgo claims to former territories. Then again, Poland can not unilaterally refute those treaties within international law, so this is all purely academical.

It is also true that sometimes moral pressure can be used against some countries as a tool, but without any legal foundation, they have little influence.

For example both Greece and Namibia have received some support even by German politicians, because they can rightfully point out that not all matters of reparations have been permanently settled. Germany never paid reparations to Namibia, and never made any agreement regarding the loan it forcibly took from Greece during WWII. However Polish claims have not received any support, precisely because they have no legal foundation.

News / "It's too late for Germany" (but not for Poland) [1798]

This is a very complicated legal matter and I do not see any merit in explaining it to some people who do not care about facts anyway.

WWII is long over, and all matters regarding the war between Germany and Poland have been definitely dealt with anyway.

News / "It's too late for Germany" (but not for Poland) [1798]


Ok Basil, whatever you say ;)


You want to give Pommerania and Silesia back to Germany?

News / 'Fort Trump' Military Base in Poland [537]

@undercover


Are you talking about yourself right now?

News / "It's too late for Germany" (but not for Poland) [1798]

You know, the sketch was making more fun about the Brits than the Germans. Or more specifically, about those who were still fighting the war 30 years after its' end. In a way it gets more relevant with every day. Because those who still bring it up as a way to judge modern Germans are just exposing their own stupidity, like Basil did.

News / 'Fort Trump' Military Base in Poland [537]

And it doesn't stop the economically more powerful country to demand renegotiations whenever it wants.

Life / Political correctness in Poland [210]


Yes, so far. But they have almost caught up to us. They now have modern education system, a large population to produce scientists and a government that is willing to spend the necessary ressources to see it done. It might still take a while, but those factors will eventually have an impact.


You are right. That is the one advantage which I hope will grant Western societies an edge over China, that being said, how much it will matter is not really predictable. Japan also places a lot of value on collectivism, and they have become a very innovative society. In any case, the days when the West (and Japan) dominated the scientific world are numbered.

Life / Political correctness in Poland [210]

I was referring to the view that White People were the driving force behind most innovation. That has beeb true for some time, but is likely to change within the next decades. Especially China does everything to become a scientific powerhouse and leader in key technologies like artificial intelligence.

Life / Political correctness in Poland [210]


I am sure the native Americans are particulary greatful to Europeans who exposed them to so many diseases that killed up to 90% of them.

You are in a way fortunate Rich. If I remember correctly, you claimed to be a grandfather, so you likely won't live long enough to see the world change against your viewpoint.

News / "It's too late for Germany" (but not for Poland) [1798]


It must be convenient to live in a world in which you can stereotype people so easily.


Like judging them fairly, and not based on the actiond of a few individuals?

News / 'Fort Trump' Military Base in Poland [537]


Yes really. It has the same rights and access to the Single market without preconditions.


Because there is no economic integration without a political one. No single market of this size with so many countries could exist without it. Look what toothless tiger the WTO.


The EU is not about control, but it seems futile to argue with someone who wants to see the EU as a tool of German domination. It would be so much easier if Germany had even half as much influence as you and others seem to think.

News / 'Fort Trump' Military Base in Poland [537]


It is you who has seemingly no clue about the EEC. The EEC was never simply a smaller WTO because it would not have worked that way without a political element.


Also not a realistic scenario. Poland is currently treated as an equal by its' richer western colleagues thanks to the EU. Without the EU it would lose this status, and in trade negotiations with Germany, it would be in a far weaker position.

News / "It's too late for Germany" (but not for Poland) [1798]

Interesting how similar old antisemtic cartoons from the Nazi era and modern antimuslim cartoons are. Then again, the people who draw them arr also very much alike in their mindsetting and tactics.

News / 'Fort Trump' Military Base in Poland [537]


That is indeed what many people who want to restart the EU in Germany propose. Especially AfD voters argue that a downsized new EU should only include Germany, France, the Benelux countries and Scandinavia. Poland (and Eastern Europe) is usually not included in their vision for the reason you cited and because it is an obstacle for their vision of a close partnership with Russia.

That aside, I find it astonishing that some people really believe that Poland would be admitted to such a club. Some selective reasoning I guess.

News / 'Fort Trump' Military Base in Poland [537]


That is a misconception at best. The UK has been quite influential within the EU over the years. However the fact that it opted out on many European integration projects naturally limited its' influence in some areas.

blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexit/2018/07/09/british-influence-in-brussels-had-been-far-greater-than-recognised/

Off-Topic / Merkel's stepping down influence on Poland [82]

Not exactly her fault when most of her possible successors commit political suicide one way or another.

Frankly I'd be more concerned about Poland than Germany. The fact that the most powerful person holds no elected office and made the PM and President his puppets raise a lot of red flags.

News / 'Fort Trump' Military Base in Poland [537]


Those certainly help the Polish economy, but they are nowhere near enough to preven the demograpic decline of Poland. Especially when many young Polish people are emigrating to Western Europe.


That is a wild exagerration. Besides, this post was about your assumption that the nationalists in Italy are good for Poland, when they are clearly not. Everything they want is in contrast to Polish interests.

News / 'Fort Trump' Military Base in Poland [537]


Those are rather optimistics estimates that assume that Poland will receive until then a similar amount of money via the funds. If those funds are reduced, it will naturally slow don Poland's economy. I also suspect that it does not consider Poland's fast ageing society. Regardless, Poland will be hit hard by any reduction of the funds, that is beyond dispute.

News / 'Fort Trump' Military Base in Poland [537]


You seem to be very misinformed about the aims of the Italian populists party. They want to drastically reduce the structural funds of the EU, divide incoming refugees and want an end to the sanctions against Russia. All of this goes against Poland's vital interests.


European politics do not need to be a zero sum game anymore thanks to the EU.

News / 'Fort Trump' Military Base in Poland [537]

The refugee crisis is de facto over. Brexit seems to be the best thing happening to the EU for a long time, since it strengthened public support for it. The conflicts with Hungary and Poland are no threat to the EU (though they are no doubt hurting Poland and Hungary in the long run if they do not compromise).

The problems with Italy are more relevant, though again hardly a threat because the EU holds all the cards here.

Off-Topic / Merkel's stepping down influence on Poland [82]

Or testimony to a pretty impressive politician.

News / 'Fort Trump' Military Base in Poland [537]

The problem with this entire debate is how dishonest Trump and others are about it.

No one can deny that the European countries need to spend more on their defence. The previous low spending was done under the assumption that there was no conventional threat to Europe anymore. Ukraine proves that wrong. And most Nato members have already significantly increased their spending and intent to continue doing so. The debate ought to end here.

Instead Trump continues to insult his allies. Allies who are -thanks to the USA - stuck in an endless war in Afghanistan. He also wrongly suggests that any increase in spending will benefit the USA which is plainly wrong. Because a) most of the additional spending will be used for European weapons and b) the USA is only spending a fraction of its' budget on European defence. The biggest US military base on foreign soil is in Japan, and those in Europe are mostly used for logistics.

I could somewhat respect his arguments if he intented to decrease military spending of the USA. Instead he increased it further. Yet he suggests that the Allies are costing the USA money.

News / 'Fort Trump' Military Base in Poland [537]

It still fullfills all NATO obligations. Germany is the 2nd largest contributor for NATO missions and plays now a leading role in bolstering the defence in Eastern Europe.

Which is why there are not many countries who can claim to be more reliable.

News / 'Fort Trump' Military Base in Poland [537]


There is hardly any country that could be deemed as more reliable within Nato than Germany.

Fort Trump will not have any impact on this.

News / "It's too late for Germany" (but not for Poland) [1798]

The implications of her departure are pretty heavy for Poland as well. Few German politicians showed so many sympathy and understanding for Poland. There is no guarantee that her successor will be similiary inclined.

News / German legal discrimination against Polish speakers [209]

Perhaps someone could tell me what is so problematic about this picture? France and Germany are working on a solution for Syria that will stop the bloodshed and end the flow of Syrians to Europe, two goals I believe everyone can agree on. And for that to happen, they need to talk with the countries that have influence in Syria, and those are unfortunately Turkey and Russia.

News / German legal discrimination against Polish speakers [209]

If nothing else, that pictures offers some measure of hope for the Syrians.

News / German legal discrimination against Polish speakers [209]


Just another example how the Brexiteer press twisted the truth for their agenda. The Irish people were asked to vote after the EU adressed the concerns that made the people reject the first version, and the Irish people approved it. Nothing undemocratic here.

But of course the Brexiteer press leaves out that part... .