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Culture War Roundup for the week of October 3, 2022

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Can anybody explain the Polish perspective on the Ukraine war?

I went to Poland and it looked like what Western Europe should look like. The urban areas were clean and seemingly safe. Indeed the people living there are mostly European or Slavic.

My understanding is that most of the tsunami of African or Middle-Eastern immigrants of the 2000s would rather go to Western Europe or Scandinavia for better welfare or economic prospects.

Still, Poland used to get in trouble with the EU for not wanting to take in a certain amount of them.

Moreover, Poland has also faced reprimand from the same union for their policies toward non-heterosexuals.

Why did Poland even join the EU? Did they really need the money so badly at the time?

Now it seems that Poland is going toward ever more alignment with the EU and US.

Are they really so scared of Russia that they would drink the corn syrup and give up on whatever is left of their culture/sovereignty/demographics?

Is anybody of relevance in Poland even attempting to contradict the pro-Western turn?

  • -14

Why did Poland even join the EU? Did they really need the money so badly at the time?

From what I've gathered from my Polish acquaintances and co-workers* the answer is pretty straight forward, they don't see themselves as "Eastern", they see themselves as "Western" a significant component their national myth is of Poles as the bulwark, standing strong against the tide (Polish spearmen held back the Golden Horde, Polish Hussars broke the siege of Vienna, and so on). More pointedly Poland got royally fucked over by a Russian German alliance in World-War one, and again in World War Two. Accordingly their towards both Russia and Germany today is essentially one of "Never Again". From the Polish perspective joining NATO defangs the German threat while pissing off their ancient rivals/enemies, the Muskovites, as far as they're concerned it's all win. Sure the duplicitous Germans and and effete Belgians can whinge about immigration policy but what are they actually gonna do, Poland is part of the Schengen Zone baby and they've been pulling the DeSantis trick of sending unwanted immigrants to the hometowns of politicians who promote immigration for years now.

As for the Ukraine war in particular, Kiev has long been an ally of Krakow and Moscow has long been a rival/enemy. Pieprzic Rossia, Slava Ukraini.

* Note most of those acquaintances and co-workers are in the Polish military/defense industry which probably colors things a bit.

Thank you for answering the question!

From the Polish perspective joining NATO defangs the German threat while pissing off their ancient rivals/enemies, the Muskovites, as far as they're concerned it's all win.

Seems a little bit careless. The Eternal Germ will not let them get away with it.

Sure the duplicitous Germans and and effete Belgians can whinge about immigration policy but what are they actually gonna do, Poland is part of the Schengen Zone baby and they've been pulling the DeSantis trick of sending unwanted immigrants to the hometowns of politicians who promote immigration for years now.

But now they're submerged in Ukrainian immigrants. It's not the end of it either.

It seems to me that their only saving grace is their unique language, for now.

Once they have the Americans 'helping out' with the Russian threat and the Germans 'advising' and the British 'training' they'll find out that their younger generations only want to speak English.

+if/when NATO finally takes out Russia, I imagine Poland would be in the runner-up for the next 'disturbingly native-looking' country in what remains of Europe then.

If anything, Russia is a good distraction from their little DeSantis tricks, it's not in their best long-term interest to have the Ukraine wedge take out the bear.

+if/when NATO finally takes out Russia, I imagine Poland would be in the runner-up for the next 'disturbingly native-looking' country in what remains of Europe then.

Do you believe that a primary goal of the EU/NATO is to fill all European countries with non-White immigrants? Do you actually think the EU/NATO strongly object to the fact that the population of Russia is mostly ethnic Russians, and that the population of Poland is almost entirely ethnic Poles?

Well the EU/NATO are not exactly sentient entities, they are just vehicles, even technologies welded by the actual powers-that-be. While the rulers of NATO are not exactly the rulers of the EU, I believe the rulers of the EU to be vassals of the rulers of NATO.

Given that there is only dozens of extremely powerful people that are tied to all these entities, it's not surprising that the same billionaires who own the media companies that ultimately decide elections in Western countries are very close to the center of power.

I do believe that ethnically-homogeneous European countries are an obstacle to these people, and they actually let us know by transparently publishing it in the Guardian, NYT, HuffingtonPost, etc.

Also the population of Russia is a mix of ethnicities, 'ethnic Russian' would cover quite a varied array of phenotypes. It's hard to tell what exactly their issue with Russia is, but fighting a war to the last Ukrainian is definitely a good way to clean up some of these pesky homogeneous East-Europeans.

I do believe that ethnically-homogeneous European countries are an obstacle to these people, and they actually let us know by transparently publishing it in the Guardian, NYT, HuffingtonPost, etc.

Can you provide an example where they say they have a problem with the ethnic homogeneity of Poland?

Also the population of Russia is a mix of ethnicities, 'ethnic Russian' would cover quite a varied array of phenotypes.

It is true that many ethnic groups live in Russia, but ethnic Russians make up 81% of the country's population and they are relatively homogeneous. Chechens, Kalmyks, etc. are not ethnic Russians; they are part of the remaining 19%, which is the "mix of ethnicities" with "a varied array of phenotypes".

It's hard to tell what exactly their issue with Russia is

The obvious answer is "they're invading a neighbouring country for no reason and murdering civilians". The cynical answer is "Russia is a historical political and military rival and they're taking this opportunity to weaken them". You seem to have skipped both and gone straight to the batshit-crazy answer of "they hate Russians because they're White".

Can you provide an example where they say they have a problem with the ethnic homogeneity of Poland?

I haven't seen this, best I could find was this one where they insist on the racial homogeneity and call people that value it 'extreme nationalists'

The blood-drenched harrowing of the war, followed by post-war border shifts and ethnic cleansing, created a racially pure Poland for the first time in history — fulfilling the dreams of earlier generations of extreme nationalists.

This is the type of piece they are pushing against white people in the US, the country the Poles are making the choice of allying themselves with instead of Russians :

How whiteness poses the greatest threat to US democracy

I don't see why they would not similarly attack Poland in the future, to the tune of 'Poland took the money of multicultural democracies to defend itself from evil nationalist Russia, but they still refuse to accept multiculturalism'

The obvious answer is "they're invading a neighbouring country for no reason and murdering civilians".

The US do the same to countries they are not even neighbors of, and defend their allies engaged in the same practices, in Yemen notably.

What is so special about the borders of Ukraine that needs to be defended at all cost?

Plus Russia actually has a reason in protecting the Russian minorities

in the East shelled by the Ukrainian government since 2014.

While I understand due to historical reasons why this is not a popular sentiment in Poland, I think it would be better for the Polish people to get annexed by Russia -which I do not see as likely- than to spend another 50 years under EU/US dominion.

There is already a case study with the FRG vs GDR, with the Soviet-dominated side faring better in preserving original German culture and demographics, as demonstrated by this map of mosques

The continued existence of the Polish people is at stake, but I understand that that is not what most people are immediately concerned with.

I do find it amusing that some leaders of Poland explicitly said that they do not want to turn into Brussels (from 1st link):

Błaszczak warned that EU pressure on Poland to accept refugees “is a straight road to a social catastrophe, with the result that in a few years Warsaw could look like Brussels.”

It seems that they made the same connection as I do, regarding at least migrants and safety, but they apparently don't think leaning further into EU/NATO is compromising that position, or that position is not taking priority over the perceived Russian threat.