All The Things He Said

Or at least most of them, there might be more that didn't make it onto the internet.

The most-covered result of Putin's visit to UB was the uranium treaty proposed by Mongolian PM Bayar. I know this proposed agreement doesn't cover a possible nuclear power plant, but if Russia can build one for Iran, why not build one for Mongolia too? Mongolia has long-since declared itself a nuclear-weapons-free zone, so I can't see any harm coming out of this agreement, even if the Uranium is just shipped off to Russia. Russia has as little to gain from nuclear proliferation as does any other power, in my view. Anyway, if this agreement leads to less smog in UB in the winter or more sustainable mining in Mongolia then I'm all for it. If it means the Russian companies involved suck all the uranium out of the ground, poison the countryside, and flee without giving anything back to the Mongolian people, then obviously that would not be so good. I'll have wait to see how RosAtom actually conducts itself, if the treaty even becomes a reality, before passing judgment.

However, as you might expect, the bigger deal for me was the agreement for a new joint-venture on the railroads. We now know a little bit more about the details of the project. Apparently this new thing will be an "upgrade" of the existing rail network, but may also include extensions to huge-money mining sites like Tavan Tolgoi. If I understand things right, those were more or less the goals of the American-funded project, recently shut down at least in part by Russian interests. (Update: Both projects are focusing on the UB Rail) I am very suspicious now of the timing of both events. Today it looks to me like Russia interests are trying to exercise undue influence over Mongolia's future development in the ares of infrastructure and trade. The Russian half of UB Rail could have done any number of things over the last few years to save the American project, or cancel it at a time when cancellation would have looked very honest and reasonable. Instead, they waited until the American-funded project was already well underway, and until Putin was about to swoop in and dump Russian money on Mongolia, to pull the plug.

This might just be limited to the railways. Perhaps someone involved in UBRail has Putin's or Medvedev's ear and had personal reasons (from greed to xenophobia) for keeping his or her firm free of American influence. If that's the case, then it's an unfortunate incident of corporate interest trumping public good. Alternatively, this might be the opening salvo in a state-orchestrated campaign of Russia pushing American influence out of Mongolia. Either way, it's a sad state of affairs. Unfortunately, with the resources available to me, I can't prove anything, and any conclusions I draw must be regarded as mere speculation.

Anyway, other items discussed included training of Mongolian military personnel in Russia and future Mongolian involvement in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization which currently surrounds, but does not include, Mongolia. I'm pretty sure Mongolian personnel get training just about everywhere, so the former item isn't anything new. The latter is more interesting, as the SCO is sometimes regarded as a future counterweight to NATO. It's not anywhere close to that level of intense military partnership today, but I think Mongolia might have more to gain as an Asian Switzerland than as a minion-level partner to its colossal neighbors.

Lastly, perhaps the funniest moment of the trip (that I'm aware of at least) was when Comrade GDP announced that he would join an expedition along the Silk Road. He said this "without irony." As if that's any different from normal.