Territorial buffers rarely, if ever, deliver the peace and security their advocates promise. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine was seen as a neutral cordon between Russia and NATO. Instead, it became a zone of increasingly fierce geopolitical contention, followed by open war.

French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau made the same mistake when he assumed that the newly independent states of Central and Eastern Europe would serve as a buffer against encroachment by Bolshevik Russia. Instead, they were Hitler’s early targets and ended up as part of the Warsaw Pact following his defeat.

In an era when ballistic missiles, drones and other projectiles can hit distant strategic targets with growing accuracy, the idea of a protective buffer zone is not just faulty; it is nonsense.

© The Japan Times