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?