[Serbian ambassador to Poland] POW - treachery or hardcore loyalty?

Day 1,520, 07:08 • Published in Poland Serbia • by Helm Hammerhand
POLSKIE TŁUMACZENIE (dzięki DonMatteo)



ENGLISH

This article is an interview with Ariakis, retired commander of POW, former president of Poland and a former high-ranked EDEN officer.
I hope it will help lift the fog surrounding one of the best known Polish military units - POW.



I must say one thing about POW, love them or hate them, from my point of view, they seem to be a great bunch of people. I must be honest, during my stay in Poland I wasn't welcomed everywhere but I understand and that won't make me stop liking Poland or ePoland. Also in many places I was most welcomed but I wasn't expecting so much hospitality on POW's chat room.
I mean I wasn't expecting them to eat children and fart fireballs eather but I didn't expect them to agree to talk to me.
First I bumped into Dryblas who was kind enough to point me to Ariakis, he even helped me prepare my interview.
Ariakis had enough patience to let me bother him for quite a while and told me everything I wanted to know about POW. Great guys indeed.


Dryblas singing Bryan Adams - Here I Am xD

Can you tell us something about POW’s history?
-POW's history is I guess a material for whole article. POW was created in 2009 - 18th June as far as I remember. We were a paramilitary at first - fighting all over the III World War fronts, though as mostly new players we weren't that strong. 😛
Then we became a part of national Army - some of members decided to stay outside, but majority was a part of Wojsko Polskie till V2 was introduced. Then we decided to leave and stay as paramilitary group. During v2 we weren't active, but changes in game brought us alive again. And then in January 2011 we decided to go to Croatia.

Where is POW located? And where does it have branches?
-At the moment our Military Unit is located in Croatia. We still have our Polish MU, but it isn't active anymore. As for branches there aren't any - we have just internal sections, mostly for better organization.

Why Croatia? What is it about the connection between POW and Croatia?
-Croatia and Poland were quite close back in EDEN. We saw how their groups acted against MoD/EDEN officials when EDEN arranged that Argentina will get Great Andes (affair November 2009) - while Polish paramilitaries were operating in Peru. They helped us. Also when it comes to Peru there was HOS which also cooperated with us, countless battles we fought side by side.
And we as a group decided that we don't want to leave people we considered allies and friends, when NWO was being made at the beginning of 2011.

How many soldiers are there in POW?
-At the moment about 50, though some of them aren't active at the moment.
Some of them are even quite dead citizens 😛

Does the number of POW’s soldiers fluctuate, are people joining POW or the number of soldiers is decreasing? Is it possible for someone who is pro-ONE to join POW, at least the Polish branch?
-Well - our new recruits are Poles, which were fighting for ONE. But they changed their mind. 😛 As for pro-ONE: hardly - after all we are pro-EDEN unit, and it would be hard to be pro-ONE and fight against ONE at the same time.
And we have new people - still there are some who are not satisfied with how Poland ended or works or with ONE. Some people become less active, but general trend is that we are growing.
Also we don’t have foreign branch - we tried that, but didn't work well.
So rumors that we are weak and dying breed is only a myth. 😃

Who is in POW’s HQ?
-Matishere, Dryblas - as first and second in command, then we have section's captains - like six or seven people responsible for paperwork and supplies. +me, but right now I'm more a mascot than actual HQ member 😛

Since POW is independent, how is it financed?
-We have our own group-companies, there's always MM. We're getting supplies from Cro govt - like other groups. From time to time we're geting supplies from other countries for their battles. Other than that many members have own companies, and from time to time we're financing some actions with our own funds.

In his latest article Romper mentioned that he will keep providing POW with Gold for training, is that true?
-Our official statement on this case is that we can't answer and we're not getting into details. Well - people can decide if it's true or not.

What were the reasons for you guys staying alongside EDEN while Poland was switching alliances?
-Fact is that people can decide what they believe or not.

Besides POW is there any other Polish unit sharing the same believes? Are familiar with any other unit from an ex-EDEN country doing the same thing as POW?
-Rather not. Back in February there were RCA and Husaria, which eventually returned to Poland, being told that they won't be ordered to fight against Croatia. But there are single people - in US Military, in Croatian groups - i.e. ZDRUG, some civilians.

How did you feel when Polish government decided to make that step and how was it for you to see the rest of Poland accepting that?
-I suppose I was disappointed. Back then I was in favor of changes - after all I was a part of Polish govt in December, but not made like that - with low propaganda, trolling, burning bridges. I still remember that Bogdan_L was proposed by people responsible for starting heavy flame war between Poland and Romania, and I still remember Cerber's 'make Polish society like Croatia less'.
Basically there wasn't anything that could be called diplomacy or acting for the best interests of country.

How does the Polish public react when it comes to POW?
-Hmn - those with higher IQ try to talk or ignore flaming going both directions, though they aren't very friendly. Nor very unfriendly. Those with lower IQ and trolls keep going with insults, trolling, 'traitors, prostitutes' and so on. We're sorta perfect public enemies.

How do you handle the critics and do you think that your doing can be considered as treachery?
-Our doing is considered a treachery, though in POW we have few people who are fighting against Poland, groups which never fought against Poland and majority which stays outta this. Besides we were 'traitors' back in January when we protested against smrtan's actions, and when we first fought against NWO/ONE countries.
As for handling I troll them back - unless there is someone who is willing to talk and discuss some things without going to insults.



So some of you fight against Poland, has a battle in Poland ever been in your daily orders? Officially does POW fight against Poland?
-Twice: One RW in July if I recall corectly, Bavaria RW in December, also people had the choice to fight in Kaliningrad. In general we don't force people to fight against Poland or fine people who do that. Also we are trying to fight according to EDEN's priorities, but we were never asked/ordered by Croatian MoD to fight against Poland.
Basically anyone in POW can decide on his/her own if he/she fights or does not fight against Poland.

I know that RL patriotism an ePatriotism are two different things but do you feel strange while fighting against your own eCountry?
-Well - we were willing to fight for Poland, on the condition that we'd be able to help Croatia. We worked that way during aVie's term and it was fine for both sides I guess since no one complained. Then we were thrown away and told that we are not needed.
So if my eCountry tells me to pick we or them and Croatia leaves me free choice I guess choice is obvious for me. I could even say that it was us who were betrayed by ePoland.

Is there anything that would make you fight for ONE?
-We did fight for some of ONE/pro-ONE countries. At first we weren't strict EDEN military unit - we just wanted the possibility to fight for Croatia - mainly in wars with Slovenia and Serbia. At the moment I doubt there is anything that could change our minds.
So fighting for ONE is rather impossible. Our path was decided back in May/June.

Why have you chosen to become outcast and fight for EDEN rather than trying to propagate your beliefs in politics?
-Well - as exCP and so on I tried. Though I was a bit too late. I was quite inactive for most of December, considered quitting. In January Requel lost elections and then it was sorta too late. In Ferbruary I hoped that Cerber won't run, that's why I wasn't trying to fight for support and run for presidency.
In march we had our own party, I was even a candidate, but without top5 support I eventually got blocked and pushed out of list. Then when ONE was officially created it was a bit too late to do anything so I stopped trying.

From your point of view is the alliance swap the greatest mistake that Polish government made? Why?
-Yes. First of all Polish credibility was reduced to 0. Poland is called a Junior and traitor - Serbia and Hungary rather not. ONE/proONE consist mostly on ex-Phoenix countries, while there are only 3 exEDEN states and seriously Sweden and Spain are fine countries, but their political positions in alliance is nothing compared to stronger countries.
Also Poland had everything in EDEN while Hungary and Serbia were in worse position since Phoenix was kind of defeated and disbanded.
ONE as fresh and stronger (it's still stronger in terms of population and raw power) ovepowered EDEN and PANAM/TERRA which were weakened and disorganized - but time was passing and ONE started its downfall - mainly for the same reasons which lead to PEACE and Phoenix collapses.

Who is to blame for Poland changing sides? Government, Cerber, Smrtan, or the people for accepting it?
-People who plotted, then people who elected them and accepted it. People are responsible for their choices and still sometimes we can see in Polish press opinions that. ”There were mistakes while creating NWO, but what we can do now? We can't change sides again.”

How is your relation, if you have any, with Polish officials?
-None. Since June POW as groups stopped enquireing candidates for CPs about possibility of returning. At the moment we communicate mostly via comments under articles.
Sorta they don't want us, and we don't want them.

How did you guys feel after Poland’s recent downfall?
-Some were happy, most were indifferent. Polish society could change attitude and use this deletion as a lesson. But I doubt they did - especially when you see that many of them blame MasterCards, bots, some mention the problem of improving relations with allies, but in general it is still the same insolent kid in sandpit attitude.

How do you see POW in future?
-Most likely we'll stay in Croatia. It's second home in eRepublik - they treat us well and relations are quite warm. POW is a Polish group, members are Poles in real life, but well - we are sorta more eCroatian group than ePolish.

Can you describe ONE from your point of view?
-ONE is second Phoenix - it works well when it's winning, but then egoism takes first place. Lack of common interest, lack of something EDEN calls 'brotherhood', lack of ability to sacrifice for others. People from ONE countries may disagree, but it looks like that when you take into consideration actions of countries, while at the same time soldiers, civilians may act for the best of alliance, allies, not only own country.

What do you think about eSerbia?
-To be honest I don't know Serbia very well when it comes to rl Serbia. As for game, when we leave trolling aside I suppose it's normal country, same like any other. People who are 'good', people who are 'bad', some decent, some villains - like in any other country. Each person is different, but after all we are all humans with our flaws, virtues, weak and strong sides.

Is there anything you would like to say to Poles, ONE, TEDEN, anyone?
-Usual stuff - relax, it's still just a game.



I would like to thank Ariakis for this interview and also I would like to thank DonMatteo for translating it to Polish.


Love, Helm.