Cabinet Appointment: Dumbledorj for Foreign Minister

By Julian Dierkes

Things are moving very fast with the new MPP government, it seems like now is the time to make my pitch for a cabinet appointment…

Beware of a feeble attempt at humour…

This is the newsflash I’m hoping to see soon:

*****

BREAKING NEWS!!!

New Mongolian government to appoint Dumbledorj J (Дамбалдорж) as Foreign Minister (Гадаадын Сайд). This comes as a surprise as the position of Foreign Minister is a new one and it has not been announced how Dumbledorj is likely to collaborate/share duties/divide tasks with the Minister of Foreign Relations (Гадаад харилцааны сайд), presumably a Mongolian appointee.

*****

What would my qualifications be?

At least, Dumbledorj is an Expert

This particular Dumbledorj has been visiting Mongolia for over ten years and gets a funny look at Chinggis Khaan International airport because of all the Mongolia stamps he has in his passport. Yet, he is not affiliated directly with an commercial interests or foreign government.

He has written about Mongolian foreign affairs regularly, not just on this blog, but also in The Diplomat, East Asian Forum, and various other newspapers and magazines. He is particularly interest in Mongolian digital diplomacy and thrilled that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has re-tweeted his missives several times.

No double deel!

Dumbledorj likes wearing a deel (though on very rare occasions), but he has no ambitions to wear two deels at once, nor is he planning to run for the State Great Khural any time soon.

Definitely Foreign

To attain the title of “Foreign Minister”, Dumbledorj can confidently claim that he is foreign!

Dumbledorj in Cabinet

Dumbledorj’ Mongolian understanding is passable, but not so good that he catches jokes, even jokes about him. His presence in parliament might just be a productive addition by giving other ministers an opportunity to tell jokes about a fellow minister (or about MP Javkhlan, see below) without having to append ““.

Dumbledorj in the Public

Dumbledorj is quite tall, of course. This means that he is always placed in the last row of all photographs so he is not likely to overshadow any other members of cabinet or other officials. He also takes terrible photos and tends to strike awkward poses, so he will make his colleagues look better quite naturally.

Building Relations with the Opposition

Dumbledorj is a big fan of Javkhlan’s singing. He will be delighted to attempt to make friends with Javkhlan in parliament and thus build links with the opposition.

Support my Campaign

Tweet using #ДамбалдоржГадаадынСайд

About Julian Dierkes

Julian Dierkes is a sociologist by training (PhD Princeton Univ) and a Mongolist by choice and passion since around 2005. He teaches in the Master of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. He toots @jdierkes@sciences.social and tweets @jdierkes
This entry was posted in Curios, Ikh Khural 2016 and tagged . Bookmark the permalink.

1 Response to Cabinet Appointment: Dumbledorj for Foreign Minister

  1. Dan says:

    That was funny :-).

Leave a Reply to Dan Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *