The Ministry of National Defense is preparing to celebrate the Polish Army Day on August 15. There is supposed to be a parade in Warsaw, which supposedly never happened. A presentation of modern military equipment was announced, and Abrams tanks will also appear for the first time. In the background or in the main role – the election campaign. Material of the magazine “Polska i Świat”.
Abrams in an internet spot, Abrams at a press conference. The government, promoting the parade, boasts of tanks that will drive along the Wisłostrada in Warsaw for the first time this year.
According to PiS, this will be the biggest parade in three decades, eclipsing all previous ones. According to the opposition – also, and perhaps above all – the issue of the rocket near Bydgoszcz and the Belarusian helicopters.
The first M1A1 Abrams tanks in PolandTVN24
– This great parade, so named by the organizers, is related to the election campaign. It is no coincidence that at every station of a small station in Poland there is a poster saying that the minister Mariusz Blaszczak invites you to a great parade – assessed the former head of the Ministry of National Defence Tomasz Siemoniak (Civic Coalition).
Four years ago, Minister Błaszczak invited the military to the May 3rd parade in Hollywood style, which he resigned from after being criticized for their involvement while advertising the August parade.
“They love to be shown in front of soldiers, many of whom may not wish to be seen”
Now it is again with film and real momentum, because the list of equipment is long, and the parade will be accompanied by military picnics in nearly seventy places in Poland. – I have the impression that we are equating to some eastern models when it comes to propaganda – he said Simon Holowniathe leader of the Third Way, and privately the husband of a fighter pilot in Polish army.
– I am disgusted that in every speech of a minister or prime minister, which takes place against the background of the army, there must always be a fragment used for political struggle with the opposition – said General Stanisław Koziej, former head of the National Security Bureau during the presidency Bronislaw Komorowski.
Minister of National Defense Mariusz Błaszczak and PiS President, Deputy Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński on the premises of the 1st Warsaw Armored Brigade in Warsaw-WesołaPAP
Could it be otherwise? How the army is separated from politics was shown a few years ago by Australia, when during the press conference of the Minister of Defense, when the topic of current party politics came up, soldiers left the stage.
In Poland, whether they like it or not, the soldiers listen to the minister to the end. – They (the rulers – ed.) love to show themselves against the background of soldiers, many of whom may not want it – assessed the former head of the Ministry of National Defense, PO MEP Radosław Sikorski.
Celebration of the Polish Army Day (archive photo)Radek Pietruszka/PAP
– Let everyone do what he planned as part of the campaign, but do not mix national holidays or various events into it, because they are and will be regardless of who is in power – said Minister of Development and Technology Waldemar Buda (PiS).
What the parade will look like may also have an impact on who will govern. And who will organize the next one.
Main photo source: Radek Pietruszka/PAP