No news is good news

Both of my loyal readers will have already noted the lack of decent pictures for the last few weeks. In a case of blatant stupidity I managed to have our camera stolen. UN-attended bag, if anyone is keeping score. My first loss to theft after nearly a year, so not such a bad record, but we miss it dearly. Old Lenin here is actually pertinent to the story. His statue stands in courtyard where the rioting took place tuesday evening. I'm a bit at a loss, that it is still standing. Rumor has it, the more militant types tried to break into a building with a tractor, I though old Vladimir Ilych would have come down this time. Someone explain this to me, please.



Very Quiet on the streets last night, but curfew or not they weren’t empty. The text of the state of emergency message points to only ID being needed to be out at night, but I think I would still need a reason. Yahoo news headlines make it sound as though the city is under martial law with troops on every corner. Not. The BBC’s coverage has been tops since yesterday afternoon and not surprisingly they have my favorite author of things Mongolian on the scene. His by-line made it to their page HERE. Micheal Kohn is the author of “DateLine Mongolia”, written during his tenure as editor of the Mongol Messenger. I owe him for filling in a lot of blanks in my knowledge of local politics, religion and its relation to social and political life, and what is was like here shortly after the transition to democratic rule.

I had a few thoughts from the aftermath of the riot for todays blog, but unfortunately Mr Kohn stole my thunder in his article today. No biggee, at least know I have a reasonable idea that my ideas were on a sound track. I will leave it to him to relate the various theories and explanations of the alleged fraud, as I am not in the know on that. I’m more of a vodka and bullets sort of guy.

One item I will mention is the forbearance by the authorities in the mid stages of the riot. At the time, I was waiting for the police to form a line and charge with nightsticks, but didn’t have a full grasp as to the great numbers of demonstrators. A Boston PD style cavalry charge might have cleared the area, but Mongolian horses are just too short for that sort of action. The Doctor was of the opinion they should have dropped a few with bullets to the head in the early going, but that just isn’t in the Mongolian Psyche. They will always have more deaths from natural causes, accidents, drunken brawls than in the west, but that has more to do with the developing status of the country. Poor forecasting, a somewhat caviler attitude to driving (that is the understatement of the year, but my views on Mongolian driving are known). The difference between accidents and the willful taking of life is huge to Mongolians. It isn’t just my wife and family, I saw it in the wholesale sacking of the ministries responsible for the fire fighting helicopter crash last summer. And that was a case of poor control from above which led to bad decisions by the pilot resulting in the loss of nearly the entire team and flight crew. The idea of police firing on protesters is not in the picture. Think political suicide by the ruling party.

We’ll see how the five deaths pan out. The reports now are leaning to shooting occurring as late night partiers attempted to storm a police station. That occurred after the degree and would fit in with the announced terms, so should be acceptable to the population. My dear wife was greatly saddened to hear of the deaths, but she is a sensitive soul and isn’t used to the daily body counts from the US papers. A little secret, I’ll keep to myself for the moment. Maine is more or less free from that sort of thing anyway.

As for today. Rainy and quiet this morning. I’m expecting more of the same, as I walk around today. Unfortunately, I have things to do and one by product of the main street closure, is a serious lack of cabs. It is a warm rain, however, and might taper off. I was on the back alleys and the main streets yesterday and saw only day to day life and some somber looks by the people gazing at the torched buildings. Certainly, no animosity. Of course, the rioters were either sleeping it off or in the pokey. The government has bought themselves some time to sort out the allegations and hopefully they will come up with plausible explanations by the weekend when the vodka stores are due to reopen. For my part, I’ll trade a few days of cold beer for a chance to have a cup of coffee with Mr Kohn, should our paths cross.