July 10, 2004
HISTORY'S EVEN OVER IN ULAN BATOR:
Mongolia's Giant Steppe for Democracy (John J. Tkacik, Jr., July 9, 2004, Heritage)
Democracy in Asia has been full of irony of late. Last week, up to half a million people took to the streets in Hong Kong to protest China's decision that one of the world's most modern cities is still not ready for democracy. Meanwhile the predominantly pastoral population of formerly Communist Mongolia reveled in their democratic freedoms by voting in the country's eighth general election since 1990.The surprisingly strong performance by a coalition of democratic candidates in Mongolia's June 27 polls was not just another milestone for democracy in the vast steppes of that sparsely populated nation of nomadic herders. It also showed how -- not withstanding Beijing's attempts to pretend otherwise -- democracy can rapidly take root in even the most traditional of Asian societies. [...]
Regardless of which party eventually forms the next government, the continued success of Mongolia's democracy is good news for the U.S., since the country is one of America's most important friends in Central Asia. Mongolia is on its third rotation of a 130-man peacekeeping team in Iraq, which U.S. marine officers describe as "man-for-man a value-added partner" in the country. In February, a Mongolian sergeant shot and killed a suicide bomber outside the Multinational Division barracks in al-Hillah, just south of Baghdad. Last month Mongol troopers defused a terrorist explosive intended for U.S. Marines.
Despite pressure from both China and Russia to distance itself from the U.S., Mongolia remains a staunch ally. And Bush administration officials have long seen the country's maturing democratic culture, its popular elections and movement toward free markets as an example for the rest of Central Asia -- a region not known for its surfeit of democracies -- to follow.
Next week, U.S. President George W. Bush will welcome Mongolian President Natsagiyn Bagabandi to Washington and reaffirm American support for Central Asia's most vibrant democracy.
Don't they know that the Oriental mind is naturally hostile to freedom? Posted by Orrin Judd at July 10, 2004 2:52 PM
The Mongols had something closer to a democracy in the 13th century than anybody else at the time.
It didn't make them good neighbors, though.
Luckily, Moslem slaves saved the world from them.
Funny how history works out sometimes.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at July 11, 2004 2:05 PMThe Mongols could no more succeed than the Soviets or Nazis--the sooner you figure that out the less mysterious history will seem to you.
Posted by: oj at July 11, 2004 2:15 PMIt isn't mysterious to me at all, just indeterminate.
The Mongol system certainly succeeded for a long time v. the Russians, despite their Christianity.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at July 11, 2004 4:35 PMThen failed, because not Christian, as Russia failed when it ceased to be.
Posted by: oj at July 11, 2004 4:45 PMRussia was Christian when the Mongols arrived. Didn't do 'em much good, did it?
Posted by: Harry Eagar at July 12, 2004 2:19 PMThey became a great nation--the Mongols never made it out of yurts.
Posted by: oj at July 12, 2004 2:32 PMPalace at Peking?
World's biggest navy?
The Mongols had, for the time, probably the most efficient bureaucracy on the planet.
It's true they preferred yurts. Like you, they disliked cities.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at July 13, 2004 12:23 AMBureaucracy isn't civilization. They left no mark on the world.
Posted by: oj at July 13, 2004 12:25 AMWhat are the great novels, symphonies, paintings, philosophies, religions of the Mongols? They added nothing.
Posted by: oj at July 13, 2004 2:56 PM