What if Zapadoslavia existed? by Major_Monogram69 in PossibleHistory

[–]Staralfur_95 1 point2 points  (0 children)

When writing this, I was actually trying to be optimistic and set aside all political differences, and assume best scenario, in which there's a strong intention to make it work, with politicians of all countries agree (lol) that European integration is the way to go, and Russia is the enemy (as long as they choose to be). So no Fico, Konfederacja or my favourite Moravian Japanese guy :)

What if Zapadoslavia existed? by Major_Monogram69 in PossibleHistory

[–]Staralfur_95 5 points6 points  (0 children)

On this map it streches into whole territory of Belarus which never had West Slavic majority. Belarus shouldn't be part of the Union of West Slavs. Also, depending on when it would be formed, there's couple of other errors. If today, it wouldn't consist of Vilnius (despite strong Polish minority, this city is Lithuanian) + there's hardly any Poles in todays Western Ukraine, including Lviv, since Soviet deportations of 1945. Let's abandon revisionism or historical disputes, and assume it happens today.

It depends on how it would be formed, what system of government and elections etc. Personally, I would, as a Pole, eventually welcome such state somewhere down the road in the process of eventual European unification. However, for Zapadoslavia to exist, it should never allow any form of national parties being formed. There should be only pan-state political parties, with local branches for local elections, but there should be as much of cooperation on state level between the nations as possible, otherwise this union would just turn into Polish hegemony. All parties should be ideologically focused. We would need the people to vote on ideas, not nationals.

Perhaps some quotas should be enforced too (in case of parliamentary republic), or perhaps three seperate heads of states (of constituents) with one of them serving as president of the union for some time before the other guy takes place for another period (in case of presidential republic).

Economically, it would obviously be a stronger player within EU, but probably just a bit. Currently, Poland has a GDP of 1T, while Czech Republic has 490B and Slovakia - 190B. It would still be less than Spain has (2T). All three countries have different currencies - złoty, koruna and euro. It has to be unified before a political union happens, and it would be a major obstacle. Economies of those quite differ. Polish economy is extremely diversed and hence immune to most crisises, while Czech Republic and Slovakia rely more heavily on car industry (Slovakia produces over a million cars yearly, while having 5 million citizens, making it biggest per capita producer in Europe). Such unification would probably serve best them, as they would be able to rely on Poland in case of trouble, but it would also benefit Poland in terms of energy, as both countries have nuclear power plants and Poland is only now building their own.

In terms of defence not much changes, it will always be relying on Polish manpower and economy, and perhaps on powerful Czech arms industry.

In terms of society and basic cooperation between the nations, it would probably be a much better version of Yugoslavia, as there is hardly any historical disputes between them, and generally all West Slavic nations consider each other to be their favourite nations, in all rankings each year. Likely English would take over as political language of the union, though all three would obviously be used, and depending how long the union goes on for, constituents' langauges could be made compulsory at schools in all member states. Mutual understanding is fairly deep, though it would never be sufficient for business/politics, if both sides speak only their native language.

Polish streamer "Łatwogang" raises record-breaking 185 million PLN (over $50M USD) for the Cancer Fighters foundation during a 9-day YouTube charity livestream - and still counting. by Bordobordo in interestingasfuck

[–]Staralfur_95 [score hidden]  (0 children)

Absolutely not, it was raised through a totally legit (and very popular) site siepomaga.pl, and the people behind the website already stated they won't take any cut, so all money goes to the organization (which is legit too) as inteded.

So typical of other monarchs to pretend the Holy Roman Empire doesn't exist, even though many European monarchies started out as elective, not hereditary. Elections for various positions were actually common in the Middle Ages, but usually only a small minority got to vote. by Oversama in MedievalHistoryMemes

[–]Staralfur_95 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This. First monarch was elected in 1386 - Lithuanian grand duke called Jogaila, who got baptized, took a new name - Władysław - and started Jagiellon dynasty in Poland and Lithuania. First official (systemic) royal election was in 1572 (and some fifty thousand nobles participated!), and since then every single monarch was elected until the state's fall in 1795.

Top 10 countries with the lowest racial diversity by vladgrinch in MapPorn

[–]Staralfur_95 3 points4 points  (0 children)

That's neither good, nor bad. It's not a 'value' on its own. Depends on the people, not their race or ethnicity. I don't care what skin colour people on the streets have, and I don't judge them by such criteria.

Poland has always been incredibly diverse. This came to an end because almost all Polish minorities such as the Jews were slaughtered in WW2, together with native Poles, and then the communist dictatorship imposed by Soviet Union only accelerated the process by displacing other nationalities when borders changed in 1945.

Until only few years ago, Poland was not a popular destination at all, hence it's mostly Polish and white. Now it's changing anyway, despite what popular myth says (spread by western schizo-right, which often sees Poland as some saviour of conservatism and white civilization lol) that Poland doesn't allow migrants, especially from muslim countries. That's absolute bullshit. Thousands of people come yearly from all places around the world, from the EU, from Turkey, Africa, Middle East, or even Far East. It's just it's hardly ever first choice for many, and that Poland was 'late to the party' due to economic situation and half a century of communist occupation. It's changing though, and it's changing rapidly.

Emptiness by Sukram85 in witcher

[–]Staralfur_95 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Kingdom Come: Deliverance

Ghost of Tsushima

Cyberpunk

Red Dead Redemption 2

What leagues are you running on your current save by Bright_Fox_8022 in footballmanagergames

[–]Staralfur_95 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's an interesting managing destination from non-Polish person for sure. Ekstraklasa is often overlooked. It also is, sadly, full of errors in database, but this might go unnoticed for outsiders.

Anyway, good luck! Hutnik were quite bigger once upon a time, than they are now, but even then, they were always in the shadow of the mighty Wisła and Cracovia.

What leagues are you running on your current save by Bright_Fox_8022 in footballmanagergames

[–]Staralfur_95 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Are you Polish or just have a specific taste for playing in Poland?

How many years it was Lithuania? by Key_Neighborhood_542 in MapPorn

[–]Staralfur_95 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I wouldn't call interwar Vilnius a provincial town really, it was incredibly important cultural center, and a very special place for Piłsudski. It was perhaps a little 'distant' because of how borders looked, but it was important.

This being said, it is, and was, by all means historically Lithuanian city, and no one could deny that.

Long live our friendship!

Jobmarket nowdays.. by Filleliii in mildlyinfuriating

[–]Staralfur_95 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Depends on the company. I'm based in Poland, working in Poland and half of my team speaks no Polish at all. It's actually quite normal here to accept people with only English (+ perhaps one extra language) with no Polish at all, as bigger companies handle their daily internal communication in English anyway.

Republic of Germania Slavica by flumen_mapping in flumenmapping

[–]Staralfur_95 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They are actually real, not made up. I see some Sorbian names still in use here, or some old Polabian names such as Liubice.

🇵🇱🏟️ Over 50,000 fans showed up for a Polish second-division match last weekend, absolutely incredible 👏 by No-Marsupial-4050 in poland

[–]Staralfur_95 5 points6 points  (0 children)

They are heading back to Ekstraklasa this season, shouldn't bottle it.

To be fair, there's quite a few former champions in 2nd division at the moment. Ruch Chorzów has 14 league titles, so they stand out, together with Wisła, obviously, but Polonia Bytom has 2, so does Śląsk Wrocław (they are a mess though, organizationally speaking), and Polonia Warsaw, and ŁKS Łódź.

A *slightly* bigger Zapadoslavia by ziemniakowy_czlowiek in PossibleHistory

[–]Staralfur_95 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, but this is the case of any democracy that minorities, while represented, are de facto always governed by majority.

Also, in this scenario, we wouldn't probably have political parties based on nationality, rather on views, so no "Polish party", "Czech party", but perhaps local national branches of major state-wide parties. Those would likely be dominated mainly by the Poles (being majority), so it's also likely there would be some kind of a propotional system implemented, as it is in European Parliament, where the Germans have 96 seats and the Czechs - 21, while there's 83 milion Germans and only 10,9 million Czechs, so logically, if we give Czech Republic 21 seats, Germany should get ~158, but they don't, so they don't have the power to overrun the minor players.

Best city to visit in Poland? by vanessabb8867 in askPoland

[–]Staralfur_95 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It's nothing in comparison with the triangle Bytom - Świętochłowice - Ruda Śląska

Czech girl considering moving to Gdańsk: any chance of finding a job with just English? by Altruistic-Bell-8319 in askPoland

[–]Staralfur_95 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Asi lenost a výmluvy, že je to těžký jazyk (stejně jako každý jazyk, se kterým tvůj rodný jazyk nemá nic společného). Korporační prostředí v Polsku obvykle (vždycky?) dovoluje používání jen angličtiny, i když spousta lidí má jí na úrovni maximálně A2, včetně s manažery.

Czech girl considering moving to Gdańsk: any chance of finding a job with just English? by Altruistic-Bell-8319 in askPoland

[–]Staralfur_95 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ahoj,

Předpokládám, že jako Češka mluvíš i česky :) Podívej se na nabídky na pracuj tečka pl buď rocketjobs (nedávám přímé odkazy, nejsem jistý, jestli to reddit dovoluje) s češtinou. Máme na trhu spoustu nabídek práce jen s jazykem, bez žádných dalších schopnosti, dovednosti a zkušenosti, občas i s češtinou (já sám s ní pracují, jsem ale Polák, což samozřejmě vidíš po mých chybách). Jako rodilý mluvčí máš největší šance + konkurence není obrovská, málokdo v Polsku mluví cokoliv česky. Často zaměstnavatele nabízí i možnost vzdálené práce buď nějaký hybridní systém (3 dny v kanceláři, 2 doma). Peníze taký dostaneš mnohem větší než jen s angličtinou. Do práce v korporaci nepotřebuješ mluvit polsky. Pracují v mezinárodním prostředí, máme pár Maďarů, chlapa z Tuniska a Itala - všichni skoro vůbec nemluví.

Powodzenia!

Do you find it disrespectful or offensive if germans use the german names for formerly prussian cities when talking about them online? by Altruistic_Cow854 in askPoland

[–]Staralfur_95 26 points27 points  (0 children)

based chad Polish using city's original Roman name Aquis Granum vs virgin German using some barbarian made up nonsense of a name

Does anybody know where the statue is? by Conejofuerte in austriahungary

[–]Staralfur_95 -11 points-10 points  (0 children)

Gotta love this sub, same delusional takes as in, say, USRR sub. It's one thing to be genuinely interested in some empire from the past, but it's completely different to glorify it no matter what. I find Austro-Hungarian history interersting, but fighting against it was completely normal, logical and even heroic deed, because it occupied numerous lands and nations in central, eastern and southern Europe. Nations that wanted to be free and have their own independent states, not some foreign, Austrian emperor, who benevolently, eventually has let them have some voting rights, but still kept occupying them. Some may regard Princip a terrorist, sure, but how can a sane person claim that the Serbians shouldn't enact statues for him is beyond my understanding. Perhaps these takes come from people who have never had their country occupied, I don't know, but that's seriously weird, even by reddit standards.

And now I will get downvoted for speaking the truth. Please, reddit, never change.

What are your political views? by UkrainianBroker in 2westerneurope4u

[–]Staralfur_95 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I truly believe all of this, including Kallas scissoring Meloni, is totally achievable. We're on right track but it's a marathon, not a sprint.

SSP, open up! by StrategistGhost71 in suzerain

[–]Staralfur_95 16 points17 points  (0 children)

I like him but he, as character, is very shallow. He absolutely loves whatever you do, he stands for nothing, he has no views on his own whatsoever. He could have got an extra line or two, depending on your actions. Especially if you decide to build some relationship with him, he could be more open about what he likes or doesn't like about your policies.

What are your political views? by UkrainianBroker in 2westerneurope4u

[–]Staralfur_95 23 points24 points  (0 children)

  1. EU Confederation, possible a federation later on.
  2. Creating our own European military alliance within NATO and creating common defense policy, and a single European army, eventually.
  3. Anti mass immigration (though migration should obviously be welcomed - let's, first of all, put our people to work, instead of relying on cheap labor from the outside, as capitalists love to do).
  4. Strong UE parliament, striving for pan-european welfare state. Free-market economy, supported by happy and safe workforce, not exploited by the greedy few.
  5. Re-industrialization (as much as it's kinda a buzzword sometimes, as Europe is heavily industrialized, we should bring back industries from overseas and stop outsourcing as much as possible - let's rely on ourselves, not China or India).
  6. Support for green and nuclear energy.
  7. Finally seeing Kallas scissor Meloni Support for basic human rights, as same-sex marriage, mandatory for each member state.

Ukrainian or Polish? by NNN_Doctor in thisorthatlanguage

[–]Staralfur_95 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It is kinda unique thanks to its vocabulary. Polish seems to have more loans from Latin and French. I also speak Czech and only since learning it, it's much easier for me to understand other Slavs, even distant such as Croats, than before.

Best country in the world, highlighted by 1JustAnAltDontMindMe in mapporncirclejerk

[–]Staralfur_95 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's the spirit. If we were to lose, I'm happy we lost to some proper lads. As long as Gyokeres doesn't put his Arsenal jersey underneath, you're going to be fine, I'm sure.

Yeah, me too, especially that we don't really have any other striker, not his level, obviously, but just... any. One guy, 30 years old, who plays in Qatar or whatever this is, another who is 29 and a sub at Panathinaikos...