Why Elon Musk's Strong-arming of India Isn't Working | Fareed's Take

Oct 27, 2026 | As global trust in the United States wavers under shifting foreign policies, traditional allies are forced to rethink their security dependence on Washington. From Elon Musk’s clashes in India to Donald Trump’s questioning of NATO and the U.S. nuclear umbrella, Fareed Zakaria examines how America's allies are preparing for a more self-reliant—and potentially more dangerous—future.

Plus, Poland's foreign minister joins the program to discuss how Europe is taking the lead in funding Ukraine’s defense and resisting Russia’s ongoing hybrid warfare.

Fear of Ukraine War Spillover | Talk to Al Jazeera

October 16, 2026

I said from the very start that the West should have intervened to put a stop to the Russian advance on Ukraine. My words can be found somewhere on this blog. Alas, the powers-that-be had different ideas. My suggestion would have saved many lives and much destruction. — © Mark Alexander

Poland’s Ascent from Communist State to Top 20 Economy Reverses the Brain Drain

THE GUARDIAN: In the final part of our series on the country, Poles tell how wages have soared – along with the cost of living

A view of Warsaw from the observation deck of Varso Tower, the tallest building in the EU at 310 metres. In the background, the Palace of Culture and Science, built in the 1950s as a symbol of the postwar socialist era. Photograph: Anna Liminowicz/The Guardian
Above the rain-soaked streets of Warsaw, the observation deck of the Varso tower overlooks Joseph Stalin’s gift to Poland that has divided opinion for decades.

For some, the Soviet-era Palace of Culture and Science is a drunk confectioner’s nightmare; standing as a relic of oppression that should have been demolished. For others, it is an icon on the skyline and a monumental warning from history.

For the managers of the Varso – completed four years ago, as the tallest building in the EU – with its 310m-high spire rising symbolically above its Stalinist neighbour, it is a waypoint on Poland’s rapid path to economic prosperity.

“We look down on it,” says Cezary Błaszczyk, the managing director of HB Reavis in Poland, which owns the tower, gesturing at the palace opposite. A few months ago a slackline walker traversed the 500m gap between the buildings. “It was a symbolic walk from the past to the future,” says his colleague Natalia Kasperska.

“Since we are higher and taller than the Palace of Culture, we treat it as: ‘We got over communism, and now we are a country with a strong economy,’” Błaszczyk says.

Over the four decades since regaining its independence from Soviet-dominated rule, Poland has been transformed. Excluding oil-exporting states and financial hubs, incomes have converged with western levels at the fastest rate in the world; from 40% of the EU average in the mid-1990s to 81% last year. » | Richard Partington in Warsaw | Thursday, October 15, 2026

Tucker Carlson: “The Many Lies of WWII”

Tucker having a go at Jacob Rees-Mogg over Hitler and WWII.

Russia Hits Train in Ukraine after Boris Johnson, Top European Officials Leave Station | BBC News

Sep 14, 2026 | A Russian drone has hit a train near the Ukraine-Poland border shortly after former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and top European security officials had passed through.

No casualties were reported after the strike at Yahodyn, which hit the train's engine. All the passengers had been evacuated, Ukrainian authorities said.

Johnson and other European national security advisers, including the UK's Jonathan Powell, had passed along the same line on a different train on their way back from a conference in Kyiv.

Russia said it had struck "railway infrastructure" in western Ukraine, but Ukraine's state railway company Ukrzaliznytsia said that "quite possibly, the target of this drone could have been the diplomatic train".

This Chopin Piece Has a Story You Won't Forget

Hear the haunting history of Chopin Nocturne in C sharp minor, played live on the radio during the 1939 siege of Warsaw.

This video explores the remarkable story of a pianist who performed Chopin Nocturne in C sharp minor while bombs fell on the city. When the broadcast was abruptly cut off during the 1939 bombardment, it became a symbol of resistance and cultural endurance. We examine how this piece of music connected a nation through its darkest hour.

Learn about the personal history behind the performance and the moment the pianist returned years later to play the same piece once Polish radio resumed. This account is for anyone interested in the intersection of classical piano history and wartime events. Understanding the context of this broadcast provides a new perspective on why this specific Chopin Nocturne remains so significant to Polish history today.

Listen to a short clip of this magnificent and moving piece here.

Donald Tusk Slams Poles Who Celebrate German Far-right Election Win | DW News

Sep 8, 2026 | Some of Germany's neighbours have also been reacting to the AfD's shock victory in the Saxony-Anhalt regional election. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk posted on X: "In Poland, only idiots or traitors can rejoice at the triumph of the AfD in Germany."

We get the view of DW correspondent Michal Gostkiewicz. And one of Germany's leading pollsters, Roland Abold, breaks down the election results.

NATO Confirms Russian Missile Landed Inside Poland | DW News

July 30, 2026 | The western military alliance NATO has confirmed that a Russian missile came down in Poland, some 50 kilometers from the country's border with Ukraine, during a night of widespread Russian aerial attacks across Ukraine. Anja Kueppers-McKinnon speaks to DW's NATO expert Teri Schultz about NATO's response.

Russia Planning Attack on Poland to Test Nato Resolve, US Warns

THE TELEGRAPH: Critical infrastructure could be targeted by missiles and drones, with soldiers potentially crossing the border from Kaliningrad or Belarus

Screenshot from this Telegraph article. | Polish security sources are not ruling out the prospect of a conventional ground incursion by Russian and/or Belarusian soldiers | Credit: Kacper Pempel/Reuters
Russia is planning an armed “provocation” on Polish soil to test Nato’s resolve, the United States has warned.

Polish critical infrastructure could be targeted by missiles and drones or Russian soldiers could cross the border into Nato territory.

Washington has issued several warnings to Warsaw about the plot, sources close to Karol Nawrocki, the Polish president, told Onet, the Polish news outlet, which, along with The Telegraph, is owned by Axel Springer and is part of its Global Reporters Network.

The goal of the Russian provocation would be to escalate tensions and force Western allies to suspend aid to Ukraine. It could be launched in a matter of months. » | Witold Jurasz in Warsaw. James Rothwell, Berlin Correspondent. Joe Barnes, Diplomatic Editor | Friday, July 3, 2026

À LIRE AUSSI :

La Russie prépare une attaque sur la Pologne pour «provoquer» l’Otan, selon les États-Unis : Washington a prévenu Varsovie de la possibilité d’une incursion terrestre russe d’ici quelques mois, rapporte le site d’information Onet, citant des sources proches du président polonais. »

How Poland Built a Trillion-Dollar Economy

May 31, 2026 | Poland has become one of Europe’s standout growth stories, with an economy that crossed $1 trillion and a new generation of entrepreneurs returning home after studying and working abroad.

Finance Minister Andrzej Domański points to decades of reform, EU integration, foreign investment, and a diversified economy as drivers of Poland’s rise, while venture capitalist Aleksandra Pedraszewska says Warsaw’s technology scene now offers opportunities that were far less obvious a decade ago.

But economists warn that sustaining the boom will require Poland to address large deficits, elevated defense spending, demographic decline, and the need for more investment in research, education, and innovation.

The German Officer Who Saved One of Poland's Greatest Pianists | Wilm Hosenfeld

Apr 16, 2026 | A German army captain saved a Jewish pianist in the ruins of Warsaw in 1944. What happened to him afterward took fifty years to come to light.

Polish MP Shows Israeli Flag with a Swastika in the Middle

Click here to watch and listen.

Radoslaw Sikorski, Deputy Prime Minister of Poland, Shows His Disappointment with Hungary and Viktor Orbán

Listen to Radoslaw Sikorski’s wise words here.

Why Poland Is Becoming Europe’s New Superpower

Feb 21, 2026 | If Germany is 'the bank' of Europe, then Poland is now surely the 'arsenal' of the continent.

Full interview: Polish Deputy Prime Minister Radosław Sikorski

Feb 5, 2026 | CBS News' Olivia Gazis speaks with Deputy Prime Minister Radosław Sikorski of Poland about President Trump's push for Greenland, NATO and the relationship between Poland and the U.S.

The True Story of the Jewish Pianist and the Nazi Officer Who Saved Him | Władysław Szpilman

Jan 16, 2026 | Władysław Szpilman was born in 1911 in Sosnowiec and trained as a pianist in interwar Warsaw, a capital city marked by a vibrant cultural life and the presence of a large Jewish community integrated into urban society. After completing his musical studies in Poland and Germany, he established his career as a performer and composer at Polish Radio, where he achieved national acclaim. On September 23, 1939, while Warsaw was being bombed, he performed a Chopin piece live; the broadcast was interrupted when the building was destroyed during the siege that followed the German invasion of Poland.

With the establishment of the General Government, administered by German authorities such as Hans Frank under the directives of the Reich, the city was subjected to a system of total control. The Jewish population was progressively isolated, confined, and deprived of resources. In 1940, the Warsaw Ghetto was established, where overcrowding, food shortages, and deportations defined daily life. Szpilman lost his family during the major operations of 1942, when most of the ghetto's inhabitants were deported to Treblinka. From then on, his survival depended on forced labor, hiding, and the help of Polish civilians on the so-called "Aryan side."

In 1944, after the Warsaw Uprising and the systematic evacuation of the city, Szpilman remained hidden among the ruins. It was there that he met Wehrmacht Captain Wilm Hosenfeld, who decided not to betray him and provided him with food and shelter during the winter. The entry of Soviet troops in January 1945 brought an end to the German occupation. In the postwar period, Szpilman resumed his musical work in Warsaw, left a written record of the city's destruction, and continued his career as a composer and cultural organizer until the end of the 20th century.

Poland’s Fentanyl Crisis | DW Documentary

Nov 25, 2025 | Fentanyl is estimated to be fifty times as potent as heroin and is extremely addictive. The number of people in Poland abusing this powerful painkiller is growing. There have been dozens of fatalities.

Michal lives in a small town south of Gdansk. Because of the stigma surrounding people with addiction, he prefers to remain anonymous. Every two weeks, he travels to Święciec to take methadone, a substitute drug, at the addiction clinic of the psychiatric hospital.

After using various drugs, he started taking fentanyl, the strongest of all opiates. Fentanyl is used to treat people with severe pain and as an anesthetic. Addicts remove the gel from pain patches and inject it directly into their bloodstream. There have been dozens of fatal overdoses in Poland.

Michal has also lost one of his close friends. Corrupt pharmacists are believed to have sold large quantities of fentanyl patches to dealers. The authorities have since put a stop to this.

In Żuromin, Jadwiga Karpinska lost her son Pawel to a fatal overdose. Their town, a two-hour drive from the capital Warsaw, was known as the country’s unofficial fentanyl capital in 2024. That changed when police detained a well-known local dealer.

The drug continues to be available there, but in smaller quantities. Elementary school teacher Adam Ejnik believes in prevention. He wants to keep his students away from the drug by raising awareness about its dangers.

Artur from Łódź has managed to get off fentanyl. A few years ago, he was so addicted, he had lost the will to live. Today, his girlfriend Agnieszka helps him stay clean. His goal: he hopes to finish his psychology degree and work as a therapist to help other addicts get off the extremely powerful drug.

Poland Aims to Train 400,000 Civilians amid Russian Threat | DW News

Nov 22, 2025 | Ukraine's neighbor Poland has been stepping up measures to get its population ready for potential military threats from Russia. It's launched a program that puts civilians through military exercises aimed at basic survival and medical skills in case of a war. DW reporter Tessa Walther reports from Warsaw.

On Russia's Border: Fear of War | ARTE.tv Documentary

Sep 22, 2025 | Since the invasion of Ukraine, the shadow of Putin’s expansionism has been hanging over nations with a border with Russia: Poland, Norway, Finland and the Baltic States are worried. Mapping the World takes a look at the countries bordering Russia to the West and how they are dealing with a common challenge.

Ukraine's UN Ambassador on Whether Trump Is Really the Person to Broker Peace | DW News

Sep 20, 2025 | Andrii Melnyk, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nations, outlines Ukraine’s objectives for the upcoming UNGA, weighs in on whether Donald Trump could broker peace in Ukraine, and explains why he believes Europe cannot return to “business as usual” with Russia once the war is over, and why buying energy from Russia is hypocritical.