American Buddhist Net

By Irja Halasz

ULAN BATOR, July 4 (Reuters) - Mongolia's opposition has called for a re-run of Sunday's election in some areas, in a challenge to preliminary results that showed the ruling Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) won a majority in parliament.

Allegations of cheating in the poll led stone-throwing mobs to set the MPRP headquarters on fire on Tuesday in a night of violence that killed five and prompted the president to impose a four-day state of emergency.

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Jul 3, 2008
By Irja Halasz

ULAN BATOR (Reuters) - Mongolian officials cleared away debris left by a night of deadly riots as parliament convened an extraordinary session on Thursday to decide how to move forward after violence over alleged election fraud.

The violence that followed Sunday's vote has dampened hopes for a period of stable government to develop the mining sector and tackle inflation in the vast but thinly populated country, strategically sandwiched between China and Russia.

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July 3, 2008
By JIM YARDLEY

BEIJING — Armed soldiers enforced martial law on the streets of Mongolia’s capital on Wednesday, a day after five people were killed as hundreds angered by election results rioted, Mongolian state news media reported.

President Nambaryn Enkhbayar responded to the unrest by declaring a national state of emergency late Tuesday.

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The Associated Press
Published: July 1, 2008

ULAN BATOR, Mongolia: The president of Mongolia declared a four-day state of emergency in the capital early Wednesday after angry protesters clashed with the police and stormed the headquarters of the governing political party, alleging fraud in the weekend parliamentary election.

The decree by President Nambaryn Enkhbayar allows the police to use force in dealing with thousands of rock-throwing protesters who mobbed the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party headquarters Tuesday and set it on fire. The crowd had not dispersed by Tuesday night, despite repeated volleys of tear gas and rubber bullets and the use of water cannons.

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Compare to the USA, which experienced election fraud in 2000 and 2004. ABN
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Tue Jul 1, 2008
By Irja Halasz

ULAN BATOR, July 1 (Reuters) - Protesters alleging fraud in Mongolia's weekend election clashed with police and set fire to the headquarters of the ruling party on Tuesday, and the leader of the opposition said he would not accept the projected outcome.

Witnesses said windows were smashed and black smoke was billowing out of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) building in the capital, Ulan Bator, and thousands more were gathered on the main square in the heart of the city.

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ULAN BATOR (AFP) — Thousands of people staged a violent protest in Mongolia's capital on Tuesday as they voiced outrage over what they claimed were rigged elections, forcing police to fire gunshots, witnesses said.

The headquarters of the former communist Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party was set alight, with Prime Minister Sanjagiin Bayar believed to be inside, according to the witnesses at the building.

The protesters from the rival Democratic Party, which claims the MPRP bought votes and used other tactics to win Sunday's election, threw stones at firefighters who arrived to put out the blaze.

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“My name is surrounded with such hate and fear that no one can judge what is true and what is false, what is history, and what is myth.”
– Baron Roman Fedorovich von Ungern-Sternberg, 1921

June 30th, 2008

“In Mongolia, there was a legend of the warrior prince, Beltis-Van. Noted for his ferocity and cruelty, he spilled “floods of human blood before he found his death in the mountains of Uliasutay.” His slayers interred the corpses of the Prince and his followers deep in earth, covered the graves with heavy stones, and added “incantations and exorcism lest their spirits again break out, carrying death and destruction.” These measures, it was prophesied, would bind the terrible spirits until human blood once more fell upon the site.

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Monday, 23 June 2008

In 1990 Mongolia abandoned its 70-year-old Soviet-style one-party state and embraced political and economic reforms.

Democracy and privatisation were enshrined in a new constitution, but the collapse of the economy after the withdrawal of Soviet support triggered widespread poverty and unemployment.

Once the heartland of an empire stretching to Europe under Genghis Khan, Mongolia is a landlocked country dominated by sparsely populated steppe and semi-desert.

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Sun, Jun. 22, 2008
By Steven Rea

'You know that Genghis Khan is one of the most unpopular names in Russia," says filmmaker Sergei Bodrov. "We Russians spent 250 years under Mongolian rule, so we still blame Mongols for all our problems. I read about Genghis Khan, of course, in my school books, and he is portrayed very badly. He is an evil warmonger, and so on.

"But I became suspicious, because I didn't think he was born as a monster, and I found interesting stories about his childhood, and the young years of his life."

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June 19, 2008

Ulaanbaatar, /MONTSAME/. An opening ceremony of international forum of the ''Sakyadita'' international organization of Buddhist women will be held July 1 in the central cultural center of Ulaanbaatar.

The forum activities will be arranged on July 1-5 in the Mongol Palace in Gachuurt village to hold discussions and meetings on wide range issues related to Buddhist women's entering the international association, to religious education and trainings, gender equality, custom of other confessions, improvement of solidarity and relations and to keeping peace worldwide under Buddha teachings. The forum will be attended by many Mongolian highly educated and famous women.

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N. Enkhbayar has been the President of Mongolia since 2005. Mongolia’s strong Buddhist tradition has implied rich cultural and historical ties with India.

Sunday, June 15, 2008
Nadine Kreisberger

What does spirituality mean to you?

I spent my student years in Moscow, where finding the meaning of life is the most common topic of conversation. Russians love asking metaphysical questions. As I was trying to find answers too, I felt I should go back and look at my roots, explore the Mongolian culture and identity. This is how I really discovered the beautiful world of Buddhism, and through it, developed my understanding of spirituality. Rather than escaping the world to find peace and quiet in other realms, for me it is very much about dealing with this reality, and trying to transform it, helping others. So spirituality is about understanding who I am and where I come from, finding the right place for me here and now, while forming a vision of what tomorrow ought to be.

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A new film reignites debate about the ruler who saw the future of globalization

Jun 15, 2008 04:30 AM
Olivia Ward

The name Genghis Khan conjures up central-casting images of a bone-headed warlord, one who fights for the sheer pleasure of torturing, pillaging and killing on a vast scale.

Yet scholars who have pored over Mongol histories say the 12th- and 13th-century conqueror was not the cave man he's been labelled – that he was, in fact, a strangely modern leader more in tune with the 21st century than many of his "civilized" contemporaries.

And, they add, Mongol, a movie that opened in Toronto this month, doesn't begin to do him justice.

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5/25/2008

A statistical approach to studying genetic variation promises to shed new light on the history of human migration.

Scientists from the University of Oxford and University College Cork have developed a technique that analyses shared parts of chromosomes across the entire human genome.

The new method has already turned up some surprises including a strong Mongolian contribution to the genes of the Native American Pima people and gene flow from the north of Europe to Eastern Siberia. A report of the research appears in this week's PLoS Genetics.

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2008-05-16

Ulaanbaatar, /MONTSAME/ President of Mongolia N.Enkhbayar will take part in the second stage of the camel journey named "Mongolian Gobi--Silk road".

The first stage of the journey covered 500 kilometers from Omnogobi aimag's Khanbogd soum to Mandal-Ovoo soum. It is co-organized by the Mongolian Camel Polo Federation and the NGO for Supporting Gobi's Development with an aim to develop a tourism sector and to propagandize a protection for Camelus bactrianus.

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May 7th, 2008
By Don George

Life on the grasslands of Inner Mongolia is hard and brutal, but it embodies an edifying nobility and symmetry too. That's one of the central themes of the electrifying Chinese novel Wolf Totem, written by a publicity-shy, 61-year-old former political science professor at a Beijing university, under the pseudonym Jiang Rong.

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Mar 29, 2008
By MICHAEL CASEY

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) — A rare antelope species already under threat from poaching in Mongolia is facing a new danger — worsening traffic.

As affluent residents acquire motorbikes and cars in parts of western Mongolia, they are clogging roads that run along a key migration route for the saiga which, if not addressed, could reduce their already low numbers, Kim Murray Berger, an ecologist with the Wildlife Conservation Society, said Saturday.

...The saiga — an odd animal which has a deer's body, a camel's head and a bulbous nose — has seen its numbers drop from 1 million in the 1980s to as low as 50,000 in its range, which includes Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and the Russian Republic of Kalmykia.

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Compare to Tibet today. The difference is Mongolia is an independent nation. While Tibet heads deeper into Mongolia's past, Mongolia heads into what one hopes will be the future of Tibet. ABN
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by Stefan Lovgren
12 March 2008

Faith is returning to Mongolia after decades of Soviet repression, and with it reconstructed monasteries.

EG UUR, Mongolia | On the banks of the remote Uur River in northern Mongolia, the Dayan Derkh monastery stands as a testament to Mongolia's religious revival.

This was one of hundreds of Buddhist monasteries destroyed in the 1930s as the Soviet Union brought Mongolia under its control and effectively banned Buddhism here. For decades, Mongolians had to restrict their faith to secret meetings and their gers – the traditional Mongolian felt tent homes.

Since its return to democracy, Mongolia has rediscovered its strong religious heritage and its Buddhist followers are free to attend the scores of ancient monasteries that have been restored across this vast and nomadic nation.

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BY RICK HARNESS
For the Coloradoan

After 12 hours of flying and crossing nine time zones, I could see the Great Wall of China snaking across the mountainous landscape.

However, my excitement was tempered with the realization that my final destination, Mongolia, was still hours away.

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By DAVID L. STERN
Published: February 24, 2008

And you thought Genghis Khan was just the scourge of nations, the slayer of millions. Little did you know that he was, as a young man, a sensitive, enlightened husband and doting father.

That, at least, is how Kazakhstan’s new burgeoning film industry presents him in “Mongol,” one of five films vying tonight for the Oscar for best foreign-language film.

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By Peter Hegarty, STAFF WRITER
Article Created: 02/17/2008 02:37:25 AM PST

... A native of Mongolia, Iko studied English under Barrios-Chacon before enrolling at Alameda High School, where she was earning a 3.3 grade point average in chemistry, choir and other subjects.

"She will never be erased from my memory or my heart," Barrios-Chacon said. "She was such a wonderful student, a wonderful person."

The slaying of Iko — who was 15 when she was killed — left Alameda residents shaken, especially since it occurred on a night when children are on the streets, expecting to have fun.

Her death was also the first of three shootings over the past few months involving Bay Area Mongolians.

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07.02.2008

ULAN-UDE, February 7 (Itar-Tass) - Buddhists from all over Russia have been celebrating the New Year - the Year of the Earth Rat by the Chinese Zodiac, on Thursday. Russian Chief Buddhist Pandito Khamba-Lama Damba Ayusheyev has announced the beginning of the New Year, speaking at the residence of the Russian Buddhist Church early on Thursday.

Buddhist astrologists promised that the Year of the Rat would bring good harvest and welfare to all. Nevertheless, nature will surprise people, it will be hot and rainy in summer, with scarce snow in winter and strong winds in spring, they said.

On Thursday, Buddhist believers have been celebrating Sagaalgan - one of the best loved holidays among the people belonging to the Mongolian language family. The tradition of celebrating Sagaalgan goes deep into the past. In Middle Ages it was celebrated early in spring as was ordered by Chingiz Khan’s grandson Hubilai Khan. During the years of Soviet atheism attempts were made to abolish Sagaalgan as a rudiment of Buddhist religion. It was only in 1991 that Buryatia gave the Buddhist holiday a state status and declared it a day off.

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Maria Golovnina, Reuters
Published: Friday, January 25, 2008

DOLAN, Kazakhstan (Reuters) - Khulan Chuluun, the Mongolian female lead in the Oscar-nominated Kazakh film "Mongol," says she never wanted to be an actress. She wanted to be a soldier.

"I wanted to be in the army, to study in a military school," the 23-year-old told Reuters in a country villa in the icy hills of south Kazakhstan where "Mongol" was partly shot.

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December 22, 2007 20:23]
By Phurbu Thinley

Dharamsala, December 22: His Holiness the Dalai Lama began a five-day teaching at the Main Temple (Tsuglagkhang) at the request of Gandan Thegchenling Monastery of Ulan Bator, Mongolia.

After the five days' teachings, on the morning of December 27, the Mongolian Buddhist group will organise a long life offering ceremony to the Tibetan spiritual leader.

Some 250 Buddhists from Mongolia, mainly monks from the monastery, are attending the teachings. Hundreds of Tibetans and, a sizeable Buddhists from Korea and western countries, and some Chinese Buddhists attended the first day teaching here today.

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An installation of rare and exquisitely decorated armor, weapons, and equestrian equipment from Tibet and culturally related areas of Mongolia and China will go on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Featuring approximately 35 objects dating from the 15th to the 20th century, Tibetan Arms and Armor from the Permanent Collection will explore this little known aspect of Tibet's rich artistic and historic culture.

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Picture this: In the foot of the Balkan Mountain, in Central Bulgaria, tourists gather for an authentic taste. But not of the quant villages scattered in the skirts of the mountain. Rather, for an authentic taste of Mongolia.

The recent move of six Mongolians who set up their yurts on a meadow near the town of Sopot created an exotic island where visitors can experience the tastes, smells and images of Mongolia, the land of Genghis Khan.

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