This and That: Lectures

Suuliin uyed uzsen/taalagdsan lektsuud:

Francis Fukuyama - The Origins of the State: China and India

Gary Becker’s entire Human Capital class (via MR; neeree erteed Tyler Cowen-tay hamt hoolond orson, Mongoliin talaar, yalanguya hoomiigiin talaar ih sonirhoj baina lee :D)

Shakespeare and the Law: Keynote Conversation (feat. Justice Stephen Breyer, Richard Posner, Martha Nussbaum, and Richard Strier)

Kenji Yoshino - Shakespeare and the Rule of Law (Hoyor doloo honogiin umnu Yoshino-giin The Merchant of Venice-iin talaarh lektsend suusan. Gaihaltay! Lav l neg tsag amaa angaigaad, neg ch hudulguun hiilguy ungursun)

Ronald Dworkin - Is There Truth in Interpretation? Law, Literature and History (Dworkin-ii shine nom garsan baina. Tsag oldohguy yurduu gants hoyor hesgiig ni l unshsan. Hervee sonirhvol end excerpt ni bii)

Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and David Souter - Educating the Public (hosted by Linda Greenberg; yalanguya civic education-ii talaar helj bui zuils ni mash chuhal!)

Mark Thoma's econometrics course

CNN-ii Kristie Lu Stout-iin (hamgiin tsarailag anchor?) HKU-d unshsan lekts

Christopher Hitchens-Tony Blair Debate: Is Religion A Force For Good In The World?

A Lesson to Learn from Japan

Japan’s orderliness and civility often impressed me during my years living in Japan, but never more so than after the Kobe quake. Pretty much the entire port of Kobe was destroyed, with shop windows broken all across the city. I looked all over for a case of looting, or violent jostling over rescue supplies. Finally, I was delighted to find a store owner who told me that he’d been robbed by two men. Somewhat melodramatically, I asked him something like: And were you surprised that fellow Japanese would take advantage of a natural disaster and turn to crime? He looked surprised and responded, as I recall: Who said anything about Japanese. They were foreigners.

Japan has an underclass, the burakumin, and also treats ethnic Koreans with disdain. But compared to other countries, Japan has little extreme poverty and a greater sense of common purpose. The middle class is unusually broad, and corporate tycoons traditionally were embarrassed to be seen as being paid too much. That sense of common purpose is part of the country’s social fabric, and it is especially visible after a natural disaster or crisis.

I don’t want to overdo that. Japan’s civility masks problems with bullying from schools to the work place, gangs like the yakuza rake in profits from illegal activity, and politicians and construction tycoons exchanging favors so as to loot the taxpayer. But it was striking in the aftermath of the Kobe earthquake to see even the yakuza set up counters to give away supplies to earthquake survivors. And Japan’s social fabric never tore. Barely even creased.

A wonderful reflection on Japanese society by Nicholas Kristof

Music of the Day

Arguably Blur's most sincere song

Quote of the Day

I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion.

- Thomas Jefferson, 1820

Yag odoo Mongolia Economic Forum yavagdaj baigaa yum baina.

Political and Intellectual Receptions of Schmitt

In 1989 Jürgen Habermas opined that Carl Schmitt was unlikely to have the same ‘power of contagion in the Anglo-Saxon world’ as had Nietzsche and Heidegger. [...] Two decades later, such predictions may appear naive. In fact, the trend has been reversed. [The Anglo-American Schmitt literature] either parades an authoritarian and part-time fascist thinker as a precursor and ally of the neo-conservative revolution, re-mobilizing Schmitt’s notion of the state of emergency and his concept of the political; or it reads him as a radical—even critical—voice against a world-historical conjuncture characterized by liberal imperialism that flattens all geopolitical enmities and differences. This dual reception has outflanked the Kantian liberal-cosmopolitan mainstream in a pincer movement.

from Benno Teschke's "Decisions and Indecisions"

Hayadaa nomiin sand New Left Review, NYRB hoyor erguulj suuh shig zugaatay amralt baihguy yum daa :)

Oscars 2011 and more

Jil buriin Oscars gej chuhlaar tusgaj avch ch boldogguy, avahguy ch baij boldogguy neg uil yavdal bii. Negent l niigemd busdiin hamtaar aj turch baigaa uchir cultural discourse-d oroltsoj baih ni zuin hereg. Yalanguya orchin uyeiin hamgiin nuluu buhii medium boloh kino yamar handlagatay baina, yu ni hamgiin iheer unelegdej buigaar ni niigmee dugneh buren bolomjtoy. Ene utgaaraa Oscars bol yuruusuu uursdiiguu yamar tsag uyed amidarch baigaagaa tandah neg mundag hemjuur. Nuguu talaasaa Oscars-d hamgiin mundag kinonuud toogdolguy orhigdoh ni tun elbeg; orond ni tsuun heden media corporation, oddiin show bolood ungurdgiig hen buhen medne. Minii huvid oroltsoj baigaa kinonuudaas ni shaltgaalaad jil bur uur uur setgegdeltey baidag.

Ene jil uzsen kinonuudaas hamgiin mundguudiin neg ni yah argaguy The Social Network. Zarim humuus eniig het shuud utgaar ni huleej avch Facebook-iin tuhai barimtat kino mayagaar haraad baih shig baina. Unendee ene bol yuruusuu bidnii - yalanguya generation 2.0 - tuhai kino yum. Zuckerberg naiz ohintoygoo pub-d uulzdag ehnii scene ene kino yun tuhai ve gedgiig haruulsan prelude. Hurts hurts ugtey hariltsan yaria, ali gurvan uguulberiin daraa asuultad uguh hariultuud, urdaa suuj baigaa hunii setgeliin hudluliig ul oilgoh baidal. Yag l chatroom-d yariltsaj baigaa met. Magadguy ehnii udaad uzehed ene heseg neg ih gots goid sanagdaaguy ni screenwriter Aaron Sorkin bidniig her mundagaar capture bolsonii ilerhiilel baih.

Tsaashlaad Social Network Amerikiin angi hoorondiin zorchil, and nuhdiin nuhurlul, terslelt, unench baidal, erh medel (Shakespeare-iin umnu medegdeeguy zohioloor kino hiichihev uu?!) geed munhiin sedvuudiig toirson asar complex buteel boloh ni haragdana. Deerees ni Nine Inch Nail-iin Trent Reznor-iin hiisen soundtrack martahiin argaguy (shine jiliin daraahan neeree savaaguytej yavaad Reznor-iin yariltslagad ochson, ene hugjmuu kinonoos uuruus ni urgaj garsan gej tailbarlaj baina lee). Hervee neleed constructive criticism haij baigaa bol Zadie Smith-iin deehne NYRB deer bichsen mash sonirholtoy review-iig (daan ch suulruugee jaahan haduuraad yavchihsan baisan) unshaaray.


Daraagiin asar ih taalagdsan kino bol Aronofsky-giin Black Swan. Humuus yag yaj huleej avsan yum medehguy. Minii huvid urid umnu ni uun shig urlag, ter tusmaa uran buteelchiin dotor orj chadsan kino uzej baigaaguy. Natalie Portman-ii dur bol hun burt baidag Apollonian (uhaan bodol deer tulguurlasan) hiigeed Dionysian (setgel hudlul deer tulguurlasan) hoyor impulse-iin zurchil, negdliin ilerhiilel yum. Magadguy aguu uran buteelch gedeg ene hoyor tuiliig husseneeree udirdaj chaddag huniig heldeg baih. Gehdee ene tiim ch hyamd uneer olddogguy bololtoy. Black Swan deerh uzesgelentey, uyan nalirhai hudulguuniig oirtuulan haruulahuid barag hugartal ni evsheelgesen hul haragdana. Neg scene deer bur balletchin hunii gol zemseg bolson gutlaa umsuhiinhuu umnu Natalie Portman-ii dur hilenteygeer urj, tasdaj, zeremdeglene. Goo uzesgeleng yamar ih zuil zoliosloj olj avdagiin ilerhiilel ene.

Alain de Botton ene talaar Architecture of Happiness deeree ih goyoor bichsen baisan:

In his memoirs, the German theologian Paul Tillich explained that art had always left him cold as a pampered and trouble-free young man, despite the best pedagogical efforts of his parents and teachers. Then the First World War broke out, he was called up and, in a period of leave from his battalion (three quarters of whose members would be killed in the course of the conflict), he found himself in the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin during a rain storm. There, in a small upper gallery, he came across Sandro Botticelli’s Madonna and Child with Eight Singing Angels and, on meeting the wise, fragile, compassionate gaze of the Virgin, surprised himself by beginning to sob uncontrollably. He experienced what he described as a moment of ‘revelatory ecstasy’, tears welling up in his eyes at the disjunction between the exceptionally tender atmosphere of the picture and the barbarous lessons he had learnt in the trenches. It is in dialogue with pain that many beautiful things acquire their value.

Ner devshij baigaa kinonuudaas uur neg sonirhol tatsan ni The King's Speech. Gehdee eejtey hamt uzsen bolood ch ter uu, neleed ayduuhan kino yum uu daa gesen setgegdel tursun. Magadguy ene kinog hamgiin iheer taashaahiin tuld historical backdrop-iig ni (e.g. appeasement, Munich agreement, Churchill) neleed undurt avch uzeh yostoy baih. Tegsen hedii ch ene kinonii tuuhiin unen mun ni neleed ergelzeetey. Negent Britain-ii WWII-iin umnuh bair suuri bol JFK-ees avhuulaad tumen amitan shavchihsan sedev tul orhiloo. (Hervee uneheer ih sonirhoj baigaa bol manai uyeiin hamgiin aguu polemicist (:P) Christopher Hitchens-iin review-iig unshaaray)


Harin ner devsheeguy kinonuudaas hamgiin iheer taalagdsan ni I Am Love. Ene chuham yun tuhai kino ve gedgiig heleh tun hetsuu. Kinonii gol sanaa globalization, individual liberty, post-war Italy, generational conflict geed asar olon sedviig toirno. Deerees ni John Adams-iin hugjim ene kinog ulam bur complex bolgono. Zaaval zav gargaj uzeerey (uguy yadahnaa kinog ni bish yum aa gehed Tilda Swinton-iig 2 tsag harahiin tuld :P).


Ene jil minii dotor honogshij uldsen uur neg mundag kino bol Benjamin Heisenberg-iin (Werner Heisenberg-iin ach huu) Der Räuber. Ehleed uzehed yanztay neg action kino met murtuu saitar bodoh yum bol NYRB-iin "in its study of one man’s extreme pathology also has something important to say about why we run" gej helsentey yah argaguy sanaa niilne. Gehdee minii huvid ene uguulberiig jaahan urgutgumuur sanagdsan. Ene kino bol dan gants guideg geltguy yuruusuu ugluu bur 5-d bosch uhtlee beltgel hiideg humuusees "Yah gej ingej uursdiiguu zovoodog bainaa?" gej asuudag nuhduuded uguh hamgiin mundag hariult yum.

Ungursun jil taalagdsan uur mundag kinonuud gevel Certified Copy (Juliette Binoche-iin magadguy hamgiin mundag dur baih), Un Prophète (2009 ond garsan baih; yutay ch ene bol oiriin heden jild uzsen hamgiin shineleg kino baisan), No Distance Left To Run (Blur-iin documentary + brilliant concert footages!).

P.S: True Grit, The Fighter hoyoriig arai uzej amjaaguy yavna.

Perfection

from The Sartorialist

A Note

row2k - What do you like most about the sport of rowing?

Alex Lizotte - What I like most about the sport of rowing is the team bond and atmosphere. Nowhere else can you find a group of people who push themselves in order to beat the guy next to them and work their body to the bone in order to do so. I have tremendous amounts of respect for my teammates and the bond we have created is through our hard work and desire to win. Waking up at five in the morning to get on the water sounds crazy, but when the sun comes up and warms us as we grind out piece after piece you know you’re alive and I would not give up that feeling for the world. Rowing has taught me many lessons about life and myself. Those lessons begin with never giving up no matter how bad it may be. Push through and finish everything with the best of your ability. It has also taught me that the human body is an amazing thing, when you think you are tired you can look to the guy in front and behind you on the boat pushing harder and breaking barriers. These life lessons helped while I was in the hospital recovering from my treatment, knowing I would be back on a boat again got me through each day and gave me a reason to get out of bed in the morning.

row2k Interview - Navy's Alex Lizotte

Music of the Day

The video is too kitsch. But I like the music very much!

Poem of the Day: Recession Edition

Rain by Frederick Seidel

Rain falls on the Western world,
The coldest spring in living memory everywhere.
Winter in mid-May means the darling buds of May uncurled
On an ice-cold morgue slab, smilingly shaking loose their beautiful hair.
London rains every day anyway.
Paris is freezing. It’s May, but Rome is cold.
Motorcycles being tested at the factory in Varese north of Milan are gray
Victims screaming in place and can’t get out and won’t get sold.

It’s the recession.
It’s very weird in New York.
Teen vampires are the teen obsession,
Rosebud mouths who don’t use a knife and fork.
Germany at first won’t save Greece, but really has to.
It’s hot in parts of Texas, but rain drowns Tennessee, people die.
It’s the euro. It’s the Greek debt. Greece knew
It had to stop lying, but timeo Danaos, they’re Greeks, Greeks lie.

Canoeing in the Ozarks with Pierre Leval, the rain came down so hard
The river rose twenty-three feet in the pre-dawn hours and roared.
Came the dawn, there was improbably a lifeguard,
There was a three-legged dog, the jobless numbers soared.
Dreamers woke in the dark and drowned, with time to think this can’t be true.
Incomprehensible is something these things do.
They bring the Dow Jones into the Ozarks and the Ozarks into the E.U.
A raving flash flood vomits out of a raindrop. The Western world is in the I.C.U.

Entire trees rocket past. One wouldn’t stand a chance in the canoe.
A thee-legged dog appears, then the guy it belongs to.
You instantly knew
You’d run into a hillbilly backwoods crazy, itching to kill you.
Berlin and Athens, as the Western world flickers,
Look up and blink in the rain and lick the rain and shiver and freeze.
They open black umbrellas and put on yellow slickers
And weep sugar like honeybees dying of the bee disease.

Here and There

New Year's Eve, Chicago

This and That

Clouds recently drew my attention to Oyuna Cashmere - a high-end womenswear brand that specializes in cashmere and silk garments. This London based firm has apparently been around for several years (why have I never heard of them before?). Here's the article Monocle ran on Oyuna (does anyone have Monocle subscription?) + a blog post from European Luxury Blog (according to the post, they also offer bespoke tailoring - who knew tailoring for cashmere is possible!?)

Judging from their SS11 collection, what really amazing is that the designer somehow successfully managed to synthesize the central aspect of nomadic clothing, which are functionality and simplicity, with Western sophistication. And the result is wonderfully minimalistic, stylish garments made of material that has rich intrinsic value. Absolutely brilliant.

Addendum: Here's their Mongolian wikipedia entry:

Оюуна

Oyuna нь Английн Лондон хотод төвчлөн ноолууран бүтээгдэхүүн хийдэг дизайнер Ц.Оюунаа болон түүний партнёр Дюэтт Бэрнаскони-ийн брэнд компани юм.

Товч намтар

Дизайнер Цэрэндоржийн Оюунаа. 18 настайдаа Унгарт суралцахаар явж, нэхмэл эдлэл, даавууны талаар судалж төгссөн. Төгсөөд мэргэжлээрээ ажиллаж, дизайнерийн гараагаа эхэлсэн бөгөөд өөрийн партнёр Швецарь гаралтай Дюэтт Бэрнаскони-той хамтран брэнд компаниа байгуулсан.
Нүүдэлчин ардынхаа онцлогийг гаргасан биенд эвтэйхэн бөгөөд хөдөлгөөнд саад болхооргүй, энгийн загвартай хувцаснууд нь худалдан авагчдад өндрөөр үнэлэгддэг.
Одоогоор Австрали, Бельги, Франц, Герман, Грек, Хонконг, Итали, Япон, Орос, Испани, Швецарь, Англи, АНУ-д байдаг салбараараа дамжуулан Монгол ноолуурыг дэлхийд таниулж байна.

Novecento

Bertolucci's epic lost classic...

Photo of the Day

Photo courtesy of Ерөнхий Сайд С. Батболд

2011.01.25 - Соёлын Төв Өргөө

Далд Ухааныг Далд Оруулья

Hervee yamarvaa negen ulsiin hugjliig ard tumen ni yamar nom unshij baigaagaar shinjij boldog bol manaihan neleed dooguur orno baih. Ungursun zun gertee ochih uyeree Ulaanbaatariin barag buh nomiin delguureer orson. Neg uyee bodvol tsuun ch gesen gadna dotnii sain nomuud hevlegddeg bolson baina. Getel nomiin delguur oroh burt anzaaragdsan zuil gevel hamgiin ih hun tusglasan heseg ni urgelj "Dald Uhaan" geh tasag baih yum. Sonirhood urt ocheriig ni dairaad uztel ee buu uzegd: parapsychology, psychics, paranormal, nisdeg tavga, hovsddog hunii talaarh heden arvan nomuud! Yamar ter olon hunii urdaas haa gazriin hog deer hevtej baidag zuilsiig bitgii unsh gej heleltey bish, duuguy helee hazaad l unguruv.

Gertee ireed televizee asaatal neg yariltslagiin nevtruulgeer B. Galaarid gej nuhur yarij baina (haana sonsson ner bilee gesen unuu blog bicheed baidag hun bolj taarav). Parapsychology sudladag yadag yadag ch genev. Tuuniiheer bol Amerikchuud buhel buten ulsiin hun amiig daldaar udirdaj chaddag zevsegtey bolson barim tavim notolgoo baidag yum baih. Tegeed bid tuunees ni hamgaalah arga hemjeeg dariu avah yostoy genee. I kid you not, itgehguy bol end bichsen niitlelees ni shuud ishlej baina:

Хэт өндөр давтамжийн цацраг ашигласан психотронын зэвсэг бол бүр аюултай. Хүнийг ядрааж сульдааж, толгой тархийг нь өвтгөж, бөөлжүүлж огиулж, зарим төрлийн өвчнөөр өвтгөж, сэтгэцийн үйл ажиллагааг идэвхжүүлж, эсвэл бууруулж, янз бүрийн хүсэл төрүүлж, үйлдэл хийлгэж чадна. [...] Энэ чиглэлийн технологийн хувьд хүйтэн дайны үед оросууд илт давамгайлж байсан ч ЗХУ задарсны дараа АНУ тэргүүлэгч болоод байна. АНУ сансрын 300 орчим дагуултай сүлжээ, тэрчлэн телевиз, радио зэргийг хамарсан психотронын зэвсэглэлтэй гэгдэж байна. [...] Манай улсад харин энэ талаар мэддэггүй, тоодоггүй учраас хүн ам нь бусдын нөлөөнд далд ухамсрын түвшинд автах, шийдвэр гаргагчид нь золиос болох магадлал өндөр гэдгийг сануулж байна.

Haramsaltay ni Galaarid guay Amerikchuud yagaad ter gaihamshigt zevsgee Afghanistan, Irakchuudiin esreg hereglej uursdiig ni dampuuruulchih shahaad baigaa dainuudiig duusgahad ashiglahguy baigaa talaar neg ch ug heleeguy baina hehehe. Uu martchihaj, bin Laden ter argiig ni medej baisan uchraas zohih hariu arga hemjeeg ni avsan bolj taarlaa shuu dee. Yag iim zuil unuu muu Boris Nikolaevichid tohioldoj bur shees alduulsan "tuuh" baidag yum gene:

Том орныхон нууц мэдээллийг олж харах, бусдын бодлыг унших тал дээр аль эрт том амжилтад хүрснийг оросууд АНУ-ын төрийн нарийн бичгийн дарга Мадлен Олбрайтын бодлыг уншиж чадсанаар ОХУ-ын ерөнхийлөгч Борис Ельцины Японд хийх айлчлалыг болиулсан, америкууд хариуд нь Борис Ельцинд нөлөөлж онгоцны дугуй руу “морь харуулсан” зэрэг одоо нэгэнт нийтэд илэрхий болсон шинэвтэр түүхээс харж болно.

Hamgiin haramsaltay ni ene bol yurduu l google-dehed garch irsen ehnii hoyor niitlel. Iimerhuu soliorliig bi yag yu gej oilgohoo medehguy baina l daa. Uul ni B. Galaarid gej undur hariutslagatay alba hashij yavsan, mani metiigee bodvol hiisen buteesentey l hun shig baih yum. Getel yamar id shid ni bureldeed iim zuil bichij yavdag yum buu med. Jishee ni unuudur sonin.mn-ii nuuren deer baisan tuunii neg iim marzan niitlel baina:

Гоц үзэгдэл сонирхон судлаач Д.Батсуурь ховсын тусламжтайгаар хүмүүсийг регресс хийж өнгөрсөн цаг руу аялуулсан талаар би өмнө нь бичиж байсан. Тэгвэл энэ удаад прогресс буюу ирээдүй цаг руу аялуулсан талаар нь өгүүлье. [...] Ирээдүй, эсвэл өнгөрсөн цаг руу аялах аялал нь хувь хүн болгоны далд ухамсарт хадгалагдаж байдаг өнгөрсөн, одоо, ирээдүй цагийн амьдралын тухай мэдээлэлд тулгуурладаг. Өөрөөр хэлбэл ховсын тусламжтайгаар тухайн хүний далд ухамсарт нэвтэрч өнгөрсөн, ирээдүйг нь кино зураг мэт харуулна гэсэн үг.

Uuniig unshaad shoolood ineemeer ch yum shig, iim zuiliig ichihguy niitledeg boltloo dooshoo orsondoo uursdiiguu uruvduud uilmaar ch yum shig. End shinjleh uhaanii zarchim, setguulchiin yos zui, uureg hariutslaga ene ter gej olon zuil nurshaad yahav. Hervee iimerhuu zuil unshaad itgedeg hun baigaa bol (comment hesgiig ni anzaarval neleedguy bololtoy) Baabariin sayhanii onoj helseniig unshchihad iluudehguy baih aa:

Ер нь хэлмээр санагдаад хэл загатнаад байдаг юм. Монголын ч бай, оросын ч бай, африкийн ч бай, папуа гвинэйнх ч бай, чукча ч бай, түнгүс ч бай энэ олон орны ид шидэт мэргэн түргэн улс ганц нэгээрээ чаддаггүй юм бол нийлж байгаад ч болохноо тэр Бэн Ладэн гээч гай хөөгийн байгаа газрыг мэргэлж олоод заагаад өгөөч. Дэлхийг түйвээж дууслаа шүү дээ. Мөнгө хэрэгтэй юм бол америкчууд байгаа газрыг нь зааж өгсний төлөө 50 сая доллар төлье гээд байна шүү дээ. Энэ ядуу орны аль ядууг нь мэргэлж тонож байхаар Лас Вэгас, Макао, Монакко гээд аймаар баян казино руу давхиж очоод ганц сайхан шившлэг хийж мэргэлээд л хамаг мөнгийг нь хувхайлал даа. Бүх юм хуулийн дагуу, хэн ч тэднийг залилан хийлээ гэхгүй.

One more reason to read Carl Schmitt

Strauss and Schmitt are at the center of intellectual debate, but they are being read by everyone, whatever their partisan leanings; as a liberal journalist in Shanghai told me as we took a stroll one day, “no one will take you seriously if you have nothing to say about these two men and their ideas.” And the interest has little to do with nationalism in the nineteenth-century sense of the term. It is a response to crisis—a widely shared belief that the millennia-long continuity of Chinese history has been broken and that everything, politically and intellectually, is now up for grabs.

Reading Strauss in Beijing by Mark Lilla

Addendum: Letter from China: The new generation’s neocon nationalists

The Vanguard of Democracy No More

Two historians drew similar arguments from recent Belarus' crackdown on post-election protests:

This might be a good time for Americans to ask: do we have a foreign policy that promotes human rights and democracy? For many, any such mission was discredited by Iraq; but we might remember, from the revolutions of 1989 and the Ukrainian Orange Revolution of 2004, that peaceful regime change is possible when all sides agree to the democratic rules of the game. Lukashenko clearly does not, and the only power that might persuade him is Russia.

Brutality in Belarus by Timothy Snyder

But in truth, the West has few carrots to offer unpopular dictators - even unpopular dictators who share borders with Europe - other than free trade and the long-term possibility of integration and economic growth. European foreign ministers cannot guarantee Lukashenko personal wealth. They cannot offer corrupt oil deals. They can talk about "freedom" - and they did - but they have to compete with others who talk about "the Chinese model," who offer more predictable forms of job security and who aren't bothered by a few arrests. On the Monday morning after the police attack on the opposition, the Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, declared that the elections were Belarus's "internal affair."

This, then, is what the "decline of the West" looks like in the eastern half of Europe: The United States and Europe, out of money and out of ideas, scarcely fund the Belarusan opposition. Russia, flush with oil money once again, has agreed to back Lukashenko and fund his regime. Let's hope it costs them a lot more than they expect.

In Belarus, a slide toward Eastern aggression by Anne Applebaum

Addendum: Фотографи из Минска

Boy With Axe

Boy with Axe, Tsagaannuur, Mongolia by Andres Gonzalez

via The New Yorker Ten Memorable Documentary Photos from 2010

Google ngram: Enkhbayar v. Elbegdorj

Google-iin scan hiisen 15 saya nomiin data dotor Enkhbayar, Elbegdorj hoyoriin hen ni iluu aldartayg tandaj uzev :)

Any theories to explain the second half of the graph?

Baabar Has Hope

Даруухан хүсэл нь аугаа зорилго болон биелдэг, тайвуухан алхам нь нийгмийн дэвшил болон биеждэг баатарлаг нүүдэлчид, гайхамшигт реформаторчдын үр ач, сүүлийн тавин жилийн шинэтгэл, хувьсгалын амьд гарчийн хувьд итгэл, -зөвхөн итгэл найдвараар- амлан өндийсэн билээ, би. Байгаадаа ханадаггүй, барьцаа алдаггүй, үргэлж амжилтаа чамлаж, үүрд шинэ оргилд тэмүүлэмтгий манай ард түмэнд дандаа шинэ маргааш, хөгжлийн шинэ өндөрлөг нээлттэй тодорно гэдэгт итгэн амьдардаг билээ, би. Ийм ард түмэнд итгэхгүй бол өөр ямар ард түмэнд итгэх билээ.

Ардчилсан хувьсгалын баярт зориулсан хүндэтгэлийн хурал дээр Баабарын тавьсан илтгэл

Just as any of his other writings, masterful and brilliant through and through - even though it reads like a great sarcasm :)

Photo of the Day

Police officers in riot wear contain student protesters on Westminster Bridge on December 9, 2010 in London, England. (Oli Scarff/Getty Images) #

Addendum: "A Mongolian high school student in the US is blogging about her college application process on NYTimes blog" (via EsDalanZurgaa)

Cartoon of the Day

Shog zuraach Tsogtbayariin buteel. Heterhii ih har ungu ashiglaad baidgaas bus sanaagaa herhen ilerhiilj bui ni bishirmeer!

By the way, the cartoon reminds me of a joke Zizek recounted in his book, Welcome to the Desert of the Real!:

There is a well-known Israeli joke about Bill Clinton visiting Bibi Netanyahu: when Clinton sees a mysterious blue phone in Bibi's office, he asks Bibi what it is, and Bibi answers that it allows him to dial Him up there in the sky. Upon his return to the States, the envious Clinton demands that his secret service should provide him with such a phone - at any cost. They deliver it within two weeks, and it works, but the phone bill is exorbitant - two million dollars for a one-minute talk with Him up there. So Clinton furiously calls Bibi and complains: 'How can you afford such a phone, if even we, who support you financially, can't? Is this how you spend our money?' Bibi answers calmly: 'No, it's not that - you see, for us, Jews, that call counts as a local call!' Interestingly, in the Soviet version of the joke, God is replaced by Hell: when Nixon visits Brezhnev and sees a special phone, Brezhnev explains to him that this is a link to Hell; at the end of the joke, when Nixon complains about the price of the call, Brezhnev calmly answers: 'For us in the Soviet Union, the call to Hell counts as a local call.'

Unintended Consequences

This is perhaps the most important lesson we Mongolians must learn as a society right now:

Like the Pakistani secret service’s indulgence of the Taliban in the mid-1990s, intended as a directed outlet for Islamic radicalism, the [Russian neo-nazi] movement has slipped from the grasp of those who would rein it in. Instead of creating a docile manipulable movement, it has unleashed a generation of radicals.

The skinhead terrorists

В пальто и штанах

Russia's Reckoning With Her Crimes

Polshiin yurunhii said Donald Tusk ungursun zun
Karliin Ih Surguuli deer unshsan lektsiin uyer
Ihenh humuus anzaaraaguy baih l daa. Ungursun doloo honogt bolson chuhal negen uil yavdal bol yah argaguy Orosiin parliament Katyn massacre-t Stalin bolon ter uyeiin Zuvlultiin udirdagchid buruutay baisniig huleen zuvshuursun yavdal bailaa. Gehdee end hamgiin temdegluushtey zuil ni Polyak-uud uursduu EU-eer damjuulan Orosiig enehuu medegdliig hiihees uur argaguy baidald oruulsan yavdal. Uuniig l jinhene diplomat ur uhaan gedeg baih. (Medeej Donald Tusk uuniig hiij chadsanaaraa tuuhend neree munhluh ni gartsaaguy).

Harin manaihan Ih Helmegduuleltiin talaar chuham yu hiij baigaa yum buu med. Minii medehiin Enkhbayar 2000 ond baina uu daa MAXH helmegduulelted buruutay, gehdee tegj yarih yum bol manai nam ch gesen davhar helmegdsen geh mayagiin yum heleed uursud deeree buruug tohoshiigeed ungursun. Tsaashlaad bid Orosuudaar buruug ni huleelguuleh baitugay helmegdsen humuusiinhee materialiig archive-aas ni olj avch ch chaddaguy archaaguy ard tumen. Hervee tuuhen unen gej baidag yum bol hezee negen tsagt Orosuud Stalin-ii hiisen hergiin umnuus bidnees uuchlalt guih uchirtay. Harin uuniig uhaan siilj Orosuudiig shahaand oruulj baij olj avahaas bish uchirguy neg udur uuchlalt guichihna gej genen dur esgeh ali esvel ogt bolooguy met nudee aniad unguruh erh bidend baihguy.

Oiriin uyed ene uil yavdaltay holbootoygoor Katyn-ii talaar neleed olon zuil bichigdeh baih (uunii dotor Polshiin gadaad hergiin said Radoslaw Sikorski-giin ehner Anne Applebaum yu heleh ni neleed sonirholtoy baih bolov uu). Yutay ch tedgeeriin salhiig hagalsan Timothy Snyder-iin (a brilliant historian!) niitleliig unshihiig zuvluj baina:

The declaration of the Russian parliament deserves great praise, and the political acknowledgement of Katyń might affect Russia’s own discussions of Stalinism. It invites Poles into a conversation about history that heretofore has focused on Russia’s own wartime heroism and martyrology. Presumably, it won’t be long before a Russian or Polish historian points out that Stalin’s Great Terror, remembered as the great crime against Russians, in fact specifically targeted ethnic minorities such as Poles. However that may be, the declaration confirms a basic reality of our age of globalized commemoration: national history is becoming inseparable from foreign policy.

Addendum: Hervee amjaaguy bol Andrzej Wajda-giin "Katyn"-iig zaaval olj uzeerey + Anne Applebaum's brilliant review of the film: "A Movie That Matters"

The Real Benefit of Wikileaks (For Us)

Perhaps the most clear-headed treatment of recent Wikileaks' documents:

Beyond the questions surrounding the massive nature of their disclosure—right or wrong, catastrophic or merely embarrassing—what do these documents reveal about U.S. foreign policy and the nature of diplomacy?

Mainly they illustrate principles about the "great game" of power politics dating back to Thucydides—that nations behave according to their material interests and that a big part of diplomacy lies in appealing to, threatening, or manipulating those interests.

[...]In this sense, Obama's statements [made in his Nobel Prize lecture] marked a resumption of diplomatic practice and principles, as they had been understood by all powers, great and small, for centuries. In this same sense, the WikiLeaks documents—some of them, anyway—show these principles in action.

Diplomacy in Action by Fred Kaplan

Had I been the foreign minister of Mongolia, I would have created a special detail within the ministry and devote it solely to analyze these documents--you know, just to understand how really American foreign policy works :)

Addendum: Arguably the best memo within the entire leak :P
A CAUCASUS WEDDING - MOSCOW9533

Ramzan, who danced clumsily with his gold-plated automatic stuck down in the back of his jeans (a houseguest later pointed out that the gold housing eliminated any practical use of the gun, but smirked that Ramzan probably couldn’t fire it anyway). Both Gadzhi and Ramzan showered the dancing children with hundred dollar bills; the dancers probably picked upwards of USD 5000 off the cobblestones. Gadzhi told us later that Ramzan had brought the happy couple “a five kilo lump of gold” as his wedding present. After the dancing and a quick tour of the premises, Ramzan and his army drove off back to Chechnya. We asked why Ramzan did not spend the night in Makhachkala, and were told, “Ramzan never spends the night anywhere.”

Let Her

from Paul Mignot's Mood Collection. Speaker-ee asaagaad fullscreen deer taviad uzeerey.

Амиа Оторлогчдын Коллективизм

Batchuluun dahin neg Ayn Rand-iin nomiig orchuuljee. Humuus yu gej boddog yum buu med, gehdee minii bodloor yumand erembe, daraalal gej baimaarsan. Yun turuun heregtsee talaas ni harya. Dan gants philosophiin bish yum aa gehed western canon-d bagtsan heden nom Mongol hel ruu orchuulagdsan be? Minii medehiin Mongol hel deer sain orchuulagdsan baruunii soyol irgenshliin tulguur buteeluud gariin tavan huruund ch bagtahguy. Ene nuhtsuld Ayn Rand-iin hoyoriin hoyor nomiig daraalan orchuulah tiim chuhal shaardlaga baiv uu? Orchuulah nom mundsan bish dee?!

Za yahav uuniig tuhain orchuulj bas sanhuujuulsen hunii dur geed orhiyo. Getel bidend Ayn Rand-iin "aмиа бодох" uzel sanaa uneheer heregtey yu? Sonin yum shuu, uul ni yurtsunts deer tsaash ni devregeh shaardlagaguy yum gej baidag bol ter ni amia hicheeh uzel baihsan. Yalanguya Mongolchuud shig amin huviinhaa ashig sonirholdoo hutlugduud uul us, gazar tenger yu baidag yum bugdiig ni лиценз bolgood taviad tuuchihdag nuhduuded amia hicheehiig zaah shig heregguy zuil baih uu hehe.

Neeree Ayn Rand gesnees ungursun 10 sard New Yorker Festival-iin uyer Krugman-ii yarisan neg onigoo sanaand orchihloo:

There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.

Stalin's Wake (in the Irish sense)

Photo courtesy of Tuya

In Mongolia, where an immense statue of Stalin was belatedly felled in 1990, peasants sprinkled milk on the spot where the statue had stood, for they believe that this practice will prevent his angry evil spirit from returning to haunt them.

from Katherine Verdery, The Political Lives of Dead Bodies

Current Reading: Mario Vargas Llosa - Wellspring

Alina Orlova

История в деталях: Алина Орлова

Manhattan Observed

Chapter One. He adored New York City. To him, it was a metaphor for the decay of contemporary culture. The same lack of individual integrity that caused so many people to take the easy way out was rapidly turning the town of his dreams in ... - no, that's a little bit too preachy. I mean, you know, let's face it, I want to sell some books here.

from Woody Allen's Manhattan

Head of the Schuylkill

The end of the fall season...

"Quotes are the only currency in my mouth at this point":

Тиймээ, бид байнга бэлтгэл хийж бусдаас илүү болох гэж, тэр хүний дээд хүн гэж байдаг бол өөрийн төсөөлөлд буй тэр хүний хажууд мөр зэрэгцэн зогсох гэж, ингэж чаддагүй юм гэхэд үүний төлөө бие махбодь сэтгэлээ санаагаа хуваалгүйгээр зориулах гэж ихэд хичээсэн. Бэлтгэл дээр ухаан алдаж унаагүйгээс биш, унах шахаж байсан өдрүүд цөөнгүй бий. Цусан дахь сүүний хүчлийн хэмжээ "дааж" чадах хэмжээнээс ихэсч, толгой эргэн бөөлжиж байсан гэвэл байсаан. Гэхдээ энэ бол "ЭР ХҮН"-ний шинж биш, харин ч бид ямар хөгийн дорой амьтад болохыг илтгэсэн нэг жишээ байдаг байв. Ингэж бэлтгэл хийснээр бид хөгийн дорой амьтад гэдгээ ухаарна. Ухаарах тусам ийм дорой, ядруу, жул амьтад байхыг үл хүснэ. Үл хүсэх тусам дахин бэлтгэл хийх энерги хаа нэгтэйгээс урган гардаг байв. Бэлтгэл болгоны дараа бид өнөөдөр ямар ч байсан өчигдрөөс дээр болжээ эсвэл өчигдөрөөс ямартай ч доогуур орсонгүй ээ гэсэн дүгнэлтэнд хүрч чадахгүй бол тэр бэлтгэлийг хий дэмий цагийн гарз гэж үздэг байлаа.

Why should you row a boat race? Why endure long months of pain in preparation for a fierce half hour That will leave you all but dead? Does anyone ask this question? Is there anyone who would not go through all its costs, and more, for the moment when anguish breaks into triumph –or even for the glory of having nobly lost? Is life less than a boat race? If a man will give all the blood in his body to win the one, will he not spend all of the might of his soul to prevail in the other?

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. Yale Commencement 1886

The Best Sentence I Read Today

A wonderful country, Mongolia, and the Mongols are wonderful people.

from Owen Lattimore's Nomads and Commissars, the last sentence of the book.

Addendum: An interview of Owen Lattimore by Caroline Humphrey

The Dawn of Mongolia

Сэлэнгэ Аймаг, Баруунбүрэн Сум

Praha Observed

On her way up, she paused several times to look back: below her she saw the towers and bridges; the saints were shaking their fists and lifting their stone eyes to the clouds. It was the most beautiful city in the world.

from Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Grover: Oh, I've been to Prague. Well, I haven't "been to Prague" been to Prague, but I know that thing, that, "Stop shaving your armpits, read the Unbearable Lightness of Being, date a sculptor, now I know how bad American coffee is thing... "
Jane: They have good beer there.
Grover: "... now I know how bad American beer is thing."

from Noah Baumbach's Kicking and Screaming

The Book of Genesis

Mongol Bible

Words she's never said reshape her lips forever

The Reader

...der da mit seinem Schatten Getränktes liest - Rilke

Who reads her while she reads? Her eyes slide
under the paper, into another world
while all we hear of it
or see is the slow surf of turning pages.

Her mother might not recognise her,
soaked to the skin as she is in her own shaddow.
How could you then? You with your watch and tongue
still running, tell me: how much does she lose

when she looks up? When she lifts
the ladies of her yes, how much
flows back into the book, and how much
spills down the walls of the overflowing world?

Children, playing alone, will sometimes
come back suddenly, seeing what it is
to be here, and their eyes are altered. Hers too. Words
she's never said reshape her lips forever.

Extract from 'Selected Poems' by Robert Bringhurst

Харицлагагvй Албат

After the president of Mongolia visited the White House in 2006 to discuss the future of US-Mongolia relations, an executive assistant to the foreign minister confided that while his government publicly reiterated its commitment to democratic reform, "we really like what they are doing in China." Under that model," he explained, "you get the benefit of 10 percent annual growth, a middle class, and leaders know they have a job for more than four years...but without the 'side-effects' of democracy.

from Stefan Halper The Beijing Consensus p.129

The Geography of Chinese Power

Urjigdar München Haupbahnhof-iin newsstand deer minii neleed deer profile hiij baisan Robert Kaplan-ii Foreign Affairs deer garsan Hyatadiin geopolitics-iin talaar mash sonirholtoy niitleliig olj uzev (PDF). Hervee heterhii urt sanagdval IHT deerh tovchilson op-ed-iig endees unshij bolno. Mun tuunchlen husvel endees Kaplan-ii audio yariltslagiig sonsooroy.

Niitleliin yurunhii sanaa ni gevel Hyatadiin geopolitics-iin bodlogo ni tsaashdaa Amerikiinh shig ideology deer suurilaj bus harin udruus udurt usun nemegdej bui hun amiin heregtseeg hangah tuuhii ed, erchim huchnii eh uusveriig medeldee oruulj avah ermelzel deer tulguurlah bolno. Ene ch utgaaraa Hyatadiin ergen toiron dahi jijig ulsuud tednii tuuhii ediig niiluuleh, orond ni belen buteegdehuun importloh zamaar nuluulliin bused ni oroh yum. Ene nuhtsuld Amerikiin tsaashdiin Azi tiv deh geopolitics-iin bodlogo Hyatadiin nuluulliig ene bus nutagt herhen togtoon barih ve gedeg deer tuvlurnu.

CREEPING CONTROL

Even where China's borders are secure, the country's very shape makes it appear as though it is dangerously incomplete--as if parts of an original Greater China had been removed. China's northern border wraps around Mongolia, a giant territory that looks like it was once bitten out of China's back. Mongolia has one of the world's lowest population densities and is now being threatened demographically by an urban Chinese civilization next door. Having once conquered Outer Mongolia to gain access to more cultivable land, Beijing is poised to conquer Mongolia again, after a fashion, in order to satisfy its hunger for the country's oil, coal, uranium, and rich, empty grasslands. Chinese mining companies have been seeking large stakes in Mongolia's underground assets because unchecked industrialization and urbanization have turned China into the world's leading consumer of aluminum, copper, lead, nickel, zinc, tin, and iron ore; China's share of the world's metal consumption has jumped from ten percent to 25 percent since the late 1990s. With Tibet, Macao, and Hong Kong already under Beijing's control, China's dealings with Mongolia will be a model for judging the degree to which China harbors imperialist intentions.

North of Mongolia and of China's three northeastern provinces lies Russia's Far East region, a numbing vastness twice the size of Europe with a meager and shrinking population. The Russian state expanded its reach into this area during the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century, while China was weak. Now, China is strong, and the Russian government's authority is nowhere as feeble as it is in the eastern third of the country. Just across the border from the roughly seven million Russians who live in the Russian Far East -- a figure that could fall as low as 4.5 million by 2015 -- in the three abutting Chinese provinces, live some 100 million Chinese: the population density is 62 times as great on the Chinese side as on the Russian side. Chinese migrants have been filtering into Russia, settling in large numbers in the city of Chita, north of Mongolia, and elsewhere in the region. Resource acquisition is the principal goal of China's foreign policy everywhere, and Russia's sparsely populated Far East has large reserves of natural gas, oil, timber, diamonds, and gold. "Moscow is wary of large numbers of Chinese settlers moving into this region, bringing timber and mining companies in their wake," David Blair, a correspondent for London's Daily Telegraph, wrote last summer.

As with Mongolia, the fear is not that the Chinese army will one day invade or formally annex the Russian Far East. It is that Beijing's creeping demographic and corporate control over the region -- parts of which China held briefly during the Qing dynasty -- is steadily increasing. During the Cold War, border disputes between China and the Soviet Union brought hundreds of thousands of troops to this Siberian back of beyond and sometimes ignited into clashes. In the late 1960s, these tensions led to the Sino-Soviet split. Geography could drive China and Russia apart, since their current alliance is purely tactical. This could benefit the United States. In the 1970s, the Nixon administration was able to take advantage of the rift between Beijing and Moscow to make an opening toward China. In the future, with China the greater power, the United States might conceivably partner with Russia in a strategic alliance to balance against the Middle Kingdom.

Current reading: Stefan Halper - The Beijing Consensus (Not so impressive, but quite interesting: Perhaps market authoritarianism is the way we should develop?)

Addendum: LSE Asia Forum + Tim Harford writes,

China now exports every six hours as much as it did in the whole of 1978.

More Stevens

The Poem That Took The Place Of A Mountain

There it was, word for word,
The poem that took the place of a mountain.

He breathed its oxygen,
Even when the book lay turned in the dust of his table.

It reminded him how he had needed
A place to go to in his own direction,

How he had recomposed the pines,
Shifted the rocks and picked his way among clouds,

For the outlook that would be right,
Where he would be complete in an unexplained completion:

The exact rock where his inexactness
Would discover, at last, the view toward which they had edged,

Where he could lie and, gazing down at the sea,
Recognize his unique and solitary home.

Buyant-Ukhaad buugaad neg saihan tseej duuren amisgaa avah yumsan. Perhaps Mongolia is the only place where I would be complete in an unexplained completion...

Mongolia in the Early 1900s

Early 1900s in Colour (Hat tip to Benoit)

Podcast of the day: Nuclear Energy with Undraa Agvaanluvsan

Die Forelle

And now for some music of a more traditional sort :) Perhaps this is my most favourite rendition of Die Forelle (the second favourite is, of course, Fischer-Dieskau and Moore's version - incidentally it is Rory Stewart's favourite as well). Also please don't forget to check Bostridge's moving performance of Wasserflut (from Schubert's Winterreise)

Wallace Stevens

Olon hun sanal niilehguy baih l daa. Gehdee 20 zuunii hamgiin mundag Amerik yaruu nairagch bol yah argaguy Wallace Stevens. Guitsed oilgoj barahguy ch gesen yadaj unshaad suuh ni tarhinii asar tom dasgal yum daa gegege (Stevens ene shulgiig uuruu unshij baigaag endees sonsooroy).

Final Soliloquy of the Interior Paramour

Light of the first light of evening, as in a room
In which we rest and, for small reason, think
The world imagined is the ultimate good.

This is, therefore, the intensest rendezvous.
It is in that though that we collect ourselves,
Out of all the indifferences, into one thing:

Within a single thing, a single shawl
Wrapped tightly round us, since we are poor, a warmth,
A light, a power, the miraculous influence.

Here, now, we forget each other and ourselves.
We feel the obscurity of an order, a whole,
A knowledge, that which arranged the rendezvous.

Within its vital boundary, in the mind.
We say God and the imagination are one
How high that highest candle lights the dark.

Out of the same light, out of the central mind,
We make a dwelling in the evening air,
In which being there together is enough.

Addendum: Open Yale Course lecture on Wallace Stevens

Оросын Монголд Баримтлах Бодлого

Yurduu hoyor honogiin umnu Orosiin Gadaad Yamnii said Sergei Lavrov-iin Medvedev-t zoriulj bichsen "Orosiin urt hugatsaanii hugjild gadaad bodlogiig ur dunteygeer ashiglah hutulbur" nertey barimt bichig il garch neleed shuugian tariv. Hediigeer ene barimt bichigt uchirguy gots goid shine zuil baihguy bolovch Orosiin gadaad bodlogiin har hairtsaga yur ni yamarshuuhan baigaa talaar neleed tsegtstey oilgolt ugnu. Yalanguya deehne minii bichsenchlen Orosuud "zuulun huch" ruu shiljij buig endees ajiglaj boloh yum. Nuguu talaasaa ted umnuh uye shigee uzel surtal deer tulguurlaj gadaad bodlogoo yavuuldag baisnaa bolij iluu realpolitik handlagatay bolsoniig mun harj bolno. Tovchhondoo bol ene barimt bichgiig hamgiin anh il bolgoson Orosiin Newsweek setguuliin helj buichlan: "Смысл документа в том, что Россия намеревается не на словах, а на деле проводить внешнюю политику, в которой не будет друзей и врагов, а будут только интересы."

Uunii deer minii huvid neg sonirhol tatsan zuil ni Orosiin Mongold barimtlah bodlogiin tuhai boginohon heseg bailaa. Hedii uuniig bid ungursun neg hoyor jild tednii uildleer ni yurunhiiduu gadarlaj baisan avch yag alban yosnii barimt bichigt ingej yag tag tusgasan baigaag ni anhaaraldaa avuushtay:

Монголия

-Расширять двустороннее экономическое сотрудничество на приоритетных для России направлениях, опираясь на заключенные в 2009 г. межправительственные соглашения о создании новых совместных предприятий по строительству железных дорог и освоению в Монголии стратегически важных месторождений полезных ископаемых.

Өдрийн Тэмдэглэлээc

4/14/10 Флоренс хот. Давидын хөшөөг харав. Барууны соёл иргэншлийн охь, эх булаг, толь. Христийн шашин, паганизм, гоо үзэсгэлэн, хүч чадал, итгэл найдвар...

(Oдоохондоо) Эзэнгүй Зөгийн Үүр

Ugluunii tsain deer hajuud suuj taarsan angiin hoyor ohin hoorondoo yariltsaj baina: "Hicheeliin daraa zavtay biz dee, manaid hureed ir. Chatroulette-deye." Hunii yaria dundaas ni sonsoh durguy l dee. Gehdee terhen hugatsaand chatroulette gej odoo yu baidag yum boloo geed zurvas bodood unguruv (no Freudian nonsense, please). Harin oroi hicheeleesee ireed sursan zangaaraa The New Yorker-iin web ruu ortol Chatroulette-iin talaar Roulette Russian gesen niitlel garch. Medeej ene niitlel "the internet's latest sensation" Chatroulette-iin talaar bolovch hamgiin sonirholtoy heseg ni anh ene website-iig hiisen Andrey Ternovskiy hemeeh 18 nastay patsan herhen Amerik ruu garch bui tuhai bailaa. Humuus hugjij bui ornuudiin brain drain geed l yariad baidag, getel ene niitlel shig nudend haragdtal bichseniig urid umnu ni unshij baisanguy:

Official talk of modernization and innovation rankles Vladimir [father of Andrey], who supplements his income with work for Russian Souvenirs. “It’s demagoguery,” he says. Recently, he sent a project proposal to Rusnano: no response. “These projects don’t interest them. The Internet doesn’t interest them. If I proposed something else, like cutting down some forest in the Far East, that would instantly interest them. There’s no support from the government. It’s completely absent. And Andrey knows that if he stays here no one will support him. The country doesn’t need people like him.”

Andrey, in turn, feels that he doesn’t need the country, and declares that he does not want to run a Russian company, which might be forced to pay “dirty,” under-the-table salaries to avoid a crushing tax burden, or to deal with extortion from corrupt tax and fire-code inspectors. “My perfect plan is that I don’t ever return to Moscow,” he told me. He would figure out the permanent-visa thing once he got to New York; for now, he was just eager to get out. “I don’t want to come back,” he said. “I want to live in America.”

Uuruur helbel brain drain-ii hamgiin tom shaltgaan ni hugjsun ornuud iluu taatay orchin, urgun bolomjiig olgodog geheesee iluu turj ussun niigem ni tuhain huniig shudragaar hudulmuruu uneluulj amidrah argaguy bolgodogt baigaa baigaa yum. Ene nuhtsuld avilga heel hahuuli, nuser bureaucracy-g nuraahguygeer gadaadad garsan humuusee erguulj tatah ni bitgii hel odoo baigaa hedee togtoon barih tun hetsuu.

Uuniig harin zarim het alsiin haraatay nuhduud oilgodogguy bololtoy. Jishee ni Bayarkhuu suulchiin niitleldee bas dahin avch ugchee. Tuunii helj buigaar "Гадаадад захиалгаар программ хангамж үйлдвэрлэдэг дор хаяж 1000 компани Монголд хэрэгтэй байна!" Heregtey baigaag ni hun bur нанотехнологитой технологигүй oilgoj baina l daa. Gehdee uuniig bodot baidal bolgohod chuham yu saad bolj baigaa hereg ve? Humuus mangar bolohooroo information technology-giin potential-iig oilgohguy baigaa yum bish shuu dee. Harin Bayarkhuu niitleldee asuudliin gun ruu tooj orsonguy, busdiig zugeer l mangaraar ni duudaad ungursun baina: "Манай ШУА, их сургуулиуд бэлэн болов уу? Үүх түүхээрээ хөөрцөглөн амьсгалсан хэвээр, баахан түүхчдээ шинжлэх ухаан гээд нийгмээрээ төсөөлчихсөн яваа манайханд бол 'цахим', 'нано', 'IT' гэх үгс маш хол, хүнийрхүү байлаа ч би яалт ч үгүй нүүр туллаа шүү!" Tegvel yapond ajillaj baigaa heden arvan Mongol programmer-uudiin talaar yu geh ve? Het uhaantay hunii niitleliig unshih hetsuu ch yum aa daa.

Harin ungursun doloo honogt Milan-d bolson Mongol oyutnuudiin uulzalt deer yurunhiilugchiin zuvluh Otgochuluu gadaadad baigaa bolovsroltoy Mongolchuudaa tataj avah "Зөгийн Үүр" hutulbur heregjuulj baigaa talaaraa yariv. Gol sanaa ni bol economic incentive ashiglaj buyu (endees iluu nariin medeelel avch bolno) tedgeer humuusiig Mongold irehed ni ehnii eeljind mungunii huvid sanaa zovohguy bolgoh aj. Otgochuluugiin helj buigaar Germany-d jishee ni tend surguuli tugssun humuusiig Germanii zasgiin gazar neg jiliinh ni tsalingiin deer 10'000 euro uguud nutag ruu ni yavuuldag gene (Otgochuluu uuruu uuniig ni avch baisan gev).

Gehdee ene incentive humuusiig eh oron ruugaa nutag butsahad ni hangalttay shaltgaan bolj chadah uu? Minii medeh gadaadad bui mash mundag Mongolchuudad mungu bol tiim tom problem bish. Ted Mongold delhiin hemjeenii tsalin avdagguy yum aa gehed uursdiiguu henees ch dutuuguy avaad yavchih chadaltay humuus. Harin Mongold uguylegddeg hamgiin chuhal zuil bol ayulguy amidrah orchin: hool idlee hordono, zam garlaa mashind shurguulne, huuhdee surguulid yavuullaa bagsh nar ni uursduu ulaan noil. Uunii deer avilga, hun surtaliig ni nemvel ger bultey humuusiig baitugay bidnii uyeiihniig ch shantraana. Uuniig yanzlahguygeer humuusiig gants munguur dallaad hureed ireh ni yu l bol, irlee gehed hamgiin chadaltaynuud ni ard uldeed hotsroh ni oilgomjtoy.

Gehdee nuguu talaasaa bid zorig gargan ergej ochihguy bol ene buhen uurchlugduhguy. Yamar hoyor amidrah bish gants bieiinhee amariig haraad suugaad baih bas l utgaguy asuudal. Uuruur helbel Mongoliig hugjuulehiin tuld ali ali taldaa yamar neg zuiliig zoliosloh shaardlagatay. Yamar ch chuhal uil hergiig yug ch zolioslohguygeer buteej baisan tuuh baihguy.

Kyrgyzs to Learn from Mongolia?

Kyrgyz-uud manaihnaas parliament-iin zasaglal herhen baiguulah talaar turshlaga sudlaj bui bololtoy. Dunguj saya Kyrgyzstan-ii tur zasgiin gazriin terguun Otunbayeva twitter deeree ingej "jirgev":

otunbayeva: Много сомнений о парламентской форме правления. Никак не приживается в СНГ. Но возьмем Монголию, там парлам.форма правления с самого начала.

otunbayeva: В Монголии к руководству пришли плавно или через конвульсии удивительно высоко образованные кадры. Можно поизучать.

Оросын Зөөлөн Хүч

Hedhen doloo honogiin umnu Kyrgyzstan, harin odoo Ukraine. Orosiin huuchin ezent gurnii ambition alham alhamaar bodot baidal bolsoor. Gehdee uridiinh shigee turemgiilel deer tulguurlaj bus, harin "zuulun huchiig" ashiglaj. Urid ni buutay tserguud tankan deer suulgaad durtay uls ruugaa ilgeedeg baisan bol odoo Orosuud televiziin delgets, mungun tuslamjiin amlalt, baigaliin hiin unereer nuluulliin hureegee tomsgodog boljee. Uchigdur Denmark-iin DR radio-d ugsun yariltslagadaa Medvedev uuniig uuriinhuu ineemseglej bui tsarai deeree jishee avan tailbarlasan baina (Orosiin ene gadaad bodlogiig "ineemsegleliin huch" ch geed nerlechihmeer yum uu? haha):

На вопрос, каким должно быть лицо России для другого мира, Медведев, улыбнувшись, ответил: "Такое, как у меня сейчас, - улыбающееся".

"Если это будет лицо России, лицо, которое улыбается другим странам, мне кажется, это правильно, - заметил президент. - Но и нам должны улыбаться. Мы не должны ни на кого скрежетать зубами, злиться, дуться, считать, что нас обижают, затирают куда-то, заталкивают в угол, а мы на это реагируем каким-то образом"

Soft power (buyu zuulun huch) bol olon uls sudlald neleed ertnees garch irsen cliche ch gemeer oilgolt. Suuliin 20 jild (soft power-iig hamgiin anh Joseph Nye 1990 ond tomyolson) soft power Amerikiin gadaad bodlogiin gol tsum ni bolj irsen gej uzdeg humuus olon bii. Hyataduud ch soft power-t shiljij buig B. Indra (unuu blog bicheed baidag nuhur mun uu?) deehne ontolson baisan. Gehdee Orosuudiin huvid genet neg shuniin dotor zuulun huched shiljchihsen yum bish. Orosuud ali Putin-ii uyes ehlen soft power deer tushiglehiig oroldsoor irsen (Brookings Institute - "Russia's Newly Found 'Soft Power'" [2004]). Harin odoonoos l amjilt olj ehelj bui yum uu daa (Financial Times uuniig because of "a series of fortuitous events" gesen baisan).

Mun tuunchlen sayhan NYTimes deer garsan niitlel deer Kyrgyzstanii "huvisgald" Orosuudiin soft power herhen ashiglasniig neleed unemshilteygeer uguuljee:

Rather than a change of heart on press freedoms, still stifled at home, Russia’s stance in Kyrgyzstan appeared to be a new tactic in dealing with the former Soviet republics it regards as within its sphere of influence. Backing freedom of expression — in this case to oppose a leader with whom it was unhappy — was just one element of a wider, behind-the-scenes role in the uprising that may help Russia win influence in the new government.[...]

But Russia appears to have learned well the lessons of the so-called color revolutions in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan in the past decade. In those uprisings, which overthrew governments allied with Russia but that had become alienated from their own populations, the West provided open support for opposition elites and free media.

Harin end Orosuud Mongold Kyrgyzstaniih shig uil yavdliig bii bolgono geh metiin hii dugnelt hiimeerguy baina. Gehdee endees olon ulsiin - yalanguya manai hoyor hurshiin - gadaad bodlogiin uzel barimtlal asar ih uurchlugduj buig olj ajiglah ni chuhal. Ene nuhtsuld neg talaaraa soft power-t avtaj Ukraine shig teneg alham hiihguy baih, nuguu talaaraa yum l bol Orosuud Hyataduud Mongold bolj bui buhnii ard baina gej orilj humuusiin dund utga uchirguy aidas devreehguy baih uchirtay.

Solitude and Leadership

[...]the way to do it is by thinking through these issues for yourself—morality, mortality, honor—so you will have the strength to deal with them when they arise. Waiting until you have to confront them in practice would be like waiting for your first firefight to learn how to shoot your weapon. Once the situation is upon you, it’s too late. You have to be prepared in advance. You need to know, already, who you are and what you believe: not what the Army believes, not what your peers believe (that may be exactly the problem), but what you believe.

How can you know that unless you’ve taken counsel with yourself in solitude? I started by noting that solitude and leadership would seem to be contradictory things. But it seems to me that solitude is the very essence of leadership. The position of the leader is ultimately an intensely solitary, even intensely lonely one. However many people you may consult, you are the one who has to make the hard decisions. And at such moments, all you really have is yourself.

Yur ni bol Steve Jobs mayagiin "stay hungry, stay foolish" gesen yarianuudad durguy - heterhii schmaltzy sanagdaad baidag yum. Ene blog deer ch tiimerhuu yumnuud neg ih haraad baidagguy baih. Harin Deresiewicz-iin (review-nuud deeree zohiolchdiig hair nairguy muuldgaaraa aldartay er) Westpoint-d unshsan ene lecture ih setgel hudulguv. Yalanguya uursdiin gesen itgel unemshilguy, yos zuiguy, unet zuilsguy bidnii uyeiinhen mash anhaaraltay unshih heregtey.

Bayarkhuu's Complacency

Bayarkhuu zunusun yum uu ali esvel bi sanal niilehee baisan yum uu buu med, lav l tuunii unuudur News.mn deer bichsen niitlel ni namaig ih buhimduulav. "Зовлогоо зовоохгүй мөнгө олдог хамгийн мэргэн арга" hemeeh niitleldee Mongoliin top diplomat, ih surguuliin tomoohon professor hun gehed itgemeerguy zuils bichjee. Hamgiin engiin jishee: Bayarkhuugiinheer bol Lichtenstein geh met tatvarguy, ali esvel mash baga tatvartay ornuud ni "'Тax heaven' буюу 'Татварын диваажин' гэх хоч нэр"-tey yum baih. Arai ch dee. Ene talaar buhel buten niitlel bichij baigaa hun haven (haven - ayulguy gazar, orognoh gazar, boomt) gedgiig heaven bolgoj unshchihsan tuuj yavah. Egypt-d ochood gadnii diplomat-uudad ulsaa "divaajin" bolgono gej heleed onigoond orooguy l baigaasay daa.

Za ene ichgevter aldaa ni ch yahav getel bichsen niitleld ni yamar ch hariutslaga alga. Yunii umnu tereer Mongoliig "tax heaven" [sic] bolgoj bolohguy yum uu gesen gaihamshigtay mergen sanaa devshuuljee. Uuniigee Lichtenstein-ii usrenguy hugjluur jishee avan batlahiig oroldson baina. Lichtenstein ingej hugjsun uchraas bid bas ter zamaar hugjij bolno - so far so good. Getel busad ornuud bas teneg bish shuu dee. Ted yagaad tax haven bolohiig oroldooguy yum be? Uuniig heregjuulehed yamar saad totgor uchirdag yum be? Uund neg ch hariult uguuguy baina. Tegeheer endees Bayarkhuu busdiin olj haraaguyg olj harsan suut uhaantan gesenshuu dugnelt garah yum uu daa. Asuudliin hoyor taliig haruuldagguy iimerhuu hariutslagaguy niitlel bichdegee manaihan bolih heregtey.

Yag jiliin umnu Financial Times deer John Kay-iin tax haven-ii talaarh niitleliig unshij baisan yum. Tend Bayarkhuugiin helehees zailshiisen negen chuhal caveat-iig duridsan baisan:

If you operate in the penumbra of legality, as havens do, it is easy to slip outside the bonds of legality altogether. Where there is legal avoidance of tax and regulation, illegal avoidance of tax and regulation is rarely far behind, and often hard to distinguish: where there is secrecy the motive is frequently impropriety; where there is impropriety, criminality is rarely far behind, and hard to distinguish. To turn a blind eye to avoidance of the law is to undermine all law.

The upshot: odoohondoo Bayarkhuugiin "Зовлогоо зовоохгүй мөнгө олдог хамгийн мэргэн арга"-iig unshsanaas John Kay-iin "How to make money without trying"-iig unshih ni iluu ur uguujtey yum uu daa, gegege.

The World’s Ugliest Statues

When bad art and bad politics meet.

Khan!!! Much of the world thinks of Genghis Khan as a brutal conqueror whose empire stretched across most of Asia by the early 13th century, but in Mongolia, he's seen as a national hero and a lucrative tourist draw. Everything from airports and hotels to cigarettes and vodka bear his name, but Mongolia's most extreme instance of Genghis worship may be the 131-foot equestrian statue overlooking the steppes about an hour from Ulan Bator, the capital city. The statue is wrapped in 250 tons of stainless steel, and visitors can take an elevator to the top of the horse's head. Genghis himself would probably be proud.

Foreign Policy - The World’s Ugliest Statues No.8

Florence Observed

Ponte Vecchio last Monday

Эйжафжаллажөкүлл (haha!) galt uulaas bolj butsaj ireh gej aihtar yum bolov. Yurduu hoyor tsag hurehtey uguytey nisdeg gazar yag buuhiin davaan deer galt uuliin utaanii surgaar uur hotod gazardav. Heden tsag ongotsnii buudliin shalan deer hevtej baigaad galt tergend suusan bolovch (medeej suudal duursen tul shalan deer) bas l zorison gazraa yag hurehiin aldad galt teregnii mashinist-iin bie muudaj dahin uur galt tereg huleen shiljij suuh bolov - dahiad 4 tsag shalan deer buyu 2 tsagiin aylal maani 20 tsag bol sunjirav... Gehdee ih moritoy yavsan. Surguuliin ihenh professor, suragchid Rome-d yalt ch uguy gatschihaad mungu tugrugguy hetsuudej baigaa suragtay. Ene yanzaaraa Эйжафжаллажөкүлл taivshirtal hicheel ch oligtoy orohguy bololtoy. Kuee, haa gazriin galt uul mani meted ni ingej nuluuluh gej.

Current Album: Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record
Current Book: Carl Schmitt - Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy

Tristan and Isolde at Staatsoper

Ungursun buten saind hedii 3 honog untalguy essay bichsen ch Staatsoper-t Wagner-iin Tristan and Isolde-iig 6 tsag setgel dogdlon uzev. Neg talaaraa Tristan and Isolde-iig ali ertnii uzehiig muruudsun, nuguu talaaraa Daniel Barenboim udirdaj baigaa bolhoor ch ter uu ene togloltiig neleed udaan huleesen yum. Barenboim-iin huvid humuus medeh baih. Barag udguu amid baigaa hamgiin mundag udirdaach (no offense Gergiev), bas tuguldur huurch. Tuunii tuhain uyedee hanilj baisan Jacqueline du Pre-giin hamtaar bichuulsen Haydn, Elgar hoyoriin Cello Concerto, Schubert-iin Trout Quintet bol dahin davtagdashguy.

Minii huvid Barenboim-iig chuham yaj meddeg bolsonoo sain sanahguy baina (perhaps through his political activism?). Gehdee hamgiin anh tuuniig ungursun ond Felix Mendelssohn-ii mendelsnii 200 jiliin oid zoriulsan tuguldur huuriin concert deer harj baisan yum. Tuunees hoish 5 sariin 23-nd dahin Baruun German baiguulagdsanii 60 jiliin oid zoriulan Beethoven-ii 9-r Symphony-g Brandenburg-iin Haalga deer udirdan toglohod ni yag door ni zogson uzej baisan. Tsag iluutey toglodog 9-r symphony-g (CD 74 minute-iin bagtaamjtay baidag ni uuntey holbootoy ch gej yaridag) neg ch temdeglel ashiglalguy tseejeeree udirdsand ni tuhain uyed bishirch baij bilee. Getel ene udaad intermission-toygoo niileed 6 tsag orchim togloson Tristan and Isolde-iig shuud tseejeeree udirdaj namaig bur heleh ugguy bolgov.

Tristan and Isolde-iin huvid ugtaan bol asar ertnii domog. Lav l anhniih ni huvilbar 1150 orchim ond harialagddag geh yum bilee. Bur ug ehiig ni haival dahiad heden zuun jil uhrah biz (King Arthur-iin tuuh deer gardag Lancelot, Guinevere hoyor bol ene domgiin bas neg huvilbar). Gehdee Wagner-iin huvid uuriin oper-oo Gottfried von Strassburg-iin Tristan (13-r zuun) deer suurilan bichsen gedeg. Sonirholtoy ni yag uuruu unshaad uzvel ene hoyoriin hoorond neleed ih yalgaa bii. End bichij nurshmaarguy baina. Harin Wagner-iin huvid terhuu zohioliin hamgiin chuhal 3 hesgiig libretto deeree buulgasan yum (zohioliin uil yavdal ni interneteer duuren tul end bichihees zailshiiv).

Buddhism baruunii soyol irgenshild tsoo shinechlel avchrana ene ter gej yaridag humuus ene opera-g saitar uzehiig zuvluyu. Yur ni sain yarival 19-r zuunii suul hagast Nietzsche, Schopenhauer-aar damjin Buddhism neleed huchtey orj irsen baidag. Wagner ch tuhain uyedee Schopenhauer-t avtaj baisan ni tuunii buteluudees ilt medregddeg (philosophy of the "will," for instance). Tristan and Isolde jishee ni ter chigtee udur/shunu, uhel/amidral, unen/hudal gesen arga bilgiin uhaan deer suurilsan baidag. Uil yavdliin huvid ch gol hudulgugch huch ni enehuu hoyor taluudiin zorchildoon yum.


Togloltoos setgeld hamgiin todoor uldsen negen zuil ni yah argaguy taiz zasalt. Aldart taiz zasagch Hans Schavernoch-iin buteesen fallen angel-iig harsan hun bolgon shuud l "brilliant!" gej duu aldahaar bailaa. Zohioliin act bur uur uur gazar boldog buguud tuhai burt ni unuuh angel-iin hushuug erguulehed zohitsoh taiz bii bolno (ene tsaashaagaa harsan zurag gants oldson ni). Yaj ingej setgej chadsan bainaa...

Togloltiin huvid medeej amidaar uzej baigaa bolhoor gaihaltay baiv. Gehdee urid umnu ni denduu olon sain recording sonsson tul arai l setgeld hurch chadsanguy. Humuusiin huvid medeej durtay recording-uud ni uur uur. Minii huvid bol 1952 onii Bayreuth deer (Wagner-iin uuriinh ni bii bolgoson festival - Nietzsche-giin Ecce Homo uunii talaar neleed marzan tailbaruud bii) Herbert von Karajan-ii udirdsan bichleg hamgiin mundag ni. Yagaad ch yum von Karajan mash hurdan udirddag tul Wagner-t neleed zohitsood baih shig baidag yum. Harin hervee Wagner-iig gunzgii medehiig husvel Leonard Bernstein-ii udaan hemneltey 1981 onii huvilbariig sanal bolgoyo.

Medeej Wagner l bolson hoino tuunii opera-g uzehiin tuld uzegchdees neleed tesver hatuujil shaardana. Bernard Shaw-iin Perfect Wagnerite deer gardag shig Wagner neg ayalguug taniltsuulah bolovch tuuniigee zuvuur ilerhiilehees zoriud zugtana. Sonsogch bur tuhain uyed tolgoidoo zuv ayalguud husen huleeh bolovch Wagner buruu note ugun humuusiig budliantuulj orhino. Ingeh ni neg bodliin ih yadargaatay bolovch nuguu talaaraa uzegchdiig suudald ni tevcheerteygeer uyah gaihamshigtay arga bolj ugdug. Uuruur helbel tuunii opera-nuud deer hamag ayalguunuudiin zangilaa ni zuvhun tugsguld ni tailagddag gesen ug.

Tristan and Isolde-iin huvid opera-iin ehend Prelude (Vorspiele) deer taniltsuulagdsan ayalguunuud buhel togloltiin turshid olon yanzad huvirsaar tugsguld ni butsaj ireh uye ni Tristan-ii uheltey davhtsana. Ene uyed Isolde uuriin Liebestod buyu hair-uhliin duug duulan hairtaa aldsandaa haruusan nas nogchino. Ene ch utgaaraa Liebestod asar ih setgel hudluliig bagtaan tugs hair durlaliin ilerhiilel boldog (nuugaad yahav hamgiin anh sonsood ene heseg deer bi uilj baisan). Hun burt uur uursdiin durtay Liebestod-uud bii (minii uzsen togloltod duulsan Waltraud Meier, bas Maria Callas hoyoriinh hamgiin iheer taashaagdsan ni baij medne). Harin minii huvid hamgiin anhnii Isolde-uudiin neg Kirsten Flagstad-iinh hamgiin mundag ni:



Ertrinken, Versinken, Unbewußt - Höchste Lust!