In 1946, Winston Churchill announced an “iron curtain” had descended across Europe “from Stettin in the Baltic, to Trieste in the Adriatic”. This time it is the west that is building the barriers.
Every European nation bordering Russia and its ally Belarus is accelerating plans to construct hundreds of miles of fortified border to defend against possible Russian aggression.
The reasons are clear. The post-cold war European security framework – which relied on strengthening international institutions and trade, Nato expansion and US military guarantees – is being eroded.
