Cordon sanitaire

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   The concept of "cordon sanitaire" has become an important element in the organization of Versailles-Washington system of international relations. U.S. Secretary of State, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Henry Kissinger in his book "Diplomacy", for example, notes that thanks to Versailles, "Russia was cut off from Europe's revolutionary drama, and" cordon sanitaire "small Eastern European states."

   Some researchers doubt that the system of "cordon sanitaire" to work effectively. Some historians - in particular, Andre Fontaine (born Andre Fontaine) - see in the concept of "cordon sanitaire" Clemenceau real start of the Cold War.

   Neo-Eurasianism ideologue Alexander Dugin considers the development of the idea of "cordon sanitaire" to the end of the XIX century and is a British track: he sees among its roots the desire to prevent the UK mainland Russia and Germany's alliance with the help of a series of small border under its control buffer states between the Russian Empire and Prussia. Used for this local national liberation movements and dislike of the former metropolises were to provide a permanent source of instability in Eastern Europe. However, such a radical point of view is not generally accepted.

   Either way, Versailles-Washington system of international relations as a whole is estimated by historians as unstable and prone to instability, as many geopolitical issues have remained unresolved or were fixed in position, does not suit the world's major players. For example, Henry Kissinger writes on this subject:

   ... Versailles settlement was stillborn because the values on which it rested, would not come with incentives to maintain it, most states were required to ensure the protection of the agreements achieved to some extent regarded as unfair.

   In particular, the Soviet Commissar for Foreign Affairs Vyacheslav Molotov, in his report on Soviet foreign policy "at the fifth extraordinary session of the Supreme Soviet of the first convocation on Oct. 31, 1939 described Poland as" the ugly offspring of the Versailles Treaty, which lived through the oppression of non-Polish nationalities. " In the article the Great Soviet Encyclopedia of Soviet foreign policy notes that countries "cordon sanitaire" served as a springboard for anti-Soviet campaigns.

   Derogatory comments about our country "cordon sanitaire" can be detected and the leaders of the Anglo-French coalition and its satellites. For example, British Foreign Minister George Curzon, in his time had suggested the establishment of buffer states on the borders of British India, angered over, in his view, the activity of diplomats from the Baltics, uttered: "What more do these freaks ... Versailles?", And the chief Polish state, Marshal Jozef Pilsudski later said about the neighboring Czechoslovakia as "artificial and monstrous offspring of Versailles.

   Posleversalsky peace lasted only two decades, its imperfections become a major cause of World War II. Doctor of Economic Sciences, professor, Institute of Europe RAS Alex Haytun wrote that the system of "cordon sanitaire" is really limited the spread of communism, but it has contributed to the ideology and nationhood Germanic National Socialism.