By Joseph M. Ellis*
(FPRI) — For years, the international attention paid to the “tiny Baltic nation” of Estonia was overwhelmingly positive. After pulling itself out of the doldrums of their Soviet past, Estonia embarked on a new direction, emphasizing open markets, liberal democracy, technological expertise, and a Western-oriented, pro-European outlook. They were among the first post-Soviet states to join NATO, the European Union, and adopt the euro. It seemed that every journalist had to take a requisite trip to explore the country of 1.3 million, remarking that Estonia gave the world Skype, and is so forward-looking that citizens can accomplish most government services digitally — Estonians even vote online! Here are just a few selected headlines from The Atlantic, for example: “Estonia Already Lives Online, Why Can’t the United States?” (May 2020); “Is Estonia the New Finland?”; and “Lessons from the World’s Most Tech-Savvy Government” (January 2014).
In short, Estonia has been seen as a country constantly innovating and always progressing. Even when there was troubling news coming from Estonia — such as the 2007 cyber attack on essential digital infrastructure allegedly orchestrated by the Russian state — the media story mainly focused on what Estonia learned from the attack and how the country improved its cyber defense, rather than dwelling on any security lapse. Following the attack, NATO essentially rewarded Estonia for their good work on cyber defense, placing a “Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence” in Tallinn and developing the Tallinn Manual, a guidebook for all things cyber security.
The news coming from Estonia in the last few weeks, however, has been more a so ..
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