Iron Curtain 2.0 - European Leaders Considering Russia/Ukraine 'Buffer Zone'

Many of you, if you have siblings, probably remember squabbling with a brother or sister, say, in the back of a car. When things got too loud or too physical, Mom would look back and say, "Don't make me separate you two." Since that separation was often accompanied by a short, sharp smack to the backside, that usually worked to settle things down.

With nations, though, that tactic doesn't work so well. But that's more or less what some European leaders are proposing, namely to separate Russia and Ukraine with a 40-kilometer (25 miles, more or less, in non-commie measurements) buffer zone. Like a demilitarized zone, or DMZ.

European leaders are weighing the creation of a 40 kilometer buffer zone between the Russian and Ukrainian frontlines as part of a peace deal, a last-ditch idea Moscow has embraced that would likely stretch the continent’s modest number of peacekeeping troops.
The proposal, according to five European diplomats, is among several that military and civilian officials are considering for either a postwar or ceasefire scenario in Ukraine. Officials disagree how deep the actual zone could be and it’s unclear Kyiv would accept the plan as it would likely come with territorial concessions. The U.S. does not appear to be involved in the buffer zone discussions.

I should hope that the United States isn't involved in any such discussions. This just doesn't seem like a good idea, even if Ukraine would agree to have this new DMZ carved out of their territory - and that seems to be the plan, instead of something a little more equitable, like taking 12 1/2 miles out of Ukraine and a like amount from Russia.

Neither Ukrainian President Zelensky nor Russia's Tsar Vladimir is likely to go for that deal.

But the fact that officials are toying with blocking off a strip of land inside Ukraine to force fragile peace is indicative of NATO allies’ desperation for a resolution to a war nearing its fourth year. Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown no desire to stop fighting. Moscow on Thursday launched a rare attack on the center of Kyiv, killing at least 19 people and damaging European Union offices.
“They’re grasping for straws,” Jim Townsend, a former Pentagon official who oversaw Europe and NATO policy under the Obama administration said. “The Russians are not afraid of the Europeans. And if they think that a couple of British and French observers are going to deter them from marching into Ukraine, then they’re wrong.”

Especially the French, who don't have all that great a martial track record over the last hundred years or so.

Russia Hits Kyiv Overnight With Missiles, Drones - Seventeen Dead, Many Injured

The other problem with this new Iron Curtain is that this isn't 1950 anymore, or even 1980. 25 miles is no distance for a small, remote-controlled or programmed reconnaissance drone. It's pushing the limits of most field artillery, but not missiles.

Here's the other problem: Look at North and South Korea. Those two nations are still technically at war, with only a cease-fire in place, and the DMZ is heavily guarded by both sides, but there's an argument to be made that the DMZ has reduced the urgency of coming up with an actual peace treaty, not that the stunted little gargoyle with bad hair in Pyongyang is much interested in a peace deal. But a buffer zone may just make the technical conflict drag on, and on. No, this reeks of desperation on the part of whoever is proposing this, and it's not a solution that either of the belligerents is likely to accept.

But who knows? Maybe in ten years, a President JD Vance will be standing in front of a great concrete structure in Kharkiv, thundering, "Mr. Putin, tear down this wall!"

I mean, it worked once.

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