Posted on 07/22/2018 3:49:19 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
“If it wasn’t for Poles, there would be no Catholics left in Ireland.”
No, there would be. There are still Irish Catholics. There would be no perogies, however.
Yes, poland has taken in nearly 2 million Ukrainian refugees as well as economic immigrants as well as weekly economic temporary worker (they come for a few months and then head back)
There are also quite a lot of Belorussians too -- on the streets of Warsaw I increasingly hear a lot more Ukrainian and Russian than I did 3 years ago.
There was always a reasonably sized Filipino population here, but its not as big as in other coutnries due to the language barrier
There are also a large number of indian immigrants -- working as UberEats or the other extreme as high-tech workers. Nothing in-between. The uberEats and poorer guys seem to ahve been scammed by "agents" in India who draw a picture of a country where you can earn a lot of money. They take heavy loans and work like dogs. While poor, they don't cause any trouble, being only interested in working.
The Ukrainians on the other hand...
Many (but not all) Ukrainians who don't have any Polish ancestry actively hate Poles and voice it. The problem is that Ukrainian nationality is a recent event (from the late 1800s) and is defined as anti-polish (with Bandera et al) --> arthurus - no, Ukrainians do NOT become Poles. Only those with Polish ancestry. The others can be actively anti-Polish (I say that from experience, I've known Ukrainians who actively voice this dislike while working in Poland)
Poles have welcomes Middle eastern Christian refugees though
As to Poles in the UK - now there are nearly 1.5 million Poles officially in the UK - about half the Muslim number (2.5 million). They DO get publicity and do make some trouble, but nowhere near the same level as Moslems. The entire Brexit vote was because Brits were fed up of Poles, Romanians and Bulgarians coming to the UK - it was not about Moslem immigration (which had been happening for decades earlier)
I live in Warsaw and am biased in its favor - we have great
Kraków is easy to get to and a good choice, but in addition there is Toruń, Sanok, Gdańsk, Wrocław and Łańcut that are well worth visiting
in addition hiking from Usztrzyki Górne in the Bieszczady mountains in the south-east to Jelenia Góra in the south-west is worth doing.
Romania is not dying. Please note that Mozzies don’t stay in Romania or Bulgaria or even Poland - they want to head to Germany and Sweden which allow them to live on welfare. Welfare money in Romania, Bulgaria and Poland aren’t enough to live on.
Birthrate is about 1.5 in Romania. Not “lowest-low” like Italy, but far below replacement.
Taking another example - the Indian sub-continent's population in 1900 was 300 million odd (that's India+pakistan+bangladesh). Today that is closer to 1.7 billion -- 6 times growth. And the birth rate tehre is reduced to abotu 2.7 and falling in India and Bangladesh (in fact Bangladesh's drop is faster than India - its at replacement rate now and dropping) -- this drop is good.
You don't need to have everyone having 4 kids. If population levels leveled off at 1900 levels things can work out
Note that importing immigrants is not needed -- most jobs now are automated so you don't need so many people as before.
yes we have a shortage of workers for some physical work. And our unemployment has dropped from 15% in 2010 to abotu 6% now. But most of the jobs are in the high-tech industries or in construction. We importa a lot of Ukrainians for construction work and as nannies, dog-sitters, cleaners etc. These people can be highly educated but do this work as it gives them more money than they would get in the Ukraine
The border between Poland and Ukraine has historically been pretty hazy. Lviv in western Ukraine was part of Poland for many years.
Good point, although it does rather leave the elderly in a bind.
Many of the Poles in my part of the UK seem to be putting down permanent roots and appear content to do so. I think that they have definitely affected the employment prospects of some nationals here in the UK, but overall they make a positive contribution - in stark contrast to some other arrivals. I worry that it is those with most “get-up-and-go” who venture abroad, which must be deprive their homeland? Perhaps I worry unnecessarily?
One of the amazing things about Poland is the many old wooden churches.
We stopped at one in Orawka, which is close to the Slovak border, it was just amazing, I could have spent all day there, it’s beautiful country there.
I've never been to Orawka - we normally to to Piwniczna-Zdrój or Rabka-zdrój or Rymanów --> the wooden church in Rabka resembles the one at Orawka from what I see in pictures
#2 it's not all the "get up and go" - not now. Poland has a lot of opportunities for the young for the past 5 years. So the most "get up and go" aren't leaving right now. This was different 10+ years ago or even 5 years ago, but isn't true now
I see an initial problem for those above 60 NOW. But people between 40 to 60 today will lead healthier, longer lives.
Lwów started off as a Kievan Rus i.e. East Slavic, but then became increasingly Polonized as the Lithuanian contraolled Duchy of Grand Lithuania joined with Poland. Then it was called Lemberg under the Austrians and had a huge Jewish and German and Armenian population
in 1910 the population was majority Polish (meaning polish speaking and Catholic - though doubtless vast numbers were from east slavic backgrounds) with large Germanic and Jewish minorities and a significant number of Armenians)
The surrounding area was completely East slavic in "feeling" - so it was like a Polish Island -- strangely enough like Wrocław was a German island in the middle of a Polish sea
As someone without polish relatives (well non-in-laws) from Kresy I can see it dispassionately as the case where this was a city that was a HEARTLAND of Poland, yet surrounded by Ukraine.
There was no easy solution. But what was done was the worst
Maybe. In the U.S., this age group is experiencing increasing mortality and morbidity, especially among men.
I, of course don't know the facts on the ground, so I'm asking you.
Drug abuse, alcohol abuse, obesity, smoking, auto accidents, suicide. The higher mortality correlates with lower education levels and unstable personal relationships.
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