Perfection

from The Sartorialist

Poem of the Day

Hard Life with Memory
by Wisława Szymborska

I’m a poor audience for my memory.
She wants me to attend her voice nonstop,
but I fidget, fuss,
listen and don’t,
step out, come back, then leave again.

She wants all my time and attention.
She’s got no problem when I sleep.
The day’s a different matter, which upsets her.

She thrusts old letters, snapshots at me eagerly,
stirs up events both important and un-,
turns my eyes to overlooked views,
peoples them with my dead.

In her stories I’m always younger.
Which is nice, but why always the same story.
Every mirror holds different news for me.

She gets angry when I shrug my shoulders.
And takes revenge by hauling out old errors,
weighty, but easily forgotten.
Looks into my eyes, checks my reaction.
Then comforts me, it could be worse.

She wants me to live only for her and with her.
Ideally in a dark, locked room,
but my plans still feature today’s sun,
clouds in progress, ongoing roads.

At times I get fed up with her.
I suggest a separation. From now to eternity.
Then she smiles at me with pity,
since she knows it would be the end of me too.

A Lesson to Learn from Chile vol.2

From today's FT comment section, an article by the finance minister of Chile:

Chile, for example, runs fiscal policy according to a structural rule whereby spending is determined by anticipated revenue, which depends on an independent committee’s estimates of the long-term copper price and potential output growth. Fiscal policy is countercyclical, resulting in a surplus in the good times and a deficit in the bad times. The rule has allowed Chile to accumulate more than $20bn (about 9 per cent of GDP) in sovereign wealth funds, most of which can be used in case of significant shocks.

[...] These elements are at the core of the contingency plan we have been designing in Chile during the past few months. At recent meetings with my emerging market colleagues, especially from Latin America, we have discussed the design of contingency programmes that will enable us to respond effectively should the international outlook deteriorate further. In this way, emerging markets can not only help themselves but also help cushion the rest of the global economy. In other words, we now have a clear opportunity to be part of the solution instead of being part of the problem.

Addendum: Lesson vol.1

Opportunity Knocks

The new kid on the block, particularly for China, is Mongolia, providing a rapidly developing alternative for Chinese buyers to Australian imports. Mongolian coking coal exports to China rose 37 percent year-on-year to 17.5 million tons in Jan-Nov 2011. With Mongolia’s expansions continuing, HSBC expects Mongolia’s coking coal exports to rise from 21 million tons in 2011 to 28 million tons in 2012.

Mongolian coal has both a grade and price advantage over domestic Chinese coking coal and a price advantage over Australian imports, so the trend of rising Mongolian imports to the detriment of Australia and the US is likely to continue in 2012. If Chinese steel production slows, or even contracts in 2012, this trend will simply be exacerbated.

Steelmakers Welcome Falling Coking Coal Price Trend via Mongoliana

Music of the Day: Амартvвшин

УДБЭТ-ын гоцлол дуучин Энхбатын Амартүвшин П.И.Чайковскийн "Нам звезды кроткие сияли"-г дуулж байна. An incredible rendition! Bravo, Bravo!

And here are some comments on the video:

milutina1: Увы,наши певцы должны теперь учиться у монгола,как петь Чайковского.
В большинстве своем они перестали владеть тайной душевного пения,
которая раньше отличала русских певцов.

Sa743512: да, и не только многие русские, вообще почти все певцы перестали владеть тайной пения душой. кто теряет духовность - не может петь сердцем, а значит не может передать сокровенную силу своего чувства зрителю. именно русский дух давал и даёт нашим певцам это свойство проникать в глубину сердца.
Амартувшин Энхбат поёт сердцем, это передаётся сразу. Дай Бог ему это сохранить!

Here's a much more impressive performance of Verdi's Rigoletto

+ Ж.Бямбажав "Благословляю вас, леса..."
+ Ч.Энхтайван: from Ruggero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci

Addendum: Mongolia: Ballet, a Soviet Legacy Continues To Thrive in Ulaanbaatar

Photo of the Day

Элчин сайд Д.Баярхүү ЛБНИУ-ын Ерөнхийлөгч Махмуд Ахмадинежадад итгэмжлэх жуух бичгээ барив

Addendum: New Mongolian ambassador submits his credentials to President Ahmadinejad + Ахмадинежадад бараалхсан торгон агшин

Has Anyone Heard of Beer Hall Putsch?

Манай хувьсгалч найзууд нэр дэвших эрхтэй болсон надад баяр хүргэхийн хамт миний нөхрийг "өрөвдөж" өнөө орой пивоны ширээний ард цуглаж ярилцлаа. Бидний хүрсэн шийдэл бол "ХУВЬСГАЛ ГАРЦААГҮЙ!!!"

Setguulch Uyanga

A Note for Magnai (chihshig)

The questions people seem to come back to over and over again is: to what extent can one change the current system from within, and can one compromise with it? How do you answer these questions?

You can't change this system from within. Its founding principles are corruption, hypocrisy, and cynicism. If you join this system, your main instruments become corruption, hypocrisy, and cynicism, and it's impossible to build anything with such instruments. I have my own experience with trying to reform the system from within -- I spent a year in Kirov [as an advisor to the Kirov governor] -- and I've also seen the experience of other wonderful people, like [former finance minister] Aleksei Kudrin, who became part of the system instead of changing it.

People who talk about changing the system from within are lying. They're trying to justify their own hypocritical position, to defend the fact that, as part of the system, they're deriving material or political benefits from it.

So then what's the plan? How do you change the system?

You can change the system using a tool invented by human civilization. This tool is called "democracy" and "free elections." We need to have free elections. Then we need to participate in these elections and win, to show that our principles for building a government, unlike those of corruption and cynicism, are better.

The End of Putin: Alexey Navalny on why the Russian protest movement will win

Addendum: One of the best recent films on this subject: Elite Squad: The Enemy Within

Larry Summers on Education

Unabashedly lucid Larry Summers asks the following question and gives a six-point answer:

Suppose the educational system is drastically altered to reflect the structure of society and what we now understand about how people learn. How will what universities teach be different?

Photo of the Day: Faces

Photo courtesy of shuud.mn

Checks and Balances

Suuliin uyed AH zasgiin gazraas garsand haramsaad barahguy baigaa humuus neleed bii bolson bololtoy. Deputatiin uner avsan zarim ni bur ene uil yavdliig Mongol Ulsiin tusgaar togtnoliig busnuilj baigaa hereg gej uzeh ni holguy baina. End nuhduud bogino hugatsaanii togtvortoy baidliig bodood urt hugatsaanii ur dagavariig tootsohguy shig baih yum. Neg talaasaa ene bol ugaasaa daraagiin songuuliig amdan hiij bui zailshguy alham. Harin ch iim shiidver garaaguy baisan bol AH-iin udirdlagiin tenegiig gaihaad barahguy baih bailaa. Uls tur gedeg bol yuruusuu daisnaa todorhoiloh urlag. Ted buruu, harin bid zuv gesnii undsen deer uls turiin huchiig olj avdag. Bi chi dee tulahguy neg tsul zuil yavaad baival tegeed hend ni songogchid sanalaa uguh bolj baina?

Nuguu talaasaa ene bol Mongoliin ardchilliin suuri yadaj ungun taldaa buh baigaag haruulsan yavdal. Olon namiin togtoltsoog bid 1990 ond haa hamaaguy shaltgaanaar songooguy shuu dee. Neg nam nuguuhiinhuu huchiig hazaarlaj baij ardchilal bat buh boldog. Harin ch hoyor gol nam hoyul hamtdaa uvur turiidee orood baival bid sanaa zovoh uchirtay (harin AH "tuuhen uurgee guitsetgesen" ene ter bol tusdaa asuudal). Uuruur helbel AH zasgiin gazraas garsnaar Mongoliin ardchilal yadaj uragshlaaguy yum aa gehed aragsh uharsan aldaagaa zassan yavdal bolson yum.

Addendum: I am proud of the fact that we can say something like this in public without any fear of political persecution whatsoever. In the end, this is what will save us, not revolution:

On Manicheanism

Saw The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo a couple of days ago. I gotta admit, it was surprisingly well made. What stood out in the film is the overly moralistic tone of the story. I guess there is something about good/evil dichotomy that makes us feel comfortable.

What matters instead is the division of the world into good and evil, a division that begins with splitting sex into positive and negative experiences, then ripples out from that in fascinating ways [...] It is the ingenuousness and sincerity of [Stieg] Larsson’s engagement with good and evil that give the trilogy its power to attract so many millions of people.

The Moralist by Tim Parks

I think of a few major problems when we think too much in terms of narrative. First, narratives tend to be too simple. The point of a narrative is to strip it away, not just into 18 minutes, but most narratives you could present in a sentence or two. So when you strip away detail, you tend to tell stories in terms of good vs. evil, whether it's a story about your own life or a story about politics. Now, some things actually are good vs. evil. We all know this, right? But I think, as a general rule, we're too inclined to tell the good vs. evil story. As a simple rule of thumb, just imagine every time you're telling a good vs. evil story, you're basically lowering your IQ by ten points or more. If you just adopt that as a kind of inner mental habit, it's, in my view, one way to get a lot smarter pretty quickly. You don't have to read any books. Just imagine yourself pressing a button every time you tell the good vs. evil story, and by pressing that button you're lowering your IQ by ten points or more....

from Ben Casnocha's post on Tyler Cowen's Talk

Quote of the Day

The way to test a great work of art is to ask how it survives decontextualisation, transposition into a new context. One good definition of a classic is that it functions like the eyes of God in an Orthodox icon: no matter where you stand in the room, they seem to be looking at you. For instance, by far the best cinema version of a Dostoevsky novel is Akira Kurosawa's The Idiot, which is set in Japan after the Second World War with Myshkin played as a returning soldier. The point is not simply that we are dealing with an eternal conflict that appears in all societies but that, with each new context, a classic work of art seems to address the very specific qualities of that epoch.

Slavoj Zizek on the new adaptation of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus

Video of the Day: Did Coffee Fuel the Age of Enlightenment?

Tour de France Moment of the Day: TDF 2010 Stage 17 Finish

Christopher Hitchens: A Man of Letters

My intellectual hero Christopher Hitchens passed away. His courage, wit, intelligence, and sense of humour will be greatly missed. May your writings and moral force continue to inspire us.

"A life that partakes even a little of friendship, love, irony, humour, parenthood, literature, and music, and the chance to take part in battles for the liberation of others cannot be called 'meaningless' except if the person living it is also an existentialist and elects to call it so. It could be that all existence is a pointless joke, but it is not in fact possible to live one's everyday life as if this were so."

"I shouldn't be in these gardens?" Who the HELL are you? I think you're about as smart as you look! You're about as smart as you look! I shouldn't be in these gardens, what! You see what brain rot - you see what brain rot descends on people. Unbelievable!

typical Hitchens... :)

Addendum: Andrew Sullivan remembers Hitch
Christopher Buckley's tribute to Christopher Hitchens
My favourite Hitchens video

Postscriptum: Hitch-22 was the best autobiography I read last year (here's an excerpt). The prose flew like river, yet every single word hit right on the spot. I gotta admit, I really had hard time putting it down - even during my finals week :)

Saturday Night Music

"Цагаан цайлган сэтгэл шиг
Цасан цайдам алсалж
Өврийн илчээ цантуулсан
Өвлийн тал минь цавцайна аа"

I wonder where has all this great aesthetic sensibility gone. I guess sometimes in culture, as in economy, we regress.

Addendum: Lunch with the FT: Donald Keene

Yasunari Kawabata (try Snow Country), Yukio Mishima (The Temple of the Golden Pavilion) and Junichiro Tanizaki (The Makioka Sisters) all worried that their country was beginning to lose its soul and, in their different ways, tried to rescue and to memorialise it before it got ravaged, so to speak, by the west.

+ Tyler Cowen on whether we are stagnating aesthetically

Mongolia from the US Perspective

[Mongolia] still falls short in many areas: lack of a well-articulated national development strategy; a pervasive lack of transparency in government transactions; corruption, including widespread disregard for conflict of interest among elected and appointed officials; a combination of populism and lingering attachment to the state's role in the economy which are detrimental to the development of a friendly environment for foreign and domestic investment; police abuse of suspects and jail inmates; and an abysmal percentage of women among elected and civil servant decision makers.

[...] As we proceed, we should keep in mind that Mongolia currently lacks the capacity to design and implement the policies and programs necessary to achieve sustainable economic growth. Specifically, Mongolia lacks western-educated, apolitical, well-paid, private and public sector professionals who are able to grasp the principles of and implement private sector-led growth and rule of law, the two determinants of sustainable economic growth. This lack of capable manpower is probably the single, largest obstacle to Mongolia's ability to move forward. The bulk of the current political leaders and senior bureaucrats are of a generation that was educated in the former Soviet Union and steeped in socialist doctrine, government by fiat, and central planning. On top of this, the social fabric of a small, inter-related populace abhors competition with its winners and losers and encourages a lowest-common denominator consensus approach to decision-making.

Former US Ambassador Pamela J. Slutz's concluding remarks on her three-year tour as chief of mission in Mongolia (hat tip to Munkhnaran)

The Work of Bach in the Age of Digital Reproduction

The Reason Why I Love Cycling

The stage was going along pretty easily but I wanted to suffer as much as possible to get the body into racing shape. So I went to the back of the field and slid next to a Rabobank rider named Dennis and told him, ‘you and me, let’s go’. Without hesitation he says, ‘OK’

Dave Zabriskie's note from March 6th, 2011

No other sport demands the same time, pain, and work ethic. You cannot race a Grand Tour without being in supreme physical shape, so fit that you are actually eating yourself, and must consume the same amount of food and liquid as nearly three grown men — which amounts to about 6,000 calories a day — to stay alive. During a warm weather race, a cyclist will lose three kilograms, and must chug five litres of restorative liquid, or it’s game over. (Try that twenty-one days in a row.) Cycling doesn’t have a bench. It doesn’t have time outs. 

The Pain Principle

Winning a Classic means minimizing the amount of time spent in the wind. In the first hours of the race, a winner will rely on his team’s protection to save every watt for the key attacks during the finale. In a race where over 6,000 calories will be burned, every rider is on the limit and every watt counts. Cyclists save.

On the Wheel by Michael Barry

There's nothing better in the cycling world than watching Jens Voigt "turn himself inside out" with the commentary from Phil Liggett

A Note for Myself

A name becomes a brand when consumers associate it with a set of tangible or intangible benefits that they obtain from the product or service. As this association grows stronger, consumers’ loyalty and willingness to pay a price premium increase. Hence, there is equity in the brand name. A brand without equity is not a brand.

To build brand equity, a company needs to do two things: first, distinguish its product from others in the market; second, align what it says about its brand in advertising and marketing with what it actually delivers. A relationship then develops between brand and customer—a relationship arising from the customer’s entire experience of the brand. As the alignment grows stronger, so does the brand.

"If Nike can 'just do it,' why can’t we?" from 1997 McKinsey Quarterly

Photo of the Day

The title of this photo should be "Cosmic Irony"

In case you're wondering, the watch he's wearing is worth $24,000

Quote of the Day

There isn’t a single example of a successful country on the planet today – if you define success as lower rates of unemployment, higher rates of job growth, less income inequality and a health system that produces the same or better care at lower cost – that doesn’t have both a strong economy and effective government that find some way to work in harness with each other … If you don’t do that, if you don’t have a system by which the poor can work their way into it, then you lose the social cohesion necessary to hold the country together and that is a big problem.

Bill Clinton talks to Simon Schama

The Reason Why I Love Berlin Apartments

Because they're so utterly minimalistic!

Here's another one of my favorite apartments :)

Here and There

Lake Geneve, Switzerland

The Song

A Note for Myself

Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.

from Ira Glass on Storytelling

Poem of the Day

Mar Português de Fernando Pessoa

Ó mar salgado, quanto do teu sal
São lágrimas de Portugal!
Por te cruzarmos, quantas mães choraram,
Quantos filhos em vão rezaram!
Quantas noivas ficaram por casar
Para que fosses nosso, ó mar!
Valeu a pena? Tudo vale a pena
Se a alma não é pequena.
Quem quer passar além do Bojador
Tem que passar além da dor.
Deus ao mar o perigo e o abismo deu,
Mas nele é que espelhou o céu

Addendum: Hervee bainga shine sanaa, inspiration erelhiildeg, aphorism, ajiglaltuudiin tsugluulgad durtay bol Fernando Pessoa-giin The Book of Disquiet-iig zaaval unshij uzeerey.

Eurotrip de Manière Chinoise

When I was travelling in Italy I always tried to sneak into museums for free by pretending to be a member of those large packs of Chinese or Japanese tourists. Though somehow they always caught me - I blame it on my height. But have you ever wondered what it feels like to travel in those groups with matching hats and a guide carrying a small flag or umbrella as a rallying point? The New Yorker's Evan Osnos recently travelled across Europe on a bus with Chinese tourists and wrote an article about it. The result is a wonderful discussion about the subtle differences between Chinese and Westerners.

the myth that a richer China would soon become a Western, democratic China has rarely looked more frayed than it does today. But if it was naïve to imagine that China’s opening up would draw it close to the West, it is also naïve, perhaps, to dismiss the power of more subtle changes. Modern Chinese travel, like the modern Chinese state, is predicated on the fragile promise that it will impose order on a chaotic world, by shepherding its citizens and keeping them safe from threats that can include Western thieves and Western cuisine.

Congratulations!

Neleed deehne duridaj baisan NYTimes deer blog hutulj baigaa Uyanga ohin Princeton, Brown, Dartmouth guravt tentsjee. Tuunii deer tun dotnii and maani Amerikiin hamgiin baga acceptance rate-tay law school-d tentssen bas neg bayartay medee sayhan avsan. Bas lav l neg huuhed Mongol dahi dund surguuliasaa shuud Harvard-d tentssen baina. (End MIT, Harvard-iig tugssun hiigeed odoogoor amjilttay surch baigaa olon Mongol oyutnuudiig duridalguy ungurluu).

Yurduu hedhen jiliin umnu davashguy davaa met sanagdan apply hiihees hurtel tsaargaldag baisan bidend unuudur Ivy League-iin bolovsrol tiim ch hol bish sanagddag boljee. Amjilt amjiltiig daguuldag gedeg. Delhiin ner hundtey surguuliudad tsaashdaa suraltsah heden zuun Mongol huuhduuded uram zorig, ulger duurialiig uzuulsen ta nart ih bayarlalaa. Bugded ni umnuh amjiltuud deeree duruulun tsaashdaa ulam ih amjiltiig gargahiig husen yuruuye.

A Lesson to Learn from Navalny

Manaihniig Avilgatay Temtseh Gazriinhaa dargiig shorond hiij baih zuur Orost Alexey Navalny gegch zaluu tsor gantsaaraa avilgiin esreg temtsej suuliin uyed delhii dayar shuugian tarij baina. Mongold avilgatay yaraltay temtseh shaardlagatay, chingehed uls turchdud itgeh yamar ch bolomjguy gej uzdeg humuus Navalny-giin interneteer olon niitiig oroltsuulah zamaar yavuuldag uil ajillagaaniih ni arga bariliig mash sain sudlah heregtey. Minii medehiin avilgatay temtsegchid dundaas tuun shig ur buteeltey ajillaj chadaj baigaa huniig urid umnu ni sonsch baisanguy. Tuunii deer Moskvad baidag angiinhaa ohinoos Navalny-giin talaar asuutal ingej helj baina:

He is a kind of star now here. I even met him during the summer. I was in the very begining very very much inspired by him! But then I went to a few meeting, we talked and I figured I dont really like him as a person. But, really, who cares? what he does is extremely important. Just because it crates a feeling in our society that there are ppl who still can speak up and do smth!that one shouldnt be indifferent! And even if it doesnt in the end lead to some great change, I am supporting him with all my hands and legs. Now it looks like it's possible the government will just shut down the law that states that this competitions should be publicly-announced...But that is the begining of struggle - he talks and (very importantly so) young ppl are listening to him.

Russian Site Smokes Out Corruption - doloo honogiin umnu NYTimes deer garsan Navalny-giin tuhai niitlel
Net Impact: One man’s cyber-crusade against Russian corruption - ene doloo honogiin The New Yorker deer garsan profile. Medeej New Yorker-iinh bolhoor chanariin huvid yarih zuilguy mundag. Gehdee mani eriin nationalist uzel barimtlaliinh ni talaar tuuniig shahaj iluu delgerenguy bicheeguyd ni jaahan setgel gonsgor uldev.

Navalny-giin blog - http://navalny.livejournal.com/
Gol ajlaa yavuuldag РосПил website - http://rospil.info/

Addendum: Unuu O. Magnaigiin jishee bolgoj avaad baidag Sergey Magnitsky-giin uheltey holbootoy deehne uzej baisan Bill Browder-iin Orost business bitgii hii gej urialsan Stanford-d unshsan lekts (hervee butneer ni uzeh yum bol Orosiin zah zeeliin talaar neleed sain medegdehuun ugnu)

Хуваарилаx Зүй Ёс - Distributive Justice

courtesy of Baabar.mn
Mongold udahguy huvisgal hiigdeh yum gene. Enkhbayar MAXH-iin huvisgalt gedeg ugiin chuhliig haruulah geed baigaa yum uu, ali esvel Tunisia-gaas ehelsen domino effect yavagdaad baigaa yum uu sain oilgosonguy. Baabar uuniig “хүчээр хүн ардыг жаргуулах” oroldlogotoy zuirlej "Ленин бидэнтэй амьдарсаар" gej doosh ni hiisen bol Bat-Uul "эрх чөлөөтэй, ардчилсан [...] Монгол Улсыг Каддафи, Мубарак нарын лалын дарангуйлагч дэглэмтэй адилтган үзэж байгаа нь арай хэтэрнэ ээ" gej buhimdjee.

Minii oilgoj baigaagaar manai huvisgalchdiin gol argument ni "баялгийг шудрагаар хуваарилах" gedeg deer buuj baigaa bololtoy. Tegvel shudraga huvaarilalt gej chuham yamar huvaarilaltiig heleh ve? Ene tiim amarhan oilgolt uu? Yun turuund Mongold tsuun heden hun bayajij baigaa ni yalt ch uguy buruu zuil. Uuniig uurchluh ni ch zailshguy. Getel saitar tungaahguygeer shuud shudraga yosnii neriig barij unuu margaashguy "huvisgal" hiichihvel asuudal shiidegdchih uu? Baatarhuyag gej medehguy zuiliinhee talaar medemhiireh ih durtay neg nuhur uuniig ingej tailbarlaj:

Баялгийн шударга хуваари­лалт бол хөдөлмөрөөр боссон хүний хувийн өмчийг булаан ава­хад биш харин луйвар булхайгаар бий болгосон хууль бус капиталыг ард түмэнд чөлөөлж өгснөөр тогтох ба энэ капитал юуны түрүүнд үндэсний шинэ хөрөнгөтнүүдэд шинэ үеийн шударга бизнесмэ­нүүдэд оногдох болно. Хэн ч биз­несмэн болж чадна. Бүгдээрээ өөрт ноогдох бүхнээ буцаан авахын тулд хувьсгалд оролцох ёстой.

Bichij baigaa zuiliinhee talaar saitar bodooguy, unshaaguy humuus iimerhuu zuils bichdeg yum. Yahaaraa chuluulugdsun capital shuud businessman-uudad "onogddog" bilee? Ternees ni tegeed hurtehiin tuld hun bur "биз­несмэн" boloh hereg uu? Ene tegeed shudraga yos (fairness), zui yos (justice) yum uu?

Gehdee Baatarhuyag ni bas haa ochij humuusiig namiruulj chadah hemjeend bicheed baih yum. Harin unuu irgenii hudulguunii O. Magnai gegch nuhur bol huvisgaliig shuud ingej tailbarlaj baina: "big change=revolution." Uilmaar... Tsaashilbal Magnai hudaldaa aj uildveriin tanhimiin Dembereliin asuultad "avah yostoi humuust ni ochih yostoi yum ni ochihiig l shudarga huviarlalt gej oilgoj bna daa" gej hariulj. Bas l yarij bui zuiliinhee tsaad uchriig saitar tungaagaaguy hunii yaria. "Avah yostoy" humuusiig ni yamar shalguuraar todorhoiloh yum be? Oldson munguuruu arhi avaad uuchih ni todorhoi humuust bayalgiig shuud mai geed huvaarilah ni zuv uu? Yu ch hiigeeguy, haa holoos hudlaa medemhiirsen bi "shudraga yosnii" tuluu tsutsaltguy temtsegch Magnaitay adil bayalag hurteh erhtey yu? Nuguuteyguur hun bur zuvhun hudulmurlusniihuu hereer bayalag hurteh ni shudraga yavdal bish gej uu?

Magnai 7 sariin 1-iig alban yosoor ehluulj baina
Zui yosnii (justice) talaarh asuudal bol yuruusuu mash ertnees ulbaatay. End Baatarhuyag, Magnai, Enkhbayar nariin helj baigaa shig tiim amarhan oilgomjtoy hariult baihguy. Hervee sanaj baigaa bol Plato-giin The Republic "justice gej yu ve?" gesen asuudlaar eheldeg. Ali manai erinees umnuh 400 ond bichigdsen nom shuu dee. Plato-goos hoish Aristotle, Locke, Bentham, Mill, Kant, Rawls, Nozick nar ene asuudliig uur uuriin huchtey argument-uudeer bayajuulsaar unuudurtey zolgoson. Odoo ch gesen gants Mongol geltguy haa saiguy ene asuudal yarigdsan heveeree. Naad zahiin jishee gehed Amerikiin eruul mendiin salbariig toirson margaan baina. Hudulmurluuguy murtuu ulsaar eruul mendee hamgaaluulaad suuj baih ni shudraga zuil mun uu? Ali esvel zuvhun mungutey humuus eruul mendiin uilchilgee hurteh ni zui yosnii yavdal uu? Amerikchuud negdsen neg shiideld hureeguy l baina.

Hervee justice-iin talaar mash tsegtstey medlegetey bolyo gevel Michael Sandel-iin "Moral Reasoning 22: Justice" hicheeliig uzehiig (tegeed bolj ugvul syllabus deerh unshih materialuudtay taniltsahiig) sanal bolgoyo. Husvel Sandel-iin ene hicheeliinhee materialiig emhetgesen Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? nomiig ni unshsan ch bolno (tsag mash ih hemnene). Edgeertey taniltschihsan baihad bayalgiig herhen huvaarilah tal deer battay neg bair suuritay bolohguy ch Magnai, Baatarhuyag metiin nuhduud hudlaa medemhiirch baigaag ter dor ni helj chaddag bolno.

Hervee bur edgeertey taniltsah tsag baihguy bol urjigdar 3 Quarks Daily deer garsan Namit Arora-giin "What Do We Deserve?" bogino essay-g unshij uzeerey:

A pivotal question in market-based societies is ‘What do we deserve?’ In other words, for our learning, natural talents, and labor, what rewards and entitlements are just? How much of what we bring home is fair or unfair, and why? To chase these questions is to be drawn into the thickets of political philosophy and theories of justice. In this short essay, inspired by American political philosopher Michael Sandel’s Justice, I’ve tried to synthesize a few thoughts on the matter by reviewing three major approaches to distributive economic justice: libertarian, meritocratic, and egalitarian, undermining en route the dominant narrative on my own well-being.

Political Song of the Day

To see it in context, check this video + my review of The Wind That Shakes the Barley from 4 years ago (lots of bs)

Except That It Robs You of Who You Are

Except that it robs you of who you are,
What can you say about speech?
Inconceivable to live without
And impossible to live with,
Speech diminishes you.
Speak with a wise man, there’ll be
Much to learn; speak with a fool,
All you get is prattle.
Strike a half-empty pot, and it’ll make
A loud sound; strike one that is full,
Says Kabir, and hear the silence.

Kabir, translated from the Hindi by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra
+ more Kabir on Poetry Magazine

This and That: Ostalgia

Нам засгийн удирдагчид Сөүлийн Гудамжаар алхаж байна
(from phiqstas' flickr set)

Photo of the Day

more

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. - Baabar

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