Category Archives: Mongolia and …

Khurelsukh at UN General Assembly

By Julian Dierkes, Alexander Morrow and Anshika Srivastava In 2021, Pres. U Khurelsukh spoke at the UN General Assembly for the first time as president. He has returned every year since then. Unlike his immediate predecessor, Kh Battulga, he is … Continue reading

Posted in Alexander Morrow, Anshika Srivastava, Foreign Policy, International Relations, Mongolia and ..., Peacekeeping, UN | Tagged | Leave a comment

Guest Post: Mongolian Hoops Dreams — Creation of Soft Power Through Basketball

By Benjamin Nuland Basketball was introduced to Mongolia in the 1960s by the Russians and Chinese.  More recently, basketball has become Mongolia’s most popular sport, but Mongolians’ associations are primarily American. This fascination lives under the halo of the NBA … Continue reading

Posted in Benjamin Nuland, Curios, Pop Culture, Sports, United States | Leave a comment

How Unfortunate: Putin Visits Mongolia

By Julian Dierkes Once again, geopolitical realities are catching up with Mongolia and there is very little the government of Mongolia can do about it, even if it wanted to. Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin will be visiting Ulaanbaatar to commemorate … Continue reading

Posted in Foreign Policy, Mongolia and ..., Russia | Tagged | Leave a comment

Guest Post: Mutton and Mahogany: Mongolia’s 62-year Friendship with Laos Continues

By Benjamin Nuland On June 11th 2024, Mongolia welcomed the Laotian president to Sukhbaatar Square for the first time since 2007. Thongloun Sisoulith’s arrival celebrated a 62-year long friendship between Laos and Mongolia and decades of goodwill. In the 1980s … Continue reading

Posted in ASEAN, Benjamin Nuland, Diversification, Foreign Investment, Foreign Policy, Laos, Mongolia and ..., Policy | Leave a comment

Guest Post: The Thunder Dragon Arrives on Dragon Year: Mongolia and Bhutan Are Just Getting Started

By Benjamin Nuland If I could give an award for Mongolia’s ‘most underestimated relationship’, it must be that with Bhutan. Mongolia’s relationship with Democratic Bhutan began on January 18, 2012, when UN representatives of both nations mutually signed letters of … Continue reading

Posted in ASEAN, Benjamin Nuland, Food, Foreign Policy, Mongolia and ..., Trade | Leave a comment

Friendship Medal

By Julian Dierkes I was awarded a Friendship Medal by Foreign Minister B Battsetseg at a reception commemorating the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Canada and Mongolia, and also the announcement of an upgrade of the bilateral relationship to … Continue reading

Posted in Canada, Reflection, Research on Mongolia | Leave a comment

Comparative Impressions Kyrgyzstan-Mongolia

By Julian Dierkes Some posts this summer are taking on a bit of a travelogue character, simply because I’ve been travelling. But the Mongolia-Kyrgyzstan comparison has always been of some interest, as Kyrgyzstan is the most likely comparison country for … Continue reading

Posted in Countryside, Curios, Development, Kyrgyz Republic | Tagged | Leave a comment

Guest Post: The Jetsun Dampa in Contemporary Mongolia

This continues a first post that focused on the historical context of the identification of a reincarnation of the Jebtsundamba. By Tsering Shakya The Jetsun Dampa and Post-Soviet Concerns It was not until the collapse of the Soviet Union that … Continue reading

Posted in Buddhism, China, Religion, Tibet, Tsering Shakya | Leave a comment

Guest Post: The Return of the Holy Emperor

By Tsering Shakya On 8th March, the Dalai Lama gave the Chakrasamvara Empowerment, a tantric rite of initiation, in Dharamsala, in northern India; the ceremony is said to have been requested by Gandan Monastery in Ulaanbaatar. At the ceremony, slightly … Continue reading

Posted in Buddhism, China, Dalai Lama, Religion, Tibet, Tsering Shakya | Leave a comment

Guest post: Mongolia’s Success in Team Sports

By Zorigtkhuu Bat-Erdene  On April 1, 2023, the Mongolian male basketball team repeated their historic success by winning the 3×3 Asian Cup, defeating the Australian team twice, the first time being in 2017. This remarkable achievement has sparked widespread celebration … Continue reading

Posted in Cultural Diplomacy, Demography, Diaspora, Mining, Pop Culture, Population, Public Opinion, Society and Culture, Sports, Tokyo 2020, United States, Younger Mongolians, Zorigtkhuu Bat-Erdene | Leave a comment

Guest Post: Canada and Mongolia – The Enhanced Development Partnership that Never Was

By Stephen Brown In the early 2010s, the Canadian government, under Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, developed a special interest in Mongolia. In 2014, after a flurry of diplomatic visits, Canada designated Mongolia a “country of focus” for its development … Continue reading

Posted in Bilateral Aid, Canada, CIRDI, Development, International Relations, Mining, Mining, Mining Governance, Public Policy, Research on Mongolia, Stephen Brown | 3 Comments

Guest Post: Sino-Mongolian Relations: A New Era?

By Borjgin Shurentana On November 28, Chinese President Xi Jinping held a ceremony in the Great Hall of the People to welcome the state visit of Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsuh. A 21-gun salute was fired on Tiananmen Square, and Khurelsuh, … Continue reading

Posted in Borjgin Shurentana, China, Foreign Policy, Inner Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, International Relations, Mongolians in China, Oyu Tolgoi, Trade | Leave a comment

Flop 5 der mongolischen Politik

By Julian Dierkes Ich höre inzwischen sehr gerne Podcasts, sei es um die Bundesliga zu verfolgen, kanadische Nachrichten besser zu verstehen, oder auch Entwicklungen in Deutschland nicht ganz aus dem Auge zu verlieren. Einer meiner Lieblingspodcasts in diesem Zusammenhang ist … Continue reading

Posted in Democracy, Germany, History, Media and Press, Mining, Party Politics, Podcast, Politics, Social Media | Tagged | Leave a comment

Guest Post: The Scary Part about ‘Our Common Geopolitical Language’

By Peter W. Fong Way back in 2018, I led a first-ever scientific expedition from the headwaters of Mongolia’s Selenge River to Russia’s Lake Baikal, one of our planet’s great environmental treasures. In those halcyon days, our international team of … Continue reading

Posted in Countryside, Environmental Movements, International Relations, Renewables, River Movements, Russia, Water | Leave a comment

December 2022 Protests

By Julian Dierkes Once again, following protests in April 2022, primarily younger Mongolians took to Sukhbaatar Square in protest in early December. I initially wrote about these protests for The Diplomat, pointing out the simmering corruption worries connected to state-owned … Continue reading

Posted in China, Corruption, Erdenes Mongol, JD Democratization, Mining, Mining Governance, Politics, Protest, Protest, Tavan Tolgoi, Younger Mongolians | Tagged | Leave a comment