As a low hum filled the air, children began to squeal with joy. Perched on their father’s shoulders as the hot Polish sun beat down, they pointed down the road and shouted “czołgi!” Tanks!
Soon the hum turned to a roar as the first wave of K2 tanks powered down Wybrzeże Kościuszkowskie road on the west bank of the Vistula river in Warsaw. They were preceded by a fly-past of helicopters, drones and fighter jets.
It was its biggest military parade since the Cold War, as the Nato-member country flexed its military muscle in what the government hoped would be both a message to Moscow and to voters ahead of elections in October. About 2,000 soldiers from Poland and other Nato countries marched through the capital accompanied by 200 items of military equipment and 92 aircraft.
With the election campaign in full swing, the immense display of military hardware provided the ruling nationalist Law and Justice party with a chance to burnish their security credentials.
August 15 is locally branded the Feast of the Polish Armed Forces and today it marked 103 years since Poland’s victory over Soviet Russia at the Battle of Warsaw. The crowds lined the street four rows deep. Hundreds of mini red and white flags waved by those who came out to watch Poland’s largest military parade since 1989.
It has been 18 months since Putin ordered his troops to invade Ukraine and the significance of this year’s celebration was not lost on the families gathered in the sun.
“We are here to celebrate the military with family, friends and our children. I want to show my daughter the army,” Karin Karwat, 29, tells The National. “It’s important because of the war in Ukraine. The war makes me scared.”
One year ago, Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak pledged that his country would have “the most powerful land forces in Europe". As the ground shook with the weight of Poland’s military might, that promise appeared to ring true.
"August 15 is not only an opportunity to pay homage to the heroes of the victorious Battle of Warsaw and to thank contemporary soldiers for defending our homeland," Mr Blaszczak told troops and onlookers who had gathered near the Vistula.
"It is also a perfect day to show our strength, to show that we have built powerful armed forces that will effectively defend our borders without hesitation."
With Poland’s right-wing government already wary of Russia before its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and the encroaching threat it feels from its neighbour Belarus, it has raised defence spending from 2.4 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) to 3 per cent this year. It plans to increase that to 5 per cent “over time” according to Jarosław Kaczyński, the deputy Prime Minister.
Poland’s defence budget will soon exceed that of Greece, Nato’s second largest spender after the US at 3.8 per cent, the UK’s 2 per cent and Germany’s 1.3 per cent.
Poland’s army has silently and slowly become one of Europe’s best and now it has plans to become Europe’s military super power.
When a stray missile landed on Polish soil in November 2022, the world wondered how Poland would react. Having already donated $1.7 billion in military aid, which included the delivery of more than 200 T-72 tanks and four Leopard tanks, Poland’s support of Ukraine was evident. European powers braced themselves for a knee-jerk reaction from the Law and Justice party.
However, Poland kept its cool and as the dust settled, evidence came to light that the missile was in fact a Ukrainian anti-aircraft rocket gone astray. Poland put its forces on high alert and postured, letting the world, and especially Russia, know that it was able to think clearly while being prepared for anything.
These sentiments were echoed by Rafal Brzeski, 40, a Polish Navy officer currently on holiday, as he gripped on to his son Oliver on his shoulders, waving at the jets flying past.
“I’m not scared of Russia. If I have to fight I will. It’s not a problem for me as Poland is ready to fight.”
Poland is on a huge military recruitment drive. It already has more than 170,000 active personnel and another 35,000 members of its Territorial Defence, formed in 2016 two years after Russia’s annexation of Crimea. Despite this, the country has turned its celebration of the Armed Forces Day into a four-day festival.
From the August 12-15, celebrations have been taking place across the country. The Ministry of National Defence has organised more than 70 “picnics” across Poland’s 16 provinces to show off its military equipment and give the public “the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the construction of combat vehicles and learn about the specifics of service in selected military specialities”.
There are even nightly screenings of military-themed films and the chance to try “military pea soup with home-made bread". Everywhere, recruiters are on hand to sign people up.
This buoyant attitude comes on the heels of Poland’s massive military procurement deal with South Korea last year, much to the chagrin of the US, already a large supplier of military equipment to the Eastern European country.
Warsaw and Seoul agreed a $13.7 billion arms deal which included the purchase of 180 used K2 Black Panther tanks, 200 K9 Thunder howitzers, 218 K239 Chunmoo rocket launchers and 48 FA-50 fighter jets. Korea will also supply 1,000 new K2 tanks by the late 2020s.
South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol and Poland’s President Andrzej Duda met again on July 15 in Warsaw. The two men agreed on an expansion of bilateral ties in strategic areas including nuclear power and defence.
Nuclear defence has become a critical topic for Poland. On May 25, the defence ministers of Belarus and Russia, Viktar Khrenin and Sergei Shoigu, officially agreed to store Russian tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian soil. This has made a lot of Polish citizens nervous.
“It’s my biggest worry that we have nukes next door!” said Alexandra Podgorski, 30, gripping her bag’s shoulder strap a little tighter at the military parade. “I’m glad we are spending money on the Patriot air defence.”
However, it’s not only the tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus that are a cause for concern.
Following the Wagner mercenaries failed march on Moscow on June 24, its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and his men were banished from Russia and found safe haven in Belarus. Aleksandr Lukashenko, the President of Belarus, allegedly brokered a deal between Putin and Prigozhin, which meant the mercenary group turning tail and marching towards Minsk.
A month ago, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said he had received information that the Wagner mercenaries were in the vicinity of the Belarusian city of Grodno, just 18km from the Polish border.
Poland has sent more than 1,000 troops to its eastern border with Belarus amid rising tensions and is planning to increase that to 10,000. Warsaw believes Belarus and Russia may use the Wagner Group to destabilise the area.
"The situation is getting increasingly dangerous. Most likely they [Wagner] will be disguised as the Belarusian border guards and help illegal migrants get to the Polish territory [and] destabilise Poland," Mr Morawiecki said on July 29 at a press conference in western Poland.
Alexandra’s husband Karol Podgorski, 30, a financial analyst, batted these fears away as he stood among the sea of Polish people watching the parade.
“Of course, Wagner next door is worrying but they wouldn’t use them against a Nato country. They are just there to make us feel threatened.”
His attitude is a pragmatic one and echoes what appears to be that of the Polish government as it shows off its military might to the world.
“We need to be able to fend Russia off before Nato arrives. We hope the other Nato forces will come but who knows? We need to be able to defend ourselves with our forces and hope for the best.”
THE%C2%A0SPECS
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
THE SPECS
Touareg Highline
Engine: 3.0-litre, V6
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Power: 340hp
Torque: 450Nm
Price: Dh239,312
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
The specs: 2018 Chevrolet Trailblazer
Price, base / as tested Dh99,000 / Dh132,000
Engine 3.6L V6
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Power 275hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque 350Nm @ 3,700rpm
Fuel economy combined 12.2L / 100km
Zayed Sustainability Prize
AS%20WE%20EXIST
%3Cp%3EAuthor%3A%20Kaoutar%20Harchi%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EPublisher%3A%20Other%20Press%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EPages%3A%20176%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EAvailable%3A%20Now%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Eyasses squad
Charlie Preston (captain) – goal shooter/ goalkeeper (Dubai College)
Arushi Holt (vice-captain) – wing defence / centre (Jumeriah English Speaking School)
Olivia Petricola (vice-captain) – centre / wing attack (Dubai English Speaking College)
Isabel Affley – goalkeeper / goal defence (Dubai English Speaking College)
Jemma Eley – goal attack / wing attack (Dubai College)
Alana Farrell-Morton – centre / wing / defence / wing attack (Nord Anglia International School)
Molly Fuller – goal attack / wing attack (Dubai College)
Caitlin Gowdy – goal defence / wing defence (Dubai English Speaking College)
Noorulain Hussain – goal defence / wing defence (Dubai College)
Zahra Hussain-Gillani – goal defence / goalkeeper (British School Al Khubairat)
Claire Janssen – goal shooter / goal attack (Jumeriah English Speaking School)
Eliza Petricola – wing attack / centre (Dubai English Speaking College)
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2.3-litre%204cyl%20turbo%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E299hp%20at%205%2C500rpm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E420Nm%20at%202%2C750rpm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E10-speed%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFuel%20consumption%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E12.4L%2F100km%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENow%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh157%2C395%20(XLS)%3B%20Dh199%2C395%20(Limited)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The Year Earth Changed
Directed by:Tom Beard
Narrated by: Sir David Attenborough
Stars: 4
Squid Game season two
Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Stars: Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun
Rating: 4.5/5
'Avengers: Infinity War'
Dir: The Russo Brothers
Starring: Chris Evans, Chris Pratt, Tom Holland, Robert Downey Junior, Scarlett Johansson, Elizabeth Olsen
Four stars
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Lamsa
Founder: Badr Ward
Launched: 2014
Employees: 60
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: EdTech
Funding to date: $15 million
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
How Alia's experiment will help humans get to Mars
Alia’s winning experiment examined how genes might change under the stresses caused by being in space, such as cosmic radiation and microgravity.
Her samples were placed in a machine on board the International Space Station. called a miniPCR thermal cycler, which can copy DNA multiple times.
After the samples were examined on return to Earth, scientists were able to successfully detect changes caused by being in space in the way DNA transmits instructions through proteins and other molecules in living organisms.
Although Alia’s samples were taken from nematode worms, the results have much bigger long term applications, especially for human space flight and long term missions, such as to Mars.
It also means that the first DNA experiments using human genomes can now be carried out on the ISS.
The%20specs
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THE TWIN BIO
Their favourite city: Dubai
Their favourite food: Khaleeji
Their favourite past-time : walking on the beach
Their favorite quote: ‘we rise by lifting others’ by Robert Ingersoll
RESULT
Copa del Rey, semi-final second leg
Real Madrid 0
Barcelona 3 (Suarez (50', 73' pen), Varane (69' OG)
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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDeveloper%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Sucker%20Punch%20Productions%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPublisher%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Sony%20Computer%20Entertainment%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EConsole%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20PlayStation%202%20to%205%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%205%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The biog
Place of birth: Kalba
Family: Mother of eight children and has 10 grandchildren
Favourite traditional dish: Al Harees, a slow cooked porridge-like dish made from boiled cracked or coarsely ground wheat mixed with meat or chicken
Favourite book: My early life by Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, the Ruler of Sharjah
Favourite quote: By Sheikh Zayed, the UAE's Founding Father, “Those who have no past will have no present or future.”
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Brief scoreline:
Al Wahda 2
Al Menhali 27', Tagliabue 79'
Al Nassr 3
Hamdallah 41', Giuliano 45 1', 62'
Three ways to limit your social media use
Clinical psychologist, Dr Saliha Afridi at The Lighthouse Arabia suggests three easy things you can do every day to cut back on the time you spend online.
1. Put the social media app in a folder on the second or third screen of your phone so it has to remain a conscious decision to open, rather than something your fingers gravitate towards without consideration.
2. Schedule a time to use social media instead of consistently throughout the day. I recommend setting aside certain times of the day or week when you upload pictures or share information.
3. Take a mental snapshot rather than a photo on your phone. Instead of sharing it with your social world, try to absorb the moment, connect with your feeling, experience the moment with all five of your senses. You will have a memory of that moment more vividly and for far longer than if you take a picture of it.
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants
The five pillars of Islam
Company: Instabug
Founded: 2013
Based: Egypt, Cairo
Sector: IT
Employees: 100
Stage: Series A
Investors: Flat6Labs, Accel, Y Combinator and angel investors
PROFILE BOX
Company name: Overwrite.ai
Founder: Ayman Alashkar
Started: Established in 2020
Based: Dubai International Financial Centre, Dubai
Sector: PropTech
Initial investment: Self-funded by founder
Funding stage: Seed funding, in talks with angel investors
Abu Dhabi traffic facts
Drivers in Abu Dhabi spend 10 per cent longer in congested conditions than they would on a free-flowing road
The highest volume of traffic on the roads is found between 7am and 8am on a Sunday.
Travelling before 7am on a Sunday could save up to four hours per year on a 30-minute commute.
The day was the least congestion in Abu Dhabi in 2019 was Tuesday, August 13.
The highest levels of traffic were found on Sunday, November 10.
Drivers in Abu Dhabi lost 41 hours spent in traffic jams in rush hour during 2019
The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EPowertrain%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESingle%20electric%20motor%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E201hp%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E310Nm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESingle-speed%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBattery%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E53kWh%20lithium-ion%20battery%20pack%20(GS%20base%20model)%3B%2070kWh%20battery%20pack%20(GF)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETouring%20range%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E350km%20(GS)%3B%20480km%20(GF)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh129%2C900%20(GS)%3B%20Dh149%2C000%20(GF)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Now%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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