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The chaos theory of Mongolia

I returned to Mongolia 15 years ago after an absence of 13 years, save for the occasional 2-week leave from work, and that time I spent a semester and a half at a local university drinking endless cups of brown, watery 150 Tugrik instant MaCcoffee at the cafĂ© strangely, or perhaps egotistically, named "In my memory", writing the first and so far the only book that got us into trouble with the local intelligence who apparently had little else to do than to pore through the ramblings of teenagers to catch the tell-tale signs of drug dealery. But I digress. When you visit a country for a short period, be it home or not, you hardly have time to immerse yourself in the spirit of the country and the city and feel the nitty gritty and dirty shiny of it all. So after 13 years, it took me a while to readjust and finally understand what the hometown of my childhood had become.  The most striking, ubiquitous, and inescapable feature was and still, unfortunately, is the traffic. In 2008,

Garry Kasparov and Mongolia

I remember this incident. In a 1989 Playboy interview, Garry Kasparov, the Soviet chess champion, commented that USSR should sell Mongolia off to China. Given his political savvy, one wonders the wisdom of him running for the Russian presidency. Of course, one might forgive him for his unwise comments, he was only 25 and it was an interview with "Playboy"... which.. I mean, it's Playboy. Of course, the Mongolians didn't forgive him. Letters of petition and complaint were sent to the Soviet embassy. Apologies followed, by Soviet diplomats. Kasparov remained quiet. NY Times ran an article on Mongolia in 1990, where they also mention Kasparov's diplomatic blunder, while noting our peaceful transition to democracy as compared to the rest of the Communist world.

Below is an excerpt from "Truth, History and Politics in Mongolia: The Memory of Heroes" by Christopher Kaplonski, which I found on Google Book Search.

"The increasingly vocal discontentment with the government and Soviet influence boiled over in late December. Gary Kasparov, the chess champion, commented in a Playboy interview that the Soviet Union would solve some of its economic troubles by selling off Mongolia to China. Mongols, not unexpectedly, were outraged at this. According to articles at Unen, petition and letters signed by "many thousands" of Mongols were sent to the Soviet Embassy and the four consular offices (Unen 1990a). At multiple press conferences, a spokesman for the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed regret at the statement and reiterated that this was not official Soviet policy."

Read more from this book on Google Book Search

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