The Baltics are about to be thrust onto the world stage.

With a 'belligerent' Vladimir Putin to their east (and 'expansionist' NATO to their west), Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are increasingly the subject of unsettling headlines in both Western and Russian media. But how real are these fears, subject as they are to media embellishment, qualification and denial by both Russia and the West? What do they mean for those living in the Baltics - and for the world?

Based on her extensive research and work as a journalist, Aliide Naylor takes us inside the geopoltitics of the region. Travelling to the heart of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania she explains the region's unique identities, and why they matter for the world. Naylor meets the Estonian coders who have created programs like Skype, investigates reports of troop movements in the Russian borderlands and argues persuasively that this region is about to become the new frontline in the political struggle between East and West.