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Recent Posts
- Mining and Magnetism: The Repulsion Effect
- What Does the Rusal-Rio Case Actually Mean For Mongolia?
- Mongolia Focus in Review 2025
- Guest Post: Parliamentary Oyu Tolgoi Hearings: Key Themes and What We Often Misunderstand About Economic Benefit
- Self-Censorship
- The Zandanshatar Crisis that Unhappened (And What Happens Next?)
- How May Prime Ministers, Speakers, and MPs Be Removed?
- Khurelsukh and Pax Mongolica at the UN
- 2026 Budget Proposal: With Failing Infrastructure, Can Mongolia Pivot From Coal to Copper?
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Category Archives: Curios
Cabinet Reshuffle: Dambadorj for Foreign Education Minister
By Julian Dierkes With all the scandals surrounding corruption in the past month and the no-confidence vote against PM Khurelsukh failing, it’s time for a re-imagining of a previous post. I’m expanding my campaign from trying to become the foreign … Continue reading
Camping Nomads
By Julian Dierkes Historically, Mongolians are a nation of “campers”. While perhaps less than a third of them still are mobile pastoralists, and even they are less mobile than they once were, nomadism and the movable home still play large … Continue reading
Triggers for Upheaval: Yes, But It Depends
By Mendee Jargalsaikhan I agree with Julian on the point that Mongolia is not a violence-free state like any others, but I would make a distinction between rioting, which is a momentary violent public disturbance, and public demonstrations or mass protests. … Continue reading
Posted in Corruption, Human Rights, Inequality, Kazakhs, Nationalism, Wrestling, Younger Mongolians
Tagged MENDEE Jargalsaikhan
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Reducing Garbage by Re-establishing Bowl Use
By Julian Dierkes In recent workshops we asked participants to list the most pressing policy challenges that Mongolia faced. A relatively small number of problems were listed repeatedly, by participants based in Ulaanbaatar as well as those from other aimags. … Continue reading
Inside Policy Workshops
By Julian Dierkes This will be very familiar to Mongolian readers, but perhaps of more interest to non-Mongolian readers, or those who have not travelled in the countryside beyond tourism. My experience comes from election observation on the one hand, … Continue reading
New to Ulaanbaatar August 2018
By Julian Dierkes I’ve been keeping a list of things that are arriving to/disappearing from central Ulaanbaatar: October 2017 | June 2017 | May 2016 | December 2015 | May 2015 | May 2014 | October 2013. More informal versions of these observations also appear in the /ulaanbaatar/change/ category. I’ve copied the … Continue reading
Guest Post: Grappling with Wrestling Titles
By Zorigtkhuu B National wrestling is considered a Mongolian precious cultural heritage. It holds the Guinness World Record that involved 6,002 wrestlers during the largest Mongolian wrestling tournament which was organized on 17th September. 2011. Wrestlers have been entertaining the … Continue reading
Posted in Naadam, Wrestling, Zorigtkhuu Bat-Erdene
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What to Call a Trump-Kim Summit?
By Julian Dierkes Yes, an actual meeting between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump still seems somewhat unlikely, and the chance that it would happen in Ulaanbaatar is even smaller. But if it did happen … there are some plans to … Continue reading
Posted in Curios, Mongolia and ..., North Korea, Tourism, Ulaanbaatar, United States
Tagged Julian Dierkes
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Sounds of a Ger
By Julian Dierkes For any visitor to Mongolia who has the chance to sleep in a ger, that is probably a highlight. I enjoy it every time I have a chance. One of the aspects that often makes it a … Continue reading
Cars in Mongolia
By Julian Dierkes Our image of Mongolia may be dominated by horses as a part of the landscape, but also as a mode of transport. But, of course, motorized transport is very common place today. Development Stages and Motorization I … Continue reading
Posted in Change, Change, Countryside, Curios, Development, Social Change, Social Issues, Ulaanbaatar
Tagged Julian Dierkes
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Where did the Conspiracy Conspiracy Come From?
By Julian Dierkes Mongolia is not unique in the presence of conspiracy theories, nor in the presence of events and factors in those events that may lend themselves to conspiracy theories. Yet, in my experience, conspiracy theories have become dominant … Continue reading
Posted in Corruption, Curios, History, JD Democratization, JD Mining Governance, Party Politics, Politics, Pop Culture, Social Issues, Social Media
Tagged Julian Dierkes
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New to Ulaanbaatar October 2017
By Julian Dierkes I’ve been keeping a list of things that are arriving to/disappearing from central Ulaanbaatar: June 2017 | May 2016 | December 2015 | May 2015 | May 2014 | October 2013. More informal versions of these observations also appear in the /ulaanbaatar/change/ category. I’ve copied the 2014-16 … Continue reading
Change in Countryside – October 2017
By Julian Dierkes This is Post #500 for our Blog! What a milestone, we’ll have to commemorate our achievement soon. For some years, I have now taken notes about visible changes in Ulaanbaatar on my periodic visits. This year, I’ve … Continue reading
Mongolian Presence in Germany
By Julian Dierkes I spent the past year on a research leave from the University of British Columbia in Berlin, Germany, at the Free University’s Graduate School of East Asian Studies. I found Mongolia to be much more visible in … Continue reading
Posted in Canada, Cinema, Curios, Diaspora, Germany, Mongolian Diaspora, Pop Culture
Tagged Julian Dierkes
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New to Ulaanbaatar June 2017
By Julian Dierkes I’ve been keeping a list of things that are arriving to/disappearing from central Ulaanbaatar: May 2016 | December 2015 | May 2015 | May 2014 | October 2013. More informal versions of these observations also appear in … Continue reading