Danger In Tomorrowland

A nation driven by technological genius , shaken by a monument scandal and vulnerable to Russian meddling. We’re talking abo ut Estonia, of course.

- Steve Friess

This is the kind of place where World War III could start.

A frigid river about half a mile wide snakes between Estonia’s third-largest city, Narva, and the Russian outpost of Ivangorod, known for a massive waterfront fortress built in the 15th century to intimidate Hanseatic would-be aggressors. That fortress faces a less imposing but even older structure across the river: Narva Castle, erected by the Danes in the 1200s to mark their dominance of the region. The two structures are now the only tourist attractions on either side of the water in this largely obscure corner of northeastern Europe-a pair of forts where Middle Ages enthusiasts can imagine rows of archers and cannon gunners facing off.

But the quiet majesty of those two opposing bluffs belies what the river between them has represented since the last decade of the 20th century: one of the most populous border crossings between Russia and its five neighbouring North Atlantic Treaty Organisation countries. More ethnic Russians live in Narva than in Ivangorod. Given a choice between the Putin regime and one of the most United States–friendly and technologically advanced countries in the world, they have opted to live like perpetual foreigners rather than as natives in the land of their ancestors.

With a population of about 1.3 million roughly even with New Hampshire’s- Estonia is among Putin’s greatest humiliations. Upon attaining independence in 1991, the country pivoted from abject poverty and a widespread lack of indoor plumbing and phone service to a prosperous culture of venture-capitalised start-ups where voting, banking and almost every government function is conducted via the internet.