Well said, and good historical arguments.
What has long impressed me about Poland is that, except for bad luck, it has long had the potential to be about as powerful and wealthy as Germany. Yet almost everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.
For a spectacular vision of Polish history, someone created an animated film to summarize it, for Expo 2010, held in China.
well, bad luck and it was not as ruthless as the Prussians or Germans. They had a chance in teh 1600s when they crushed the Prussians and Muscovites, but they let it slip. The Poles are even today too darned noble, too brave, too honorable. For a Pole a straight fight, even to the death is more noble than a stab in the back — but their enemies have not been that noble....