Also at the WaPo, the Russian Chronicle blog stops in the Buryat capital of Ulan Ude. Worth a looksie, if for no other reason than the big Lenin head. Definitely more impressive than the Lenin statue in front of the Ulaanbaatar Hotel.
Oh, and Lenin-statue fans will probably get off on Anders Thorsell’s photo [...]
Had to pay the China National Tourism Administration homepage a visit today when I just so happened to notice this description of China’s geography:
China has shared borders for centuries with Korea, the former Soviet Union, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, Burma, Laos and Vietnam.
Guess who’ll be working together to guard a UN aid building in Arbil:
Mongolian soldiers are to provide security alongside South Korean soldiers for officials working in a UN building to be built near South Korea’s base camp in Iraq, U.S. military sources said yesterday. The Mongolian soldiers are expected to guard the officials, while South [...]
It’s Naadam in Mongolia — those wanting to learn a little about the festivities can venture here and here.
Mongolian peacekeepers are getting busy — first Afghanistan and Iraq, now Kosovo.
Those with an interest in news and analysis about the Land of the Great Blue Sky are encouraged to check out Nabetz and New Mongol’s “New Mongols” blog. As their subtitle reads, the two are “keeping a finger on the pulse of Mongolia: politics, business, culture, and more.” There’s a real dearth of [...]
This really bummed out Mrs. Marmot yesterday.
For Mongolia-nuts who can read Korean, the Chosun Ilbo’s Kim Jong-rae has his own section with the paper’s online edition — JR’s Nomad Stories — that is just chock full of Mongolianea. Amazing stuff.
What is it with Bulgaria, drug running and diplomats? First the North Koreans. Now the Mongolians.
Mongolian People’s Air Force pilots, 1989
From the U.S. Library of Congress Mongolia Area Study
James Brooks of the NYT seems to have developed an interest in Mongolia as of late, as the steady stream of stories about that once media-neglected country would attest. Anyway, Mr. Brook’s latest piece is on the Mongolian rock group “Hurd,” a group I previously described as “the ugliest collections of musicians ever assembled [...]
The LAT ran a piece on Mongolia’s drive to re-orient its relations in a way to ensure its new-found independence. One of the things Mongolia is doing, apparently, is taking a page right out of Korea’s playbook, which only makes sense when you think about some of the geopolitical similarities between the two:
Another priority [...]
The Munhwa Ilbo (Korean) and Chosun Ilbo (English) ran pieces on the role Mongolia is playing as a midway point for North Korean defectors wishing to go to third countries, usually South Korea:
The Mongolian government said it would not want refugee camps built in Mongolia in the near future, but it would continue to accept [...]
Joshua over at Katolik Shinja linked to this LAT piece on the Kalmyks, that last bastion of the Golden Horde. We here at the Marmot’s Hole are big fans of all things Mongol (well, at least I am. Not sure about Hamel), and the LAT story does make for an interesting read about [...]
Trouble brewing in Inner Mongolia? The Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center seems to think so:
According to eye witnesses, October 29, from 8:00am to midnight 12:00am in local time, hundreds of heavy-equipped police and security personnel had imposed curfew on the major campuses of universities in Inner Mongolia including Inner Mongolian Normal University, Inner [...]
N. Korean defectors were the news of the day. Firstly, we had 20 North Korean defectors break into the consular section of the South Korean Embassy in Beijing in the wee hours of Friday morning. From the Korea Times:
A group of 20 people claiming to be North Korean defectors stormed into the South [...]
Perhaps Genghis wasn’t the illiterate barbarian historians have so unfairly made him out to be:
A Chinese historian says he has evidence that ruthless conqueror and master of the Mongol horde Genghis Khan was as masterful with the pen as he was with the sword.
Historians have long assumed the ancient Mongolian ruler was illiterate, primarily because [...]
Hey, it’s a medal, and he didn’t have to sack any cities to get it.
Mongolia’s Kashbaatar Tsgaanbaatar, top, beats Spain’s Kenji Uematsu to win the bronze medal in the Judo Men’s extra light event at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Saturday, Aug. 14, 2004. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)
YTN ran a story on three intrepid Japanese coaches who are teaching Mongolians the beauty of baseball. One of the guys has been there for about 10 years. The Japanese Baseball Association donated the equipment and uniforms, and yes, there is a Mongolian National Fed. of Baseball. Basically, Mongolian baseball is a [...]
Korea News via Google