Life’s ironic behind the digital curtain
The Iron Curtain was not something you wanted to live behind, in my Cold War youth. All I knew about it came from media pundits and politicians, and they were pretty convinced that the folk who lived behind that impenetrable veil of metal were doing it tough. Primarily what they lacked was freedom, but also good movies, clothes and luxuries of various sorts. Powerful ruling elites in the countries behind the iron curtain looked after themselves, first and foremost, and the common herd ran a distant last in priorities. Vast resources were expended on weapons that…