Nestled in the harsh expanse of the Bering Strait, between Alaska and the Russian Chukotka Peninsula, lie the Diomede Islands—a place where geography, timekeeping, and global politics converge in the smallest of spaces. The island group consists of two barren rocks in the sea: Big Diomede, also known as the “Island of Tomorrow,” and Little Diomede, known as the “Island of Yesterday.”
Only about 3.8 kilometers separate the two islands—the shortest distance between Russia and the United States. Yet this narrow stretch of water marks not only an international border, but also one of the most symbolically charged lines in the world: the International Date Line. Roughly following the 180th meridian, it creates a time difference of up to 24 hours between the islands.
While it is still “today” on Little Diomede, it is already “tomorrow” on Big Diomede. This curious temporal divide has given the islands their poetic nicknames, but it also reflects a deeper political reality. Big Diomede belongs to Russia and is a restricted military zone, uninhabited since the relocation of its Indigenous population during the Soviet era. Little Diomede, by contrast, is part of the United States and is home to a small Iñupiat village that continues to face extreme climatic and infrastructural challenges.
Especially during the Cold War, the Diomede Islands became a symbol of the ideological confrontation between East and West. Despite the minimal distance, direct contact between the islands was impossible for decades. The strait between them was tellingly referred to as the “Ice Curtain,” an allusion to the Iron Curtain that divided Europe.
Today, amid renewed geopolitical tensions between Washington and Moscow, the Diomede Islands have lost none of their symbolic power. They demonstrate how geographically close nations can be—and how politically distant. Between yesterday and tomorrow, there lies not only a date line here, but also a reflection of global power relations.
Heiner Kubny, PolarJournal