Category Archives: Mongolia and …

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

Can Mongolia Resist Russia?

By Julian Dierkes Repercussions of the Russian invasion of Ukraine were a major topic of conversation during my visit to Mongolia this August. I had arrived with a sense of frustration that the MPP government wouldn’t publicly take a stance … Continue reading

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

Guest Post: One Day in Mongolian Twitter – Inner Mongolian Girl’s Accidental Social Media Stir

By Manlai Nyamdorj On October 14th I wrote a short thread on the surge of Inner Mongolian Twitter accounts in the Mongolian Twitter space. A short thread????on Chinese social media intrusion on Mongolian twittersphere. This past July I noticed and … Continue reading

Posted in China, Inner Mongolia, Manlai Nyamdorj, Mongolians in China, Social Media | Leave a comment

Why Is the UB Dialogue Important?

By Soyolgerel Nyamjav and Mendee Jargalsaikhan Amidst increased geopolitical tensions and lingering pandemic effects, Mongolia, asmall, landlocked state hosted three major international in-person events in June.Khaan Quest, an annual multinational peacekeeping exercise, was organized at the Five Hills Peace Support … Continue reading

Posted in China, Germany, International Relations, Japan, Kyrgyz Republic, North Korea, Russia, South Korea, Ulaanbaatar Dialogue, UN, United States | Tagged | Leave a comment

Guest Post: Mongolia’s International Conference on “Strengthening the Role of Women in Peacekeeping”

By Katharina P. Coleman On 16-18 June 2022, Mongolia welcomed the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, other UN officials and representatives from over thirty countries to a three-day conference on “Strengthening the Role of Women in Peacekeeping”. The conference allowed … Continue reading

Posted in Foreign Policy, Gender, International Relations, Katharina Coleman, Mongolia and ..., Peacekeeping, UN | Leave a comment

Russophiles, Russophones and Russophobes

By Julian Dierkes Reactions to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine have been quite visible on Twitter. Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov’s visit to Ulaanbaatar on July 5 have brought many of these reactions to the fore again. Here’s a prominent and strongly-worded … Continue reading

Posted in Democracy, International Relations, Mongolia and ..., Protest, Russia | Tagged | Leave a comment