Eastern European Politics

Genuine question. I've seen Poland often being described as "the Germany of Eastern Europe", at least economics-wise. How much of that status is actually left?

I will answer that with a quote from our former Minister of Internal Affairs, Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz: "People don't give a fuck about ballparks and highways. (...) We're building roads, blah blah blah (...) but it doesn't work. Why doesn't it work? Because the average Kowalski looks at those highways, those viaducts, those railway stations, all that, and his most basic question is 'what the fuck do I get from that? Where's that money in my pocket?' Not that he has a fucking ballpark right under his window, he doesn't give a shit about the ballpark, he doesn't give a shit about the highway! For him, it's a question of rising ambitions, raising the ambitions has its consequences. First, there's the ambition that the country looks cleaner and more like the West, or how he imagines the West. And then, the ambitions move towards his own wallet. And there's the question, 'What do I get from that?'. So the main political problem for us is the problem of fourteenth year and Kowalski's wallet. End of story."

(the quote comes from a recording made using a bug planted in a posh restaurant. The reveal of those recordings was dubbed "the Waitergate scandal")

edited 14th Sep '15 11:51:04 AM by NotSoBadassLongcoat

Is this true, by any chance?

Wouldn't you know it, Fidesz' head of fraction has been promoted to head of cabinet.

Several weeks ago, Fidesz submitted a bill calling for giving law enforcement additional power if a state of emergency is declared. Now some concessions have been introduced into this bill: soldiers are allowed to open fire if necessary, but they're no longer allowed to use lethal force. Police also don't get an automatic search warrant when looking for migrants. Better than nothing, I guess.

The bill is expected to pass, as Jobbik pledged their support to Fidesz on this.

edited 16th Sep '15 8:00:35 AM by amitakartok

Likely. The rightard propaganda fooled enough people, and I'm expecting the cops to pull the worst kind of cowboy bullshit.

Worse yet, the local rightards stupidly repeat Orban's lies and add some idiotic bullshit about how we have "a debt" to Hungary.

Considering Hungary joined the Fascists in WW 2, and after the number they did on Poland, I'd argue it's the other way round.

Right-wingers were never known for their sense of logic. I mean, a few years ago there were genuine Polish Neonazis who wanted to cooperate with the NPD. I guess nobody told them what the Nazis thought of the Polish people. :/

edited 17th Sep '15 8:16:19 PM by DrunkenNordmann

Yeah, exactly that. For example, one idiot blathered how Orban is a "true Slav"... He's a Hungarian gypsy, FFS!

Also, is it true that the Hungarian government shelled out a shitload of dinero on a poster campaign, supposedly targeting the immigrants, but only in Hungarian, and text-only at that?

edited 18th Sep '15 9:32:15 AM by NotSoBadassLongcoat

Yes, that is very much true. Almost all of those have been vandalized almost immediately, with the texts undergoing extreme Memetic Mutation on the internet.

There's also a second campaign going on, aimed at setting up posters in Serbia, Macedon, Bulgaria and Greece with the intention of dissuading the migrants from coming here. Not that it will ever work, mind you.

edited 18th Sep '15 10:41:41 AM by amitakartok

Did someone go full retard, or was it just an attempt at money laundering through advertisement companies?

That, and I don't really think that campaign involving neighboring countries is necessary. People there are already telling the refugees that Hungary sucks and they should avoid it. Not like Greece is much better, a local newspaper (or was it Cracked? Both ran similar articles today) reported that there were cases of Greek police robbing the refugees blind (and reports of Hungarian border guards taking bribes to let refugees through to Austria, for as much as €1000 a head).

So the Vysehrad Group are fuming because Poland agreed to take refugees. What is wrong with them?! Czechs and Slovaks voted against Poland on milk quota penalties, both them and Hungary didn't give a shit about drought aid while we received support from Germany and France, when we proposed sanctions against Russia they blatantly invited Putin (which actually caused some uproar in Hungary), Orban is cutting deals with Putin, well fuck me, ain't that some "European solidarity"!

One question: some lying thieving git (read: politician) named Krisztian Takacs from Gyor posted a couple of photos depicting a cute blonde brat picking up food supposedly left by the refugees by a trackside. I don't speak Hungarian and the automatic translator barfed out a bunch of nonsense, so my question is: is that another half-assed propaganda ploy by Fidesz? Particularly considering the fact that Hungary didn't chip in a single filler when it came to buying and distributing that food.

edited 25th Sep '15 8:55:30 AM by NotSoBadassLongcoat

A bit of foreign-policy news from Yahoo: Russia's foreign minister calls the Sept 17 1939 invasion of Poland by Soviet forces "self-defense". Warsaw is not amused.

edited 26th Sep '15 11:05:25 AM by SabresEdge

They do seem to be denying everything about the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact in general.

X 8

Or what the NPD thinks about Western Poland, which is according to their election program, "German territory under Polish administraion."

It is certainly interesting to see alliances in Europe change so quickly over different issues, Slovakia was often backing up German policies in the Euro-crisi (so much, that someone pained them as de facto vasalls in the thread about the European debt crisis) yet they are now fiercly opposed to German proposals when it comes to the refugee crisis.

European "solidarity" has always been superficial.

X4

Well, the Germans were also only "shooting back"... .

Then again, it took the Soviets 45 years until they admitted that there was a secret passage about the partition of Eastern Europe in the Hitler-Stalin pact. And I think that this pact is still taught as necessary for the S Us survival in school books in Russia.

edited 26th Sep '15 1:32:17 PM by Zarastro

Resorting to Best Korea-level of attention-grabbing tactics, I see.

Sure, we're not amused, but the level of stupidity on this one is worthy of a thousand facepalms.

It's ok. You were just carrying out a long Eastern European tradition. Serbia started WW 1, too.

The Estonian security officer that was kidnapped by the FSB was released in a prisoner swap

The classic Bridge of Spies, Glienicke Bridge in Berlin.◊

BBC says the current swap took place at this bridge.◊

It's official: we're not in the Cold War, but in the crappy low-budget remake thereof.

It's like nobody's actually trying anymore.

Looks like the Hungarian common folk has had enough of the immigration problem. Polls indicate Fidesz' popular support raised by five percent in the past month, achieving the highest value since last year, just before they announced their attempt to tax internet access.

Current party support:

• Fidesz 34%
• Jobbik 17%
• Socialists 8%
• DK 5%
• LMP 4%
• Együtt 1%
• Misc. 3%
• Not telling or not willing to vote 28%

Popular support for the border fence at the Serbian border raised by 18% in one week, from 55% to 73%. 71% supports extension of the lockdown to the Croatian and Romanian borders as well.

Orban knows how to work them crowds.....

And it shall be the Hungarians that will lose because of this. People leaving, no one being let in, no assimilation program worth a damn. At this rate the Magyars will be right in the same catagory as the Balts...

edited 28th Sep '15 6:27:19 AM by FFShinra

Welcome to the Butthurt Belt of Europe.