I've been in Poland a few days and already I notice huge problems with the Ukrainian narrative. I don't think most people notice because they've swallowed the media hype.
- The Ukrainians look like tourists, not refugees. Walking around Warsaw, I hear about 40% of the people speaking in Ukrainian. These Ukrainians are anything but poor. The girls are wearing designer perfume, sporting designer bags, wearing designer clothes, laughing like they're on vacation. They have boyfriends with them too. Did I mention they all have iPhones? They certainly don't appear to have any issues adapting to Polish life.
- At almost every corner is a young Ukrainian cute girl wearing a Ukrainian flag on her shoulders, carrying a nice bag with propaganda about why I should donate to help these poor Ukrainians. Interesting that every one of these Ukrainians soliciting donations is a young cute girl about 20 years old. I asked each of them several questions about where they were from, who they worked for and where they were living. I spoke to them in English to see how many languages they knew. Their English was much better than I expected. Their Polish was also better than I expected. These donation workers are simply not volunteers trying to raise money for refugees. This is a highly organized business. These girls have been trained and vetted. I noticed the questions I asked caused them to pause, they weren't trained to answer my questions but they told me they worked for some "organization". They lived with local families in the area. They claimed they were going home in a few months. I'm not quite sure how they knew this. I wanted to ask more questions but decided to spend my time asking the other solicitors the same questions.
- Ukrainian flags were everywhere: on most government buildings and private homes. I noticed a lack of EU flags. Where the EU flag used to be was a Ukrainian flag. It's only a matter of time as Polish flags give way to the Ukrainian flag. I've only seen this in California where the Mexican flag is dominant in Los Angels.
- I talked to local residents and mentioned all what I just wrote. They were very happy I noticed this. They said they try to explain to their friends this displacement of local Polish people, and like the vaccines, they cannot understand what's going on.
Other things I noticed was Warsaw is now a tourist city: few local people live there. , rents in the city are driving residents out and corporations are buying property and renting out their property on AirBnB. Local businesses are being displaced by luxury goods shops like Gucci, Coach and so on.
No, the story the locals hear about Ukraine is very different from reality. The donations remind me more of Black Lives Matter, Hall of Cost reparations and virtue signaling. Many businesses virtue signal about Ukraine. It's sad and sick. I've been extremely careful not to explain my position here because it would certainly trigger many people. I'm carefully observing how the Ukrainian narrative is playing out.
I've been in Poland a few days and already I notice huge problems with the Ukrainian narrative. I don't think most people notice because they've swallowed the media hype.
1. The Ukrainians look like tourists, not refugees. Walking around Warsaw, I hear about 40% of the people speaking in Ukrainian. These Ukrainians are anything but poor. The girls are wearing designer perfume, sporting designer bags, wearing designer clothes, laughing like they're on vacation. They have boyfriends with them too. Did I mention they all have iPhones? They certainly don't appear to have any issues adapting to Polish life.
2. At almost every corner is a young Ukrainian cute girl wearing a Ukrainian flag on her shoulders, carrying a nice bag with propaganda about why I should donate to help these poor Ukrainians. Interesting that every one of these Ukrainians soliciting donations is a young cute girl about 20 years old. I asked each of them several questions about where they were from, who they worked for and where they were living. I spoke to them in English to see how many languages they knew. Their English was much better than I expected. Their Polish was also better than I expected. These donation workers are simply not volunteers trying to raise money for refugees. This is a highly organized business. These girls have been trained and vetted. I noticed the questions I asked caused them to pause, they weren't trained to answer my questions but they told me they worked for some "organization". They lived with local families in the area. They claimed they were going home in a few months. I'm not quite sure how they knew this. I wanted to ask more questions but decided to spend my time asking the other solicitors the same questions.
3. Ukrainian flags were everywhere: on most government buildings and private homes. I noticed a lack of EU flags. Where the EU flag used to be was a Ukrainian flag. It's only a matter of time as Polish flags give way to the Ukrainian flag. I've only seen this in California where the Mexican flag is dominant in Los Angels.
4. I talked to local residents and mentioned all what I just wrote. They were very happy I noticed this. They said they try to explain to their friends this displacement of local Polish people, and like the vaccines, they cannot understand what's going on.
Other things I noticed was Warsaw is now a tourist city: few local people live there. [Like Venice](https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/sep/13/occupy-venice-alternative-to-death-of-city-activists-tourism), rents in the city are driving residents out and corporations are buying property and renting out their property on AirBnB. Local businesses are being displaced by luxury goods shops like Gucci, Coach and so on.
No, the story the locals hear about Ukraine is very different from reality. The donations remind me more of Black Lives Matter, Hall of Cost reparations and virtue signaling. Many businesses virtue signal about Ukraine. It's sad and sick. I've been extremely careful not to explain my position here because it would certainly trigger many people. I'm carefully observing how the Ukrainian narrative is playing out.
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