From the back garden of Istvan Molnar's home, you can see Hungary's newly erected 'Iron Curtain' in the distance.
The razor-wire fence has become a defining symbol of the migrant crisis. The barricade -- 4m high and constructed in six weeks on the back of prison labour -- runs the length of the country's 110-mile border with Serbia. The Berlin Wall, by comparison, was 96 miles long. This hinterland between Hungary and the Balkans was once the main entry point to the European Union for the diaspora pouring out of the Middle East.
Today, on the Hungarian side, waiting for anyone who breaches the barricade, are squads of police reinforced by SWAT teams from Hungary's elite Counter Terrorism Centre (TEC). The role of these officers, in black commando uniforms, is to 'capture persons that pose a danger for themselves and the public' -- a mission statement that leaves little doubt about the way Budapest views the wave of asylum seekers we have all seen on the TV news.
| Every country, without exception, has the right to defend and control its borders. That's a basic building-block fact of sovereignty. Countries that fail to do this fail to remain countries. The problem isn't that Hungary is defending its border: the problem is that Euro elites don't believe in Europe anymore, and don't think anyone else should, either. We have a similar problem in the U.S. ... |