Up around Beaver's Creek

In the midst of the summer heat the Garden Gnome took a hike up Beaver's Creek, to visit his friends the Beavers. The couple greated him and told him about their plans of damming up the whole river. The Garden Gnome asked them if the people living downstream would not be annoyed and take some counter measures. The Beavers looked surprised and one of them said:

- I didn't think of that!

Thinking of it; how easy would the world turn out if people were able to communicate in a better and less aggressive manner. Think about a world without neoliberalists... Think about a world where you don't steal your neighbour's water and thus trigger a military attack... Think about a just and fair world where every human was treated as the United Nations Charter of Human Rights suggests... Think about a world where international law is valid and those breaking it is brought to justice...

I mean, if they managed without degenerating down to outright fighting up around Beaver Creek, would it not be possible in the real world?

President Elbegdorj inaugurated

On the 18 of June Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj was inaugurated as Mongolian President, in a ceremony held in Government House Ulaanbaatar. The event is reported to cost 137 million tugrugs (approximately 100 000 USD), according to Minister of Finance S. Bayartsogt. The photo above shows how the former President Nambariin Enkhbayar hands over the seal of the Mongolian state to the new President Elbegdorj.

Russia's President Dimitry Medvedev expressed his wish to meet his new Mongolian collegue late this June in Yekaterinburg. This is interesting news as the Russian joint leadership clearly supported Nambariin Enkhbayar's campaign to remain president. But I guess even the Kremlin has to adapt to the harsh realities of international relations. Medvedev even expressed his good will before Elbegdorj was inaugurated.

The photo above shows Mongolian Prime Minister Sanjaagiin Bayar, standing behind the new and the former president.

Elbegdorj said in his inauguration speach that he was going to fight corruption to the bitter end. This is a huge undertaking, considering the depth of corruption in Mongolian society. It is wellknown that both the communist style, as well as the capitalist model of corruption excist simulaneously in contemporary Mongolian society. The policies of the IMF, World Bank, Asian Development Bank and the foreign aid providers has contributed to the spread of new forms of corruption in Mongolian society. The most obvious flaw in their policies was to demand a freeze of the salaries of civil servants in Mongolia, at such a low level that nobody could make a decent living on that kind salary. Of course paying civil servants low salaries is one of the most effective ways there are to promote the spread of corruption. According to my experiences of researching corruption in Mongolia I find it hard to believe that the new president really could make a difference in this aspect. But I would surely be one of the first ones to congratulate him if he succeeds in this Sisyphonic task.

Furthermore, Elbegdorj urged for increased efforts to improve the Mongolian people's living standards and to fight poverty. This is especially important these days, during the financial crisis that has hit the construction and building sectors hard. Out of ten, at least seven constructions sites are brought to a standstill, mostly because the banks will not provide any more credit. During the last parliamentary election campaign, a lot of promises were made to give the Mongolian people part of the money expected to be saved in the funds from various development projects. Still the people waits for these promises to materialize.

Finally, Elbegdorj expressed his will to keep good relations with Mongolia's neighbouring countries; the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation. My Mongolian friends expressed concerns as they had seen a spectacular Chinese map including the Mongolian Republic into Chinese territory. A recent idea in the Mongolian political discourse has been to develop relations with the third "neighbouring" country... Maybe that will also be the policy of Elbegdorj, as he pointed out his gratitude towards his American university, Harvard, where he was educated.

Sources: Xinhua 2009; UB Post 2009.

Aliens in everyday life

The photo above shows a young cuckoo, fed by a much smaller parent bird. The situation seems absurd, as the offspring is about three times the size of the parent. In comparison that would mean that a human would face a child with a body weight of 180 kg, when the child is five years old. Imagine, it would be like an alien from outer space suddenly had been invading your privacy. Also imagine the size of the household food budget and you realise that your present occupation will not do. You will have to become a Member of the European Parliament.

Modern life provide us with a flora of possibilities of looking into the remote future. What we see as extreme today might be viewed as trivial in the future. People might weigh on average about 150 kg, a hundred years from now. That is pretty much what happened in Japan, though on a smaller scale, when the sumo wrestlers found that they were competing with Hawiians and Mongolians to a larger extent. These "aliens" had an ability to put on more body weight than the Japanese wrestlers and therefore had a competitive advantage. A good big guy. almost always beats a good small guy. Although the opposite happened in the latest contest held in late May 2009, when the smaller Mongolian sumo wrestler D. Byambadorj won the contest's final against his bigger and older Mongolian competitor. Not to imply that I think that Mongolian sumo wrestlers are the cuckoos of Japanese sumo.

Fatness, thiness, fitness and body weight are interesting phenomena and what the future will show us in that respect one can only guess. To my knowledge the world record in body weight for males is cloose to 500 kg... then there is only one solution, we must join the whales... in the sea...

Note: To really appriciate this blog you have to know that the cuckoo puts its eggs into the nests of other birds and let them feed its offspring. Some birds are cheated, while others are not. The photo was from WWF EKO 2 2009, and the photo of the Mongolian wrestler was taken from the Mongolian newspaper Önöödör 2009 May 26.

(O)Glad midsommar

Midsommaren var en glad högtid om vi ska se till sällskapet. Vädret var det sämre med. Vad sägs om två hagelstormar? Vad sägs om regn varje dag? Vad sägs om skitkallt? Det var faktiskt så illa att trädgårdstomten välplanerade midsommarälgsvandring fick göras oerhört kort. Älgen kunde bara tas ut ur stallet och helt snabbt vädras mellan skyfallen och hagelstormarna. Men visst är den ståtlig? Trädgårdstomten är speciellt nöjd med den här älgen, men han planerar för alternativa designlösningar.

Who is a hero?

As every society the Soviet Union needed its heros and role models. They came in different form and shapes. The photo above is taken in the 1950s and show L. M. Kartauzov, Hero of the Socialist Work, sitting at the steering wheel of a tractor during the development of the Socialist Republic of Kazakhstan.

Another type of Soviet hero was Daniil Nesterenko, even though he also was driving a tractor at the Sovchoz Daljnij in Tselinograd district. As the winter went to its end that year and the tractor brigade that Nesterenko was a part of, was temporarily cut off from the rest of the Sovchoz and therefore lacking fuel. The small river Zjanyspajka threatened to rise over its riverbeds. As the river still was covered by ice, the trick was to get the tractors to the other side, while the ice still was holding together. Nesterenko helped his workmates to pull this risky project off, but waited last in the row with his tractor. The smelting ice was covered by water and suddenly gave away under the weight of Nesterenko's tractor... As his workmates got Nesterenko's dead body out of the water, an identity card fell out of his pocket, showing that he was the "Hero of the Soviet Union". Nobody at the Sovchoz had known that Nesterenko was decorated for his bravery at the crossing of the Dnjepr, during the WW II. Nesterenko was thereby a double hero; decorated for bravery in action and for his work efforts.

A hero of quite another character was Pavlik Morozov (1918-1932), who denounced his father to the authorities during the forced collectivization of Ukraine. His next of kin did not like his actions and killed him and his younger brother. The authorities rounded the guilty ones up and put them in front of a firing squad. The Soviet propaganda machine then made Morozov a hero for all young people in the Soviet Union.

We thereby see and recognize at least three distinct types of heros. First, there is the hero of socialist work, who is supposed to inspire people to work hard in building the socialist society. Second, there is the war hero, who defends the socialist motherland against the fascist aggressors. Finally, we have the ideological or political hero, who puts the party and the revolution before the wellfare of his own family. A true hero.

We may smile at the Soviet propaganda, but we should realize that also our societies have our heroes, and also they are basically social and cultural constructs... comnstructed for our needs and use...

Source: Leonid Iljitj Brezhnev (1978) The New Cultivations. Publishers of political literature, Moscow.

Dödens löprunda

Dagens löprunda blev på sätt och vis likartad jämfört med måndagens. Inga döda rådjurskid denna gången och jag pustade ut mentalt, bara för att nästan slå ihjäl mig på två döda abborrar. Mitt på brädläggningen låg de, två döda abborrar. Jag kan ju inte låta bli att undra vad som kommer att ligga i min väg härnäst? Eller är de döda djuren ett tecken? Ett tecken på en nära förestående undergång? Eller slår naturen tillbaka? Jag har ju sett hur mullvadarna laddar upp runt sjön där jag springer... Något är helt klart i görningen...

The Voyages of Zheng He

The picture above is a comparison between Zheng He's great treasure ship and Christoforo Colon's Santa Maria. It is with great interest and curiousity I've been reading Gavin Menzies two books 1421: The Year China Discovered the World and 1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance and despite what you think about amatuer historians I think he has a point agaist the Europeanization of world history. According to this discourse Europe has been developed in splendid isolation without any influence from the outside. Of course this is a mere delusion.

Menzies has another angle though as he knows something about navigation and travelling on the high seas. He develops his case at great lengths in both books. No matter what you think about the totality of his works; it raises some important questions about our history. It has been pointed out elsewhere that the national history of different countries almost always has a character of a nationalistic project, where the aim is to manifest the glory of the nation. Therefore you pick the nice pieces and avoid the rest.

We know from history that the Romans traded with Chinese goods. We know that the beaten Persian Shahin Shah lived in asylum in Tang Dynasty China's capital Chang'an after his defeat at Ksetiphon. Ibn Battuta has told the history of how advanced the Chinese fleet was as he visited Guangzhou in the 13th century.

And as my Mongolian friends never tiers to point out: "- Then of course it was the Chenggis..." Chenggis Khan and his descendants came in cloose encounters with Europeans as Hulagu Khan conquered Bagdhad in 1258 and the Monghols of the Golden Horde reached as far as eastern Poland. The Mongols used every bit of advantegous technology they could get their hands on. For instance Kubilay Khan's Armada that tried to conquer Japan used avanced shrapnels and mortars in 1281. Hulagu Khan is known as the first one to use biological warfare against a sieged town.

In 1453 Murad II conquered Constantinopel and the item that got him the edge over the remains of the Byzantine Empire, was a battery of newly developed cannons that shattered the walls of the city. The question is, where did Murad II get the technology?

Christopher Marlowe wrote the play Tamerlaine about the conquerer with the same name and his grandson Ulugh Beg is known to have built the great planetarium in Samarkand. At the same time Eurpe was in a mess, economicly, politicly, socially and culturally.

When it comes to archeological excavations in China Europeans and Americans almost always call old Chinese history myths and legends. Then some unknown Chinese Archeologist dig up some grave and suddenly finds the capital of the Shang Dynasty, exactly where it is supposed to be located according to the state myth of China.

The origines of these denials might be found in sories as the following: "A Chinese archeologist was visiting an excavation in the south of Sweden. The visiting archaeolgoist looks at the work with great interest and finally asks a question: "- What exactly are you investigating here?" The chief archaeologist answers: "- Its houses fromn the 15th century." The Chinese looks interested and asks: "- Before or after Christ?"

I think both Europeans and Americans are a bit sensitive towards people with historical claims that reaches 5 000 years back in time...

Quadruplings

Today I have managed to quadruple myself. Here above you see the four possible faces of me. It is a bit bewildering to look att ones own face and realise that there are so many possibilities for a plastic surgeon to mold something completly different from the start. One cannot help to think about people with real facial damage, in contrast with people just fixing up their looks, doing noose-jobs, filling out the lips and similar.

Somebody said about health and medical care that the demand is endless. As we fulfill one need another one is created. Probably this means that a large part of the population is hypocondrical and will always think of something to medically or surgically adjust. There is a pill for every condition and there is a surgical treat for every little wrinkle or blob on your body.

Den enes död, är den andres bröd

När jag nästan avslutat morgonens löprunda, såg jag något ligga på brädläggningen. Det visade sig vara ett dött rådjurskid. Halva kroppen saknades och jag anade att det var räven som varit framme. Möjligen någon hund. På bilden finns det ett rådjurskid i lite bättre kondition. Ett liv släcktes där, före det knappt börjat. Man blir lite nedstämd.

Futurebound Train

Today’s photo shows Vladimir Iljitj Uljanov’s locomotive, which pulled the train that took the father of the Russian Revolution, through the new worker state, during the years following the October Revolution in 1917. We also know him as Lenin, most accurately described as his working alias. Other revolutionaries, like Mikhail Bakunin used his own name, secure in his identity as an anarchist and a professional revolutionary. About Bakunin it has been told that once he travelled through southern Germany and stopped on height for a short rest. Far away heavy smoke was seen. Bakunin turned to the coach driver and asked him on what was going on. "-It is the people that rise against the prince, the coachman answered." Bakunin ordered the coachman to take a detour towards the burning castle and during that afternoon he helped the locals organizing the attacks and destroying the castle. In the evening he continued his travel, after a good days work.
Locomotives and trains have a significant meaning in Russian history. Much of Russian history is determined by railways and rails. The Russian author Jurij Borev described the history of the Soviet Union as the progress of a metaphoric train:
The train is rolling towards a magnificent future. Lenin is driving the train. Suddenly there is a full stop, and it is the end of the track. Lenin promotes extra work on Saturdays, and new rails is lain out and the train is rolling down the track. Now Stalin is in the driving seat. The track ends again. Stalin puts half the train personnel and the passengers before a firing squad, and force the rest to lay down more rails. The train rolls on. Stalin is now replaced by Khrushchev, and when the track ends, he orders the rails to be dismantled behind the train and rebuilt in front of it. Brezhnev replaces Khrushchev. As the track ends once again, Brezjnev decides that the curtains should be pulled down and the wagons should rocked, making the passengers believe that the train is rolling on.

The train remains at the station for a while, during the era that is nicknamed ”the Era of the Three Burials”, during which train drivers Brezhnev, Andropov and Chernenko gives it a hard effort, but never succeeds in getting the train rolling again. A new driver is appointed, Gorbachew and he makes the train start moving forward again, but then there is a full stop again and nothing seems to get the train going again. The stop is final!

On a side track another train emerges. The shield on the train tells us, the Russian Federation. Train driver is Jeltsin and he does not seem sober and this calms the passengers. But the ride is bumpy and after some time the train goes into full stop again. This time the train stops at a great Central Station. Jeltsin cannot drive any longer, he has exhausted all his strength. In despair the train personnel goes into the Station and they return with a character with rude looks and firm opinions. The driver is now Putin, and the train is rolling down the track. The speed increases and the next time we change driver, we do it while the train still is rolling. The new driver is Medvedev. But Putin remains behind Medvedev to supervise the continued progress. The passengers are calmed down, and will remain so until the next full stop.

The question is not whether the train stops, but when it is going to stop. What happens then?

Note: The last part of the metaphoric thale, the one concerning the Russian Federation, is not written by Jurij Borev. The title of this blog is refering to the album Hellbound Train by Savoy Brown Blues Band.

Tåget mot framtiden

Dagens bild föreställer Vladimir Iljitj Uljanovs lokomotiv, som drog det tåg som den ryska revolutionens fader genomfor den nya arbetarstaten med under åren direkt efter oktoberrevolutionen. Vi känner honom också som Lenin, vilket mest kan beskrivas som ett slags artistnamn. Andra yrkesrevolutionärer, som Michail Bakunin använde sitt eget namn, säker på sin identitet som anarkist och professionell samhällsomstörtare. Om Bakunin berättas det att han for genom södra Tyskland och stannade för att rasta på en höjd. Långt i fjärran syntes rök. Bakunin vände sig till kusken och frågade vad som stod på. "-Det är folket som reser sig mot fursten, svarade kusken." Bakunin beordrade kusken att ta av mot det brinnande slottet och på eftermiddagen hjälpte han till med att jämna slottet med marken och att organisera upprorsmännen. På kvällen for han vidare, efter väl förrättat dagsverke.

Lokomotiv och tåg har en viktig betydelse i rysk historia. Mycket av den ryska historien är beroende av järnväg och räls. Den ryske författaren Jurij Borev beskrev också Sovjetunionens historia som framförandet av ett metaforiskt tåg:

Tåget far in i en lysande framtid. Lokförare är Lenin. Plötsligt är det tvärstopp, det är slut på spåret. Lenin manar till extraarbete på lördagar, ny räls läggs ut och tåget rullar vidare. Nu är det Stalin som kör. Banan tar slut igen. Stalin låter arkebusera hälften av konduktörerna och passagerarna och tvingar de övriga till att lägga mera räls. Tåget rullar iväg. I stället för Stalin kommer Chrusjtjov, och när rälsen nu tar slut låter han demontera spåret som tåget just har tillryggalagt och lägga det framför loket. Brezjnev tar över efter Chrusjtjov. När spåret tar slut nästa gång beslutar Brezjnev att man ska dra för gardinerna och gunga vagnarna så att passagerarna ska tro att tåget rullar vidare.

Tåget blir kvar på stationen under den tid som får namnet ”de tre begravningarnas tid” då lokförarna Brezjnev, Andropov och Tjernenko visserligen försöker men aldrig lyckas få tåget i rullning. Men så blir Gorbatjov lokförare och tåget rör sig åter framåt, men så slår det stopp och ingenting verkar få igång tåget igen.

På ett sidospår dyker då ett annat tåg upp. Ryska Federationen, står det på loket. Lokföraren är Jeltsin och han verkar inte nykter och det lugnar passagerarna. Men efter nästan ett decennium slår det stopp för det här tåget också, inne på en centralstation. Jeltsin förmår inte köra längre. Förtvivlade beger sig tågpersonalen in på stationen och kommer tillbaka med en typ med barskt utseende och bestämda åsikter. Han heter Putin och tåget rullar igång igen. Nu går det raskt undan och nästa gång vi byter lokförare så gör vi det i farten till Medvedev. Men Putin stannar kvar i lokförarhytten för att se till att allt går rätt till. Passagerarna är åter lugna, tills tåget stannar nästa gång. Vad händer då? frågar man sig oroligt.

Fotnot: Historiens senare del, den med den ryska federationen, är inte skriven av Borev.

Midsommar 2.1

På bilden ovan kan vi se hur trädgårdstomtens vision om en utvecklad midsommar förverkligad. Här finns alla kameler man kan önska sig och därtill en virvlande dervisch. Allt verkar klappat och klart för det perfekta midsommarfirnadet. Nu återstår bara en liten detalj. Nåja två små detaljer, Först folket, själva midsommarfirarna, var är de? För det andra, så har vi vädret och med det menar jag det vackra vädret, inte den sorgliga ursäkt för ett klimat som vi begåvats med här vid Vätterns sydspets...

Midsommar 2.0

Nu stundar blomstertider och kanske är det dags för oss i vårt nya, härliga mångkulturella samhälle att luckra upp de gamla mossiga traditionerna lite. Se bara på Karl XII, som for iväg ända till det turkiska landet för att hämta och berika oss med både kåldolmar och köttbullar. Kanske är det dags att vi fullbordar den gamle järnskallens värv (ja det var ju vad turkarna kallade honom, eftersom hade han fått en idé i sitt huvud fanns det ingen som kunde få honom att tänka om) och förnyar konceptet ännu lite grann.

Idag har trädgårdstomten tänkt till i lite kreativa och innovativa banor. Inte så att det är helt unika tankar han kommit upp med, utan han har ju plockat lite här och lite där och konstruerat en kulturell pyttipanna. Helt plötsligt var konceptet bara där. Midsommarkamelen med blomster på huvudet, framledd av Priapos moderne arvtagare, trädgårdens obestridde härskare, jordanden, med mera; trädgårdstomten.

Blev inte resultatet somrigt så att säga? Nu kommer väl någon rigid nationalist eller fascist att påpeka att kameler varken är speciellt somriga eller svenska. Hur fel är inte det! Just i år har det faktiskt fötts inte mindre än sju kameler, enbart i Småland. Snart kan vi kanske få vår första karavanserai? Trädgårdstomten tycker det verkar spännande. Kanske kan vi få några dervischer att virvla runt midsommarstången för att få lite fart på tillställningen?

Tänker man bara till och tänjer lite på begreppen så är allting möjligt! Eller som en amerikan sa till mig i Beijing då jag tvekade att äta friterade gräshoppor: "-Tänk på att det bara är din kultur som hindrar dig!"

Perfect symmetry II

A couple of days ago I discussed perfect symmetry and beauty on this blog. Today I present to you, me and myself as a twin couple. Each one is a duplicate of one side of my face. The result is a little bit fascinating. To actually see points which I know as my own face, and yet it is not me.

One of my images has a broad chin, the other one is thinner. One has a broad forehead, the other one has not. One looks a bit thoughtful, the other one more eager. Who am I? The question gets new dimensions as it seems that I can be different kinds of me.

One surgical question is how painful it would be to transform myself into one of these halves. Would it be worth the price?

Ira Levin once wrote a novel called One fine day, which has a conversation where a doctor in the remote future asks the head character if he should change the colour of one his eyes, as he has different colours on them. The guy says no, simply because he thinks that his different eye colours defines who he is... The doctor shakes his head and cannot really understand a guy who does not want to be "perfect", as it is going to be really easily fixed...

Arguments and discourses like these says a lot about the times in which we are living and how little we actually think about what really matters in life. And how dissapointed some people are with their looks and how much they are willing to pay to improve what nature provided them with...

Tusenårsägg

En ädel kinesisk konst är att göra hundradagarsägg. Första gången jag åt ett var jag helt övetygad om att det var en kinesisk jätteoliv. Hur förvånad blev jag då jag fann en ägggula, nåja en ägggröna, inuti? Men gott smakade det!

Men till tusenårsäggen har jag aldrig kommit. Jag var oerhört nära en gång, men jag vågade inte eftersom jag skulle flyga tre timmar senare. Blotta tanken att ha en exploderande mage på tiotusen meters höjd tilltalade mig inte alls.

En sagesman säger att tusenårsäggen tillreds utan kokning genom att läggas i olika marinader och därigenom nå sin speciella fasthet, form och färger. En annan hävdar att en av marinaderna till stor del består av hästurin. Man kan säga att den sista upplysningen har fått mig att tveka en aning då det gäller att testa denna kinesiska kulinariska läckerhet. I Shanghai nöjde jag mig med soyamarmorerade vaktelägg, tillsammans med grönt té, intaget på tehuset nära Yu Yuanträdgården i gamla Shanghai.

Under gårdagskvällen låg jag och läste i Qui Xiaolongs utmärkta deckare "The Mandarine Dress" och där lät huvudpersonen Chen Cao duka upp följande läckerheter: "Friterade gåsfötter, inlagda sparvtungor, råa fiskläppar, friterad och ångkokt orm och levande kokta räkor (som för övrigt ska ätas levande, men lite bedövade av den ånheta soppvattnet; enligt Qui kittlar det och skrapar en aning då de tar sig ner i halsen, en inte helt angenäm känsla). Så även om jag ätit en avsevärd mängd kinesiska specialiteter, så finns det ännu många kvar...

Perfect Symmetry

How would you look if you were perfectly symmetrical? It is said that our sense of beauty is based on symmetry, which makes the most appriciated and beautiful people to common understanding the ones that have symmetric faces and bodies. The Hunchback of Notre Dame is not assymetrical by chance, but he is equipped with those features to make him ugly and repulsive.

The photo above is made by duplicating one side of my face. Did it make me more beautiful and goodlooking? Well I am not to be the judge of that, but think of the industry that might develop from this idea; to surgically reproduce similar halves of people's faces...

Stunning, but I guess everything is possible in the age of ridiculous economics, or as Jean-Baptiste Say would have put it: "Supply creates its own demand."

Election results from Mongolïa 2009

As one easily can see from the map above the Presidential Election result is very clear and easy to analyze. What is difficult though, is to forecast the consequences the result is going to have for the Mongolian people.

Elbegdorj won the Ulaanbaatar and eight aimags, while Enkhbayar largely won the countryside and secured 13 aimags. This largely confirms previous analysis of where the opposing sides have their core areas and main supporters.

The consequences of the changed policies since the downfall of the Soviet Union and when democratic reforms started, has been similar to several other post-communist states. The winners are relatively young people in urban areas, while the losers are people stuck in the countryside. You can say a lot of the Soviet style economy established in Mongolian, as the first development project of the Soviet Union. But it created a functioning economy for the people in the rural areas and provided them with publicly financed salary, education and health care.

The market economy reforms destroyed this and consequently the democratic opposition that ruled between 1996 and 2000 are blamed for this. This a phenomenon that makes them unpopular in rural areas. This might be unfair, as the former communist party, the MPRP, has basically followed similar policies, after their parliamentary election victory in 2000. This is interesting in itself because it is the providers of foreign aid and international development loans that in practice determines the Mongolian economic policy. Making it hard for Mongolian politicians to engage in policies that opposes demands of the aid and loan providers.

In this election Ts. Elbergdorj’s party, the MNDP, succeeded in getting the upper hand of Enkhbayar’s MPRP. In comparison Elbegdorj won the capital Ulaanbaatar with 55.6 percent of the votes, against Enkhbayar’s 43.2 percent. In the rest of the country it was tougher for Elbegdorj and in total he secured 51.2 percent nationally, while Enkhbayar got 47.4 percent.

The analysis also holds for Mongolia’s second largest city Darkhan. Elbegdorj won Darkhan with 51.9 percent, against Enkhbayar’s 47.1. In the surrounding aimag, Selenge, Elbegdorj won with 49.5 percent, against Enkhbayar’s 48.9 percent.

The election is thereby over and Mongolia has a new president in Ts. Elbegdorj, and the important issue is what the new president is going to do with his newly won presidency? Is Elbegdorj going to grove and become a real statesman and engage in a policy for the benefit of the Mongolian people, or is he going to have his vengeance on the MPRP for how it has acted during earlier periods?

There are two aspects of this. First, we have the delicate situation in the Mongolian parliament, where the MNDP and the MPRP have joined in a so called great coalition. If this initiated by Elbegdorj’s victory in the presidential election should break up, then we have a situation similar to the one between 1997 and 2000, when the Democratic Alliance ruled with less than the required qualified majority, and where the MPRP president N. Bagabandi vetoed important decisions in the parliament, forcing the DA to change prime minister no less than four times. Elbegdorj have the same situation if the MNDP MP’s leave the government.

Second, this means that Elbegdorj’s power in this context is merely negative and defensive, as he cannot create a policy of his own, only stop MPRP from fulfilling its policy goals. This means that if Elbegdorj chooses this path he creates a situation where Mongolian politics becomes locked into a stalemate until a new election for parliament could be held.

The other path for Elbegdorj is to become Elbegdorj, the statesman and persuade his MNDP colleagues to remain in the coalition government. This is the more constructive path. What seems unlikely for him to choose this path is that his voters might be disappointed and that Elbegdorj’s main argument in the election was CHANGE… and keeping the coalition indicates business as usual.

The big issues therefore are: What is Elbegdorj going to do? What is the MNDP MPs going to do?

Shanghajad i Shanghai

Sent sextiotal kom en hit med Nazareth som hette "Shanghai'd in Shanghai" och minner om tider då illa tålda skeppare skaffade sig besättningar genom att knacka fulla sjömän i huvudet och ta ombord dem i medvetslöst tillstånd. Ett slags tvångsarbete, alltså.
Den senaste veckan har vi tillbringat i Shanghai och där genom de kinesiska myndigheternas försorg varit förhindrade att blogga. Blogspot har helt enkelt varit blockerad. Shanghai är på många sätt en trevlig stad och i morse åkte vi tidigt ut till flygplatsen och tänkte på så sätt smita undan den ohemult dyra hotellfrukosten, bara för att råka ut för en ännu dyrare ute på flygplatsen Pudong. 400 SEK för frukost för två personer; och det utan champagne!!! Snacka om att bli Pudongad på Pudong!