ᠮᠥᠩᠬᠡ ᠨᠠᠷᠠᠨ / Münkhnaran Bayarlkhagva
@morientalist.bsky.social
360 followers 340 following 460 posts
PhD-ing. Interest: historical IR, religion, ontosec & memory in Asia Read: mongolian, russian, turkish & farsi og lærer norsk
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Pinned
morientalist.bsky.social
Last April Mongolia lost one of its most venerable Buddhist monks.

In this obituary for Gankhuugiin Purevbat, aka Burhanchi Lama - Creator of Gods, I present him as a Mongol Decolonizer, whose talent & spiritual guidance revived culture & memory of Mongol statehood.
mekongreview.com/the-decoloni...
The decoloniser - Mekong Review
Gankhuugiin Purevbat was never keen to claim credit, but his contribution to the rebirth of Mongolian Buddhism and the decolonisation of Mongolia cannot be denied.
mekongreview.com
morientalist.bsky.social
To me, he went first and foremost to the Yeke Mongol Ulus.
morientalist.bsky.social
Really like this title of an upcoming book.

Hope we can do away with the whole "Marco Polo went to China" trope with this.
press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
morientalist.bsky.social
Democratic Congressmen - Ed Case, Ami Bera, Jon Jackson, wrote an Op-Ed on Pacific Forum saying "multilateralism benefits the US & its allies - Mongolia".

Honorable mention to the proposed "Third Neighbor Policy Act".

Important, given the intended audience on the hill.
pacforum.org/publications...
Explore Pacific Forum's Insightful Indo-Pacific Analysis
Dive into Pacific Forum's comprehensive analysis of Indo-Pacific events through its three insightful publications. Stay informed and engaged!
pacforum.org
morientalist.bsky.social
Sanjaasürengiin Zorig (1962-1998) the "Golden swallow of Mongolian Democracy" pictured here in his MP office, under the painting of Chinggis Khan.

(Starting from 2022, every public office in Mongolia is obliged to have such painting on their walls, under the presidential decree.)
morientalist.bsky.social
Young & upcoming Munich-based Mongolian jazz artist Enji Erkhem, is featured on this week's HTSI FT.

“I always used to live with my whole family in a one-room yurt and even sleeping in one room alone was a big experience,” she says.

(not sure of the headline, but ok)
www.ft.com/content/12ec...
Enji, the Mongolian singer bringing the steppes to the American standards
She started with Etta James – then added Urtiin duu
www.ft.com
morientalist.bsky.social
The Sunday Times revealed the identities of 13 Russian officers who were commanding the units that perpetrated Bucha massacres.

I looked at the picture (12 YT Slav + 1 Central Asian) & all I can think of is how many "Europeans" at the time believed that it was the "Asians" who did it. 🥲
morientalist.bsky.social
Photos of a newly discovered Khitan inscription in Mongolia's North-Central Bulgan province.

Credit: Japanese-Mongolian "Bichees" archaeological project between the Mongolian Academy of Sciences & experts from Otani, Osaka & Ryukoku universities.
#mongolsky #khitan
Reposted by ᠮᠥᠩᠬᠡ ᠨᠠᠷᠠᠨ / Münkhnaran Bayarlkhagva
chakarchinggis.bsky.social
C'était aujourd'hui l'anniversaire de la naissance de Qubilai Qa'an , quatrième successeur de Chinggis Khan à la tête de l'Empire mongol (1260-1294), et l'un des empereurs mongols les plus célèbres.

#mongolsky #mongolempire #tengri #medievalsky #chinahistory #sinology
Portrait de Qubilai Qa'an, réalisé en 1294 par le peintre népalais Anige. Musée national du Palais, Taipei.
morientalist.bsky.social
The sweetener for Stubb is almost certainly the copper smelter project in Mongolia's Erdenet city, a copper mining town where Zelensky grew up.

Recently, the mine expanded its reserves & government resolved to build a smelter by 2028. Finnish Metso (ex-Outotec) is a prime contender for tech supply.
morientalist.bsky.social
Mongolia's and Finland's presidents meet at the UNGA.

Pretty sure this was agreed during Battsetseg's visit to Helsinki and that Stubb got an invitation from Khurelsukh to visit next year.

Like Polish President's visit in 2023, this will be another meeting of "sober" heads (on Russia).
Reposted by ᠮᠥᠩᠬᠡ ᠨᠠᠷᠠᠨ / Münkhnaran Bayarlkhagva
jasonbystrom.bsky.social
KG Hutchins’ A Song for the Horses has officially landed in Berkeley, California!

@songsforhorses.com
A photo of the cover of KG Hutchins’ book, A Song for the Horses.
morientalist.bsky.social
So I am watching this doc called "Jens in Mongolia" on NRK, mostly to see how they portray Mongolia in Norway.

Jens rides horses to places he could've just driven to & the whole thing is artificial "adventure" & "hardships" in totally fictitiously unnecessary contexts. Dunno if audience knew. 🤔
morientalist.bsky.social
Sep 10 is the Day of Tribute to the Victims of Political Repression in Mongolia.

Every year political & religious leadership hold low-key annual ceremonies that is part tokenism & part reminder of the absence of lustration, unfinished decommunization & decolonization of the country.
morientalist.bsky.social
Sussan Babaie is going to give a public lecture at the Chinggis Khan Museum, next week on the legendary 1300s Ilkhanid Mongol bag.

Glad that such knowledge is being shared with Mongolian audience as well (and not just stay within Western ivory tower).

#mongolsky
Reposted by ᠮᠥᠩᠬᠡ ᠨᠠᠷᠠᠨ / Münkhnaran Bayarlkhagva
janjelinowski.bsky.social
Interested in the Mongol Empire and its underpinning social structure?
Have a look at my newest article, "Hypotheses for a Social History of the Apanages of the Sons of Chinggis Khan and Börte" in the last issue of Przegląd Orientalistyczny!
p. 99-116
pto.orient.uw.edu.pl/wp-content/u...
pto.orient.uw.edu.pl
morientalist.bsky.social
The picture of Mongolian and Chinese leaders meeting.

What is telling is how the Chinese side doesn't have any ethnic Mongolian on the table.

For a long time Madame Fu Ying, ex dipomat and highest ranking minority official within PRC, was the mainstay of such meetings.
morientalist.bsky.social
Also, plugging in my previous writing.
In short - Moscow will use Mongolia & the #SoyuzVostok as cost-center while increasing its geopolitical clout in Ulaanbaatar. Mongolia doesn't need that & Beijing won't approve that overdomineering Moscow.
We're still here.
thediplomat.com/2022/05/a-ne...
A New Russian Gas Pipeline Is a Bad Idea for Mongolia
The Soyuz-Vostok pipeline, part of the larger Power of Siberia 2 project, will make Mongolia even more vulnerable to pressure from its autocratic neighbors.
thediplomat.com
morientalist.bsky.social
From the news coming from Beijing, it may seem like there is a breakthough in #PowerofSiberia2 & #SoyuzVostok pipeline.

My belief is that this "legally-binding MOU w/ economics to be fleshed out separately", is just another way of saying "let's keep it on the stove".

IMO project is stuck as ever.
Reposted by ᠮᠥᠩᠬᠡ ᠨᠠᠷᠠᠨ / Münkhnaran Bayarlkhagva
yraneac.bsky.social
And of course the son of one of Mongolia’s wisest men.
morientalist.bsky.social
If you know anything about Dinosaurs chances are you heard of Rinchengiin Barsbold Yunshiyebu (1935-2025).

His 1971 discovery of velociraptor & protoceratops locked in deathly fight is legendary, which is only a snippet of his rich biography & as a kid I dreamed of becoming a paleontologist.

RiP🙏
Reposted by ᠮᠥᠩᠬᠡ ᠨᠠᠷᠠᠨ / Münkhnaran Bayarlkhagva
chakarchinggis.bsky.social
I don't think assimilation is the right framework for analyzing developments in the late Mongol Empire. There has never been any one-way assimilation process. The Mongols, both elites and population, did not become neither Persian nor Chinese.