Well, the intricacies of this whole constitutional court situation are not something I am very keen to explore. So don't take me on faith... what I do know is that the actions of PiS now can be justified by previous actions of PO right before losing the elections. I don't have enough info to decide which of them started really going off track.
What is interesting to me, is that when for example, the courts in Germany disagreed with Merkel over EU subsidies and such, no one even dreamed of making the kind of extrapolations that get thrown around when political crises / power shifts happen in Eastern Europe. Everyone understood the power plays are happening and will continue in front and behind the scenes. It's all basic politicking...
Also interesting to me, sadly, that I can live and tolerate with the stupidity the left does when in power, as well with the stupidity the right does when in power. But some people clearly thought it was impossible for the right to ever get in power again or something... hence the kind of emotional reaction seen in Europe - and in the US for that matter.
Consider the French elections for example. Did you see anyone outside of FN themselves (duhm, they would of course), seriously make the point that the type of collusion between the other two parties, to exclude the FN from higher power, is hugely problematic? Because it is. I mean has anything like that ever happened in any of the French republiques? I saw a lot of press with rhetoric akin to "we are holding so far boys, hold on till the tide turns" myopically unaware, or completely downplaying, that the vote count for FN went up between the first and second round, and that this type of politicking is only likely to reinforce the underdog status and sympathy for the FN in the broad public - and therefore lead to a larger shift further on.
It's just so freaking stupid. Personally speaking I'd rather accept a bit of bitterness now in my soup, in order to not have to eat a dish full of rotten shit later. Granted, one can never judge with absolute certainly of when something will rot, and the level of bitterness accepted is so subjective...
Trilarion: Just a small comment: Maybe we should not set the bar so high. Even without the apocalypse arriving, conditions can quite bad.
Just go to the central place of Budapest and demand freedom of press and that Roma should be treated nicely and that Orban is a kind of dictator. Then repeat the same procedure in the central place in Warsaw with maybe different names and if you survive both without needing to visit a hospital, then I will refrain from commenting further (unless they do something seriously bad or someone dies or whatever).
Your fundamental point is valid. I used rhetoric to make the point that YOU are the one with the apocalyptic glasses.
And your example is perfect to kind of prove me right. Do you really think this is true? I could do this and more in Poland with no issue, either in Warsaw or any other major city. Hungary I can't comment to, but I seriously doubt it's Putin's Russia. And even there it takes time before they decide to beat you up or murder you.
You're overreacting basically. Fear is the mindkiller.
PS: Don't stop commenting though. That's not my intent at all... and by the way, there's going to be a number of so called pro democracy demonstrations soon organized all over Poland. In actuality they will be anti PiS of course. I expect they will not be confronted violently at all. How many people show up is a different story. I hope quite a lot.