
The Euro Invasion of France - davidw
http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2009/02/07/359-the-euro-invasion-of-france-2002/
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petercooper
One of their most interesting maps was a look at Polish voting patterns (right
vs left wing) overlaid with the outline of pre-1945 Germany.

[http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2008/12/15/348-an-
imperial-...](http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2008/12/15/348-an-imperial-
palimpsest-on-polands-electoral-map/)

Turns out the Polish areas that were German 100 years ago tend to vote more
right wing/centrist than the non-Germanic areas.

~~~
jacquesm
Europe is the battlefield of the world, and Poland is the battlefield of
Europe. Old polish saying, from the time when the Russians and the Germans
tended to waltz over the Poles from the east or the west, depending on the
prevailing winds.

The west of Poland is doing quite well economically, the East much less so,
which I think is a bigger indicator of the different voting patterns than what
was german 100 years ago. Proximity to market and affluence is what it is all
about.

Right now there are several strong economic zones in Poland, in the east
around the capital, Warsaw, in the west around Poznan (sorry, I don't have the
right characters on this keyboard to put the names in properly).

What you'll find when you are in Poland is that in the western parts of Poland
the attitude and economic situation is quite comparable to the poorer parts of
the countries in the west, in the eastern part of Poland the situation is much
more comparable to Poland as it used to be before the collapse of the
sovblock. It certainly is changing though, every time I'm back there there is
another stretch of highway that has become operational, some noticable
improvement in the average quality of the cars or the new construction that
has been done.

I've been a regular visitor to Poland since '85 and it still is one of the
most fascinating countries in Europe to me, and it has some of the nicest
people as well.

Politics in Poland are a minefield, even today. The turnover years left Poland
as one of the icebreakers of the collapse of the USSR over its satellite
states with a confusing lead and no real good plan on how to progress, which
led to some lost time. It will take another decade or two at a minimum before
the last of the aftershocks from that transition have faded.

Going outside the major population centers in the east of the country (say
north of Bialestok) is quite an eye opener, it is quite shocking to see the
babushkas walking by the side of the road selling mushrooms they plucked in
the forest to rich Germans in expensive cars. I don't think I've seen the
contrast between rich and poor expressed so clearly.

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bdfh42
What's interesting about the flow (or mix) of coins throughout the Euro zone
is that is is an effect caused by individuals. Coins move form place to place
in people's pockets and thus has nothing to do with inter-business
transactions.

I contributed to the mix myself last summer when i brought lot's of Greek
coins back to circulate in SW France.

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bd
The flow is indeed very fast. We switched to Euro just about one month ago and
already around 25% of my coins are foreign.

Though not all flow is caused just by individuals. National central banks can
transfer among themselves coins and notes to prevent shortages of cash.

 _Cash Logistics in Austria and the Euro Area_ [pdf]

[http://www.oenb.at/en/img/mop_2007_q1_in_focus_07_tcm16-5638...](http://www.oenb.at/en/img/mop_2007_q1_in_focus_07_tcm16-56386.pdf)

