Poland’s ambition clearly aligns with America’s aim to shift Europe’s balance of power towards the “new Europe”, which explains why the US has been quick to lend it considerable support, even at the cost of sowing further divisions on the continent. “Poland has become our most important partner in continental Europe,” a senior US Army official in Europe told Politico. Significantly, after visiting Ukraine last month, Biden made only one other additional stop on his European trip: Warsaw.

The most pronounced East-West cleavages, however, emerged along cultural lines, rather than economic or geopolitical ones. In 1993, Samuel Huntington was the first to predict that the Iron Curtain, which had politically and ideologically divided Europe for half a century, would be replaced by “the Velvet Curtain” of culture. Western Europe, he wrote, has been predominantly Catholic, Protestant, and Anglican, while Eastern Europe has been predominantly Orthodox — and this has led to the emergence of very different social values. Where Western Europe developed a more individualistic and secular culture that values “liberal” rights and freedoms, Eastern Europe has historically had a more collectivist and family-oriented culture, with a greater emphasis on family, community, social relationships and religion. Following the Cold War, the CEE states strove to be more politically and socially aligned with the West. But key differences remained on issues such as immigration, abortion and gay rights, as well as over national sovereignty.