Bush Mongolia Pictures

Iwan Baan was one of the photographers that had access to President Bush`s visit to Mongolia. Again he has made some striking images, available at iwan.com.



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technorati: mongolia bush

On the Web: Bush in Mongolia

Registan mentions what is in the blogs about the visit and he also includes the "Wapo" article. But there is more.
The UB Post come up with quite some interesting content. There is the full transcript of the speech in parliament and videos (but dubbed in Mongolian): video 1 and video 2 (choose "download link as...")

UB Post also links to the Joint Statement of Bush and Mongolian President Nambar Enkhbayar

If you are interested in lot's and lot's of comments see the Huffington Post

Time Magazine quotes from Bush's speech:

"Like the ideology of communism, the ideology of Islamic radicalism is destined to fall because the will to power is no match for the universal desire to live in liberty,"

The Times of India, however, found out what is really important:
Bush finds Rummy's Montana in Mongolia


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technorati: bush mongolia

Mr. Bush: What did you promise Mongolia?

USA Today tells us:

The Mongolians have been rewarded with $11 million in U.S. aid to improve military forces.

Gee - what would they need that for? Trying to invade China? Conquer Siberia? Or maybe help some criticized US president in a desert war?

In China they had the same message. Another article on China reads that:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday that "one has to be concerned" about China's modernization of its 2.5 million-member army. "There's a question of intent," she said.

2.5 million that is the total population of Mongolia.

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technorati: mongolia bush

Bush Mongolia Visit

The first video footage comes from a blog , but both Reuters and AP have pictures up already, one in the Laura Bush picture gallery and the other in a Iraq war gallery. That's all that seems to matter. But impressive how fast they get it out on the web (see also previous post).

The Headlines
The headlines in Google and Yahoo: are quite clear:
Bush thanks Mongolia for its help in Iraq, Bush thanks Mongolia for support in Iraq, Bush thanks Mongolia for Iraq presence, Bush to thank new ally Mongolia for Iraq help etc.

One headline stands out: "Mongolia: Moving Mountains" And it appears to be a Washington Post article written by the current prime minister of Mongolia Ts. Elbegdorj. The article is maybe not as outstanding as the title, though.

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technorati: mongolia bush

Mongolia gets ready for Bush, CNN gets it wrong

While Mongolia prepares for The Big Day, CNN seems happy to portray Mongolia as weak and dependent on Big Brother US:

Remote country looks to U.S. to counter sway of giant neighbors

Meanwhile the rumours here get wilder and wilder. The latest one is that the complete mobile network will be shut down this afternoon. People around the main square yesterday got a visit from the police saying they shouldn't stand in front of the window, implying they might get shot if they would.
Already roads have been completely blocked and police is present every ten meters on the main route. In the end it seems not all that save however. If he does come through the main route people could have prepared for days to have something nasty in place - if he doesn't: there is no police present to actually check what is happening at the moment. It is amazing that they had to send hundreds of US staff taking over a complete hotel for six weeks to come up with such a simple plan. For a five hour visit.



A monk looks at all the police that have gathered on the sukhbaatar square
This picture was taken an hour before the arrival of Bush - and nobody seemes to get really excited.

UPDATE 1:
News is out that the visit is completed, while Bush only just entered the Parliamnet Building.

UPDATE 2:
But the News does travel fast these days, within half an hour the pictures are on the web:


U.S. President George W. Bush (R) reviews an honor guard with Mongolia's President Nambariin Enkhbayar at Government House in Ulan Bator November 21, 2005. Bush became the first U.S. president to visit Mongolia on Monday, coming to thank the country for helping in Iraq and to compare Islamic radicalism to the yoke of communism that Mongolians threw off. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
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technorati: mongolia bush

Bush Mongolia Round up

Life is full of surprises as New Mongols discovers. I think all that is feared here is a surprise.
There was a demonstration of students who announced they would do the same on The Big Day.
In the meantime all the preperations continue. The ground floor of the Ulaanbaatar Hotel is being tranformed into a huge press center with 150 internet connections through satelatite, the ger in the Government House has been redecorated and the police is practising to stand still in the cold.

UPDATE:
For a, let's say, mildly critical impression of Mr. Bush see Dreaming of Danzan Ravjaa

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technorati: mongolia

Aid in Mongolia

There is a lot of donor money going into Mongolia. The question is whether it is good to have so much aid coming your way and whether the aid that comes is actually good in itself. Morris Rossabi recently wrote a book “Modern Mongolia: From Khans to Commissars to Capitalists” in which he argues that foreign donors actually have seriously disrupted Mongolia, rather than helped the country.

I think in general aid is something to be highly critical of. It often lacks efficiency and effectiveness. But maybe the picture that Rossabi paints is a bit too dark. That – at the least – is the opinion of Bill Bikales. Currently a principal economist for the Asian Development Bank, Bikales has worked in Mongolia for many years. And there is no doubt he doesn’t like the book. His review starts with “People beware...” and he claims the book to be a diatribe. But what he says actually makes sense:

“The book’s exaggeration of the role of the donors obscures one central fact: Mongolia has emerged as a truly self-governing and independent country for the first time in centuries.”

Whether you agree or not, the review is an interesting read and gives some good insights in foreign aid Mongolia. You would have to read the book to see if Bikales is right.

The complete review is available online

UPDATE 1:
Reaction from Bill Bikales

I have no problem at all with criticism of aid. I have been a strong critic of it myself, and I am on record as saying that bad foreign aid is the greatest threat to Mongolia's future. But Rossabi's book is much more than a criticism of aid -- he presents a very bleak picture of what is happening in Mongolia, repeats gossip about individual Mongolians and about events that are inaccurate and unfounded. I deliberately avoided trying to defend foreign aid in my review, because I felt it was far more important to point out that Mongolia is doing much better than he suggests. My review is NOT about foreign aid, it is about Mongolia!!!

UPDATE 2:
In the Blogs: New Mongols

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technorati: mongolia

Mr. President: Why Mongolia?

New Mongols ask an interesting question, and actually get an answer. Why does George Bush come to Mongolia? The answer, however, is not all that revealing.

I heard the joke that he is jealous at Rumsfeld for getting a horse, and wants one too. A more serious rumor I heard is that he might promise import tax exemptions for Mongolia, what could potentially mean a boost for the Mongolian economy. The return favor being most probably continued support in Iraq, because the official statement doesn't make much of a secret about that being the most important topic.

Meanwhile the preparations are going on. Around 150 members of staff came from the US, taking over the Khan Palace Hotel and settling there for five weeks, to organize a visit of a couple of hours. There is hardly any information on what the programme will be. The revelation of a ger visit in the White House answer is for now the only official notification.

UPDATE: Programme
The Programme does not make mention of any ger visit - or it should be the ceremonial ger in the government house garden

In Mongolia, the President and Mrs. Bush will be greeted with an arrival ceremony at Government House, and then the President will meet with the President of Mongolia, and following that, with the Prime Minister.
That afternoon, the President will deliver remarks at Mongolian Government House. And following those remarks, the President and Mrs. Bush will visit Ikh Tenger and then participate in an embassy event at the airport. They will then depart en route Andrews Air Force Base.

New Lonely Planet Mongolia. What do we think?

For many years the Lonely Planet Mongolia was the only English guidebook on Mongolia, but not everybody was too happy with it. Comments varied from:

This is the first guidebook I read that basically tells me not to go there

to:

This is a history book, it's completely outdated

But last year good old Michael Kohn, took up the job to revise the lonely planet. He traveled all over the place and incorporated everything in lp's new set-up.

By now it has survived its first summer, it's time to evaluate. The comments on amazon definitely changed for the better. For me the new lay-out works. Good cover, the maps are more easy to read and it seems generally more easy to use. The extended list of gps locations is probably nowhere as useful as here in Mongolia. One Amazon reviewer remarks that there could be simply more info, and with less than 300 pages, I am sure there are city guides that are bigger than this one. And of course Mongolia changes too fast for something as static as a printed publication to keep track of that. Restaurants have moved, flight schedules changed etc. But it seems to have improved a lot and in the end it seems to be the most useful guide around. The competitors that have sprang up - the Odyssey guide, is more a coffee table book; the Bradt guide has good background, but lousy practical information - have something to focus on.

UPDATE: A review of the new version is available at Danny's Reviews:

For independent travellers without preplanned itineraries the Lonely Planet is the better choice — as well as focusing more on practical information, it's more recent and noticeably lighter and more compact. Those doing an organised tour and less concerned about practicalities may lean towards the Bradt's more extensive background information. And its personal stories may be more helpful for those deciding whether or not to visit Mongolia. I found both books useful, both before and during my trip, and any sizeable group will want both.

Classification of Mongolian Livestock

María E. Fernández-Giménez has published several articles on the ecological perception and management decisions of Mongolian herders. In The role of Mongolian nomadic pastoralists’ecological knowledge in rangeland management she quotes Holechek et al. on the classification livestock and their khamar (translated as muzzle but literally nose):

The five types of Mongolian livestock are similarly classified as cool-muzzle (seruun khamar), hot-muzzle (khaluun khamar), or intermediate animals. Cool-muzzled animals (camels and goats), must graze in "hot" territories, whereas hot-muzzled animals (yaks and horses) are best suited to "cool" territories. Sheep, traditionally the backbone of the Mongolian pastoral economy, are adaptable to both
types of habitats. This classification of livestock and their foraging habits corresponds closely with theWestern classification of range animals as grazers (warmmuzzled animals), browsers (cool-muzzled animals), and intermediate feeders (Holechek et al. 1989).