Since Vladimir Putin launched his Ukraine invasion, many have worred that other adjacent countries, which were part of the Soviet Union, may also be in his sights. Among them is Estonia. Although, unlike Ukraine, it's a NATO member, it's also much smalller.
In the three decades since the Soviet Union dissolved, Estonia has, in many ways, become more progressive than other countries. While its policies on gender and homosexuality aren't like those of, say, the Netherlands (in large part because of its vocal Russian minority), it nonetheless recognizes same-sex partnerships and the gender identities of transgender people. And it was the first nation to enshrine internet access as a human right in its laws.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the country is also encouraging people to cycle for transportation and recreation. The government of its capital city, Talinn, has submitted a draft proposal to the city council to subsidize a local "cycling school" for kids aged 10 to 15. Upon completion of its curriculum, which will include courses in traffic safety, those young people would receive bicycle license--and 100 Euros toward the purchase of a bicycle.
The goal of this program is to popularize cycling as a form of mobility among the young. I am guessing that the city planners hope that people will continue to cycle for transportation and recreation when they are old enough to drive. Licensing and offering the subsidy might indeed help. I just hope that the school's classes don't perpetuate some of the misconceptions that "bike safety" programs promulgate here--and planners, policy makers and law-enforcement officers perpetuate--here in the US.
Somehow I don't think such a program would make Putain, I mean Putin, happy. That might be enough reason to support it!
