Cold war deterrence doesn’t work any more

WHEN Russia flew nearly two dozen drones into Polish airspace on the night of September 9th-10th, the NATO alliance proved good at shooting bad things down. Forces from Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland jointly deployed fighter jets, helicopters, missile batteries and an advanced surveillance plane. Several lumbering, unmanned intruders were destroyed, with no casualties. It was one of the gravest incursions into NATO territory in the history of the alliance, and Europeans can be relieved that their defences worked. They should worry more, though, that Russia dared to test them in the first place.