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Both centre right (HDZ) and far right (DP) lost seats. HDZ can't make the government by itself any more so they'll probably manage to form a coalition with the far right. So the right losing votes will lead to the government becoming more right. 
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Apr 18, 2024 08:58
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But DP is outright pro-Russian, right? Worst case scenario was a majority from them resulting in another EE country going anti-Ukraine. So, as I take it, could be worse.
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Apr 18, 2024 09:00
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Mokotow posted:But DP is outright pro-Russian, right? Worst case scenario was a majority from them resulting in another EE country going anti-Ukraine. So, as I take it, could be worse. Outright? No, not really, no one in mainstream Croatian politics is explicitily pro-russian because it is not a vote-winner. They are just funded by richest man in Croatia, who made his money in natural gas business and guess who was leading exporter of gas to Croatia prior to 2022?
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Apr 18, 2024 09:09
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Mokotow posted:But DP is outright pro-Russian, right? Worst case scenario was a majority from them resulting in another EE country going anti-Ukraine. So, as I take it, could be worse. No, there aren't pro-Russian parties in Croatia. The closest you'd maybe find would be Russia-neutral (all sides are to blame, let's stay out of it), but that's not what DP is about. They are anti-woke, anti-LGBT, anti-Serb, anti-degrowth. They are critical of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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Apr 18, 2024 09:16
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Only two years after the constitutional referendum, Belarus' third extra-parliamentary chamber of parliament. the All-Belarusian People's Assembly, is finally in session and doing something, like unanimously electing Lukashenko as its chairman. Basically no coverage of this epochal event from the Western media for some reason. But it's a perfect opportunity to send a strong message of peace and unity amidst the instability in the region. Ivan Tertel, head of the KGB, told the newly non-elected non-parliamentarians about numerous drone strikes on Minsk and suburbs directly from Lithuania that were quietly deflected and/or prevented, so it's really not a big deal, definitely not an act of war, forget about it, it's secret anyway. quote:The KGB, in co-operation with colleagues from other agencies, has recently carried out a number of acute Chekist [sic!] measures, which made it possible to prevent strikes by military drones from the territory of Lithuania against facilities in Minsk and its suburbs. We continue to work in this direction, it is not possible to provide detailed information to the public yet Lukashenko, in turn, offered a message of hope to the people who foolishly fled Belarus fearing non-existent repressions. quote:Finally, I want to say a very radical thing. All those who are opposing Belarus today and are planning their next move abroad, don't forget how much you're harming your relatives. Don't forget that you have some property here, too. Well, the property you can already forget about, but do not put your relatives at risk. Let's leave it at that. You know where this is going. Paladinus fucked around with this message at 14:17 on Apr 25, 2024 |
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Apr 25, 2024 13:03
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i mean okay, sure, security services people in belarus, but still lol at the idea of using "chekist" to positively characterize your activities
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Apr 25, 2024 14:10
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Big deal today in Poland over Ukraine's plan to get more boots on the ground. All consular work in Ukrainian passport offices was halted under the guise of a technical glitch and no passports are being issued, even to people who were scheduled to pick up their documents. This is limited to all adults, as under-12s can still in theory get their documents, though getting into the consular office is effectively impossible as they're under siege by pissed off people. It seems like to rollout of the new law is half-assed, as all Ukrainian men are required to register on a Ukrainian government website, which then in theory allows them to use consular services, but the website is not online yet. Ukrainians are pissed, as consular services are effectively stopped for all men, including those who have already served. There are also Ukrainian men who were kids when they emigrated after 2012 and who are now expected to go back to a country they don't know or consider their own. Kosiniak-Kamysz, the PSL minister of defense, has stated Poland will be happy to help in rounding up Ukrainians and shipping them back home to fight, which is a hell of a stance to take. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/25/poland-and-lithuania-pledge-to-help-kyiv-repatriate-ukrainians-subject-to-military-draft Mokotow fucked around with this message at 17:59 on Apr 25, 2024 |
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Apr 25, 2024 16:38
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Mokotow posted:Kosiniak-Kamysz, the PSL minister of defense, has stated Poland will be happy to help in rounding up Ukrainians and shipping them back home to fight, which is a hell of a stance to take. I'm so glad Tusk won the October elections, at least there are no such warmongering, jingoistic, fundamentalist idiots in our government anymore oh wait.
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Apr 25, 2024 17:54
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Is there any easy way to call old family and family friends accross Europe who don't have Signal or WhatsApp? I have to have the odd thirty minute biannal catch-up with folks in northern Norway or on some Alpine mountain but Skype costs about as much as just about as much using my mobile service.
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Apr 25, 2024 18:27
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Bright Bart posted:Is there any easy way to call old family and family friends accross Europe who don't have Signal or WhatsApp? I have to have the odd thirty minute biannal catch-up with folks in northern Norway or on some Alpine mountain but Skype costs about as much as just about as much using my mobile service. Microsoft Teams?
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Apr 25, 2024 22:34
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Installing WhatsApp or Signal would also work.
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Apr 26, 2024 07:02
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mmkay posted:Installing WhatsApp or Signal would also work. You'd think so, but I have older family friends go can handle things like using streaming services and knowing what different specs on computers and phones mean but who don't see any kind of need for WhatsApp or Signal since 98% of everyone they talk to just calls them on their mobile number. They might have Skype or Teams and they'll definitely have Messenger but those will be on their laptop or tablet to have scheduled video chats that have been schedules ahead of time via, of course, mobile phone conversations. They won't have those apps on their smartphone or if they do they'll be confused about why Facebook is trying to start a voice call with them. There used to be SIM cards with cheap Europe-wide calling available at corner stores. And calling cards that charged like 2 cents a minute from Poland to Switzerland. But those are gone as far as I can tell, along with any reasonable Skype phone or mobile minute add-ons through a carrier.
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Apr 26, 2024 09:06
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How about writing them a letter? Stamps are still relatively cheap.
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Apr 26, 2024 09:19
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I think Lyca mobile may be your best bet https://www.lycamobile.pl/pl/
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Apr 26, 2024 09:28
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Bright Bart posted:Is there any easy way to call old family and family friends accross Europe who don't have Signal or WhatsApp? I have to have the odd thirty minute biannal catch-up with folks in northern Norway or on some Alpine mountain but Skype costs about as much as just about as much using my mobile service. Telegram, Facebook messenger, Google meet. Send them sms that you are going to call on Facebook.
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Apr 26, 2024 09:46
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Polish Sejm voted to recognize the Silesian language. This may not get signed by Duda, as both PiS and Konfederacja are against it, claiming it's Russian subversions that is bound to lead to a Catalan-style independence push and besides, Silesian is too similar to Polish and is basically nothing but a local dialect. Bizarrely, they're all for Kashubian being a recognized language, and I think that's a missed opportunity for them - they might say that it's German subversion, and besides, Tusk is Kashubian.
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Apr 26, 2024 11:43
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Mokotow posted:I think Lyca mobile may be your best bet Yes! This is it!
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Apr 26, 2024 12:18
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Mokotow posted:Polish Sejm voted to recognize the Silesian language. This may not get signed by Duda, as both PiS and Konfederacja are against it, claiming it's Russian subversions that is bound to lead to a Catalan-style independence push and besides, Silesian is too similar to Polish and is basically nothing but a local dialect. Bizarrely, they're all for Kashubian being a recognized language, and I think that's a missed opportunity for them - they might say that it's German subversion, and besides, Tusk is Kashubian. How is Silesian more Russian than German? It has so many borrowed words due to georgaphical proximity and reshaped borders!
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Apr 26, 2024 16:07
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https://wiadomosci.wp.pl/dramatyczne-sceny-oddaj-dokumenty-i-wynos-sie-na-ukraine-7020091382119328a General Stanisław Koziej: "(men forcibly drafted) will be a cannon fodder. People die on the war and it's unavoidable. Forcibly drafted slave is of little use, but there's no other way so we must use such "slaves" and hope that they will be at least a little bit useful" True Soviet commanding spirit, I'm sure his soldiers must love him.
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Apr 26, 2024 21:42
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Yeah, same tone from Exen, a Twitter liberal guy best known for speaking English really well (raised in the US) and delivering old off road trucks to the UA army, who was quoted saying some vile poo poo along the lines of “real UA veterans can’t wait to kick the snot out of latte-sipping traitorous shits forcibly delivered to the front lines”.
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Apr 26, 2024 22:12
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I'm sure that in case that Russians were coming to our borders, these shitheads who now scream about "cowards" and "traitors" would be the first to run away. Just like back in 1939.
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Apr 26, 2024 23:37
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Szarrukin posted:I'm sure that in case that Russians were coming to our borders, these shitheads who now scream about "cowards" and "traitors" would be the first to run away. Just like back in 1939. Back then, Adolf and Josif said it was okay!
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Apr 26, 2024 23:43
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https://youtu.be/ruIFH5GNsUM?si=fR2h9lFgEo4YyQYX Can vouch this is what it was like at a car mechanic in the early 90s in Poland.
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Apr 27, 2024 12:05
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I adore those period accurate titty posters.
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Apr 27, 2024 15:52
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Mokotow posted:
The old black plates had 3 letters tho, so it should be something like PAP 2137 instead of the RZ. That's some good attention to detail tho.
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Apr 27, 2024 15:56
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 56-76 had two letters and four digits white on black.But! In this case I’m pretty sure it’s the 76-2000 font and they just didn’t want an overlap with a real reg plate, however unlikely it’d be.
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Apr 27, 2024 16:37
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re: Sending people back to be unwilling conscripts I don't look down on those who fled. It's human. But I also don't think it's enough to say they shouldn't be sent back if it would even the odds even a little bit. Am I being a hypocrite for saying this? I don't know what I would do in their place. I admit that. But I can't argue that I should be allowed to run if the situation came to that, even if I'd find myself trying anything in my power to avoid the front lines. The Soviet Union isn't the only example of using conscripts. Some of the countries that today have the highest standard of living and best human rights records (at least in modern times) do it. Others make it very clear that you will be forced to fight if there is ever an invasion. There are so many facets to this but in general I think it's more of an issue of practicality than ethical dilemmas.
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Apr 28, 2024 13:53
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Conscription for self-defense seems like it could be argued to be ethical, since the lesson of the Winter War was that tiny nations only have themselves to rely on when things get super-lovely. But then for Finland it's a sort of different can of worms now. During the Cold War, we were supposedly neutral but also kind of meant to be buddies with the Soviet Union, who were obviously concerned about our long land border etc., so in theory in that scenario our conscripts were just meant to fight off anyone trying to come across borders if WW3 broke out. That's still a sort of reasonable decision for an individual to make; do I fight to keep my country neutral, and risk getting nuked, or do I try to flee to But now Finland is a NATO country with conscription. Obviously we wanted the article five nuclear shield, again in theory, and that's why we're in NATO since Russia is no longer a dependable nation to say the least, but what does that mean for our conscripts? If some kind of real poo poo hit the fan and the US needed to fight a small war to give some future POTUS an up-tick in the polls, can our conscripts trust our political leaders that they won't be forced to fight some stupid war that has nothing to do with defending Finland? Or if they're just asked to volunteer, what's the ethical calculus there? We are allies with the US and that means a certain level of commitment, but for the individual soldier, do you want to go half-way across the world and risk your life for a country behaving stupidly?
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Apr 28, 2024 14:31
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Well, that's one reason why NATO is not a full military alliance. Defensive only. Members did not want to get dragged into military adventurism. Ultimately though, treaties are just paper, they only have the force that people are willing to impute to them in the moment. Everyone knows that a NATO member could just refuse its treaty obligations and there's not much anyone could do about it except send angry letters. That's why tripwire forces exist; members of NATO are understandably nervous that the US might decide defending them is inconvenient (an unfortunately plausible hypothetical with some presidents.) So the US sends some grunts and a flag. They're a political guarantee more than a military one. (Historically speaking, Canada had a lot of political turmoil over similar issues. The populace was not exactly committed to the continuation of the British Empire or wars in Europe and conscription for both WW1 and WW2 was unpopular. I want to say they straight up had units straight up send letters to command that they wouldn't participate in operations against Japan.)
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Apr 28, 2024 16:31
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I mean they're different things but you can make a hierarchy of legitimacy for forced conscription, forcing people to fight and die against their will for: The victory of their country in an offendive war. The political independence of their country in a defensive war. The existance of their country in a defensive war. Their and their countrymen's individual freedom in a defensive war. (Although there is some small irony in taking away your freedom to force you to fight for your freedom.) Their countrymen's lives in a defensive war. Their own lives in a defensive war. That last one may be difficult to argue with. Why should others defend your life but you get tp sit it out? But even then, when faced with a genocidal or at least homicidal invader, you could argue it's your perogative whether to fight or take your chances with your country losing and you being sent to a death camp. We don't force people to take medicine that will keep them alive if they're convinced they don't need it. And here both the disease and the medicine can kill you. Again I am on the side of defensive conscription being the right thing to do in many cases. I'm just saying it's not crystal clear even in the most crystal clear scenarios. TheDeadlyShoe posted:I want to say they straight up had units straight up send letters to command that they wouldn't participate in operations against Japan.) I don't know enough about Imperial Japan in WWII to know if the end goal at one point became world domination, let alone how feasible it would be. But if there is an example of an ethical preemptive invasion then Imperial Japan in WWII might be it. They maybe weren't going to invade Canada within a decade. But they sure were going to invade and genocide a lot of other people. There are some people who claim that UK and French guarantees to Poland were the most unethical things ever done. Even if it didn't lead to immediately coming to Poland's aid that's not the point. It set the UK and France up as enemies to Germany and ended up with Japan bombing the US and nuclear bombs being dropped on Japanese cities in turn. You have a few people who've written books claiming that Hitler would have been satisfied with central and eastern Europe and the longer war could have been avoided. That Hitler may well have ended up genociding Slavs and Jews is besides the point because we only know that in hindsight. There was no reason to suspect, at the time, that he'd end up doing it. The solution was more appeasement, not less.* I don't think I respect these people very much. Partly because I doubt they're being honest with themselves or us. I don't think they genuinely believe that the world would be a better place had everyone else stayed out of what was happening in CEE. They, I think, are trying to build a case for isolationism at best and that Hitler wasn't such a bad guy at worst. *I can't recall if it was an MEP in the European Parliament or someone writing an op-ed but when the Russian invasion of Ukraine started hearing up they unironically said that supplying Ukraine will only prolong the war and that throughout human history the only effective tactic is appeasement which is what should be done now, forcing Ukraine to make consessions and/or giving Russia a pledge to not defend other countries in the region, possibly even supplying Russia with war materiel ourselves so that their conquest is more effective and fewer lives are lost on both sides. I was scratching my head wondering if they'd forgotten that appeasement is a dirty term or if they knew it was but were saying it shouldn't be. Bright Bart fucked around with this message at 17:59 on Apr 28, 2024 |
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Apr 28, 2024 17:07
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That's completely insane take, wtf
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Apr 28, 2024 17:41
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Bright Bart posted:
It's arguable how "justified" Finland's "continuation war" with the Soviet Union was, since the Soviets in the Winter War took major land areas from Finland including the city of Viipuri, which was a major population center at the time, so one can just say our conscripts at that time were fighting to take back lost areas. Or, that we were supporting operation Barbarossa in an alliance with Hitler aimed at destroying the Soviet state (the Nazi plan is muddled but Hitler himself wanted a sort of eternal play-ground war around the Urals, the Nazis were bug-gently caress nuts). With this kind of background in mind, during the "continuation war" Finland set up a concentration camp (I apologize for a source in Finnish) for men who refused to fight, many of them communists. This is the unfortunate flip-side to forcing people, you have to have a stick too, right? I doubt any modern European would say that slowly starving men to death in a logging camp for refusing to fight Stalin is justifiable, but what is the alternative? Should a state humanely incarcerate men or women who refuse to fight when called upon, in an ambiguous situation? Does the "deserter" in this situation have a way to make an informed choice about their conscription? In this thread of all places I doubt I need to spell out what happened to other states Stalin conquered, but how would you know this in 1941 as a conscript? Does the state have a right to use force against you, even in the form of incarceration? I don't really have an answer to this question, other than to condemn starvation concentration camps of course.
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Apr 28, 2024 17:43
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Xarn posted:That's completely insane take, wtf A not insignificant part of SA and their moderators think that.
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Apr 28, 2024 17:48
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Bright Bart posted:*I can't recall if it was an MEP in the European Parliament or someone writing an op-ed but when the Russian invasion of Ukraine started hearing up they unironically said that supplying Ukraine will only prolong the war and that throughout human history the only effective tactic is appeasement which is what should be done now, forcing Ukraine to make consessions and/or giving Russia a pledge to not defend other countries in the region, possibly even supplying Russia with war materiel ourselves so that their conquest is more effective and fewer lives are lost on both sides. I was scratching my head wondering if they'd forgotten that appeasement is a dirty term or if they knew it was but were saying it shouldn't be.
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Apr 28, 2024 18:18
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 This thing came up for me on Onet via Google Ads. Looks like it’s a US Embassy in Poland’s work. Hopefully some more movement in countering the Russian social media propaganda.
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Apr 28, 2024 21:23
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It must be wild being a US military commander seconded to NATO, or a ambasador to a NATO country. Your POTUS, now former but quite possibly future POTUS, openly talks about leaving others in the Alliance to fend for themselves if they don't pull their weight or even if they just subjectively don't seem grateful enough. Some of his advisors go even further. John Bolton gets claps on the back now for turning on Trump but when he worked with dude it was him suggesting that, NATO or not, the US shouldn't interfere in case of invasion of the Baltics since they were basically in Russia's back yard (his term) and it would be a fight between family. Then as a NATO commander or ambassador you have to scramble to downplay this to keep any semblance of good relations, without outright accusing your Commander in Chief of being impotent (i.e. We will defend you no matter who the POTUS is or what they claim to want) or even a troll.
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Apr 28, 2024 21:51
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i can still only barely make sense of polish when spoken (and it's... iffy at best when reading) but it's always amusing to hear good ol' reliable masculine slavic advert intonation. idk why, but it's very distinctive
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Apr 29, 2024 00:35
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Apropos of nothing, the legendary Fisiel advert. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHJuJoiVwXw
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Apr 29, 2024 00:44
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What language are you coming from? The official 'closeness' of the languages doesn't really translate to how mutually intelligible they are. I hear Czech and, no offense, it sounds like a grown Czech person is trying to immitate how a young Polish child would speak. Slovak is apparently more intelligible with Polish but I haven't been exposed enough to confirm. Ukranian actually makes some sense to me, but not when it's a lady at the bus stop when I ask where the 59 bus is headed; even though I know she's either giving directions or simply saying she doesn't know I can't even distinguish between the two possibilities if they speak too fast, let alone grasp the full details. Russian on the other hand sounds like they're actually using about 50% of the vocabulary as us. But I also understand zero of the rest so I'll get the gist but none of the detail. Qtotonibudinibudet posted:i can still only barely make sense of polish when spoken (and it's... iffy at best when reading) but it's always amusing to hear good ol' reliable masculine slavic advert intonation. As for the Slavic intonation, I'll readily admit that Polish sounds generally Slavic if that's a thing. That's not really something to argue against. But I am adament that when a Polish man speak English they sound nothing like a Ukranian or Russian or Serb doing it, even if they're at the same level of English. It's not a Slavic accent. I don't have much evidence to back this up to convince anyone, except that I have some insider information that when actors in films play a Polish character speaking English they'll be asked to imitate a Russian accent, try to sound generally more "Eastern European", or sometimes speak in a way that makes them sound vaguely like a vampire from Transylvania. Because apparently otherwise the audience will be confused. Bright Bart fucked around with this message at 01:03 on Apr 29, 2024 |
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Apr 29, 2024 00:49
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Paladinus posted:Apropos of nothing, the legendary Fisiel advert. Is it legendary? I don't recall ever seeing it. This is the GOAT Polish TV advert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eySQ6VbbKOc
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Apr 29, 2024 01:33
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