Pleased to welcome @CurtinUni students to Mongolia! 🇦🇺 🇲🇳
The students will undertake a community development project outside Ulaanbaatar, strengthening people-to-people links between Australia and Mongolia.
We are honored to have an American band headline our Sound of America concert during America Days. Please give a warm welcome to the Eighth Army Band! Don’t miss a chance to see them live this Saturday and Sunday on Sukhbaatar Square. See the full schedule of events here: https://t.co/bqHSHdvJT8
Russia announces that it will systematically bomb Kyiv, including diplomatic missions.
Trump & the US do not even protest.
Trump is the greatest coward the US has ever had as president.
Every year, this has to be the one report I look forward to the most: the Democracy Perception Index, compiled by the Alliance of Democracies Foundation (in partnership with Nita Data).
In fact, my yearly thread on the report is apparently such a tradition that, this year, its lead researcher personally sent me the report with this message: "every year, I look forward to your thread about it!". That's how you start wondering whether you tweet too much 😅
Why do I like this report so much? A few reasons:
1) The Alliance of Democracies Foundation, the organization behind the report, cannot even remotely be suspected of being some sort of anti-West outlet: it was started by an ex-NATO Secretary General (Anders Fogh Rasmussen) and its stated purpose is "to unite world democracies"
2) It's surprisingly honest and the methodology is actually democratic. Unlike other reports on democracy the scoring isn't done by the report's authors (like the report by Freedom House or The Economist's "Democracy Index"). It simply asks people what they think and, when it comes to democracy, that's kind of the point 🤷♂️
3) I love the expression "perception is reality" because, like it or not, what people believe about their system is what determines its legitimacy. A democracy that nobody actually experiences as one can't credibly claim to be one. And conversely, a so-called "autocracy" that its people overwhelmingly believe is actually a democracy might... actually be a democracy.
Anyhow, this year's edition did not disappoint. The data is absolutely fascinating and frankly, a little terrifying. So here you go: my thread on the 2026 Democracy Perception Index 🧵
“There is absolutely zero evidence that Vladimir Putin is ready to change course.” Expert @AlexGabuev tells me that dissatisfaction is growing in Russia, but it won’t lead to any change in Putin’s course over Ukraine.
Most of the world is already below replacement. Meaning we don't make enough babies. Global population shrinkage is a guaranteed event at this point. You can like this, you can dislike this but be assured that we haven't invented the economic model yet to make this new reality work.
🇹🇯 🇰🇬 Soviet architecture vanishes as Central Asia drifts from Moscow
Over the past decade, Central Asia has shown little interest in preserving its Soviet heritage. Architectural landmarks and art, including mosaics, frescoes and sculptures, have been rapidly demolished.
While filming a movie in 2014, Jackie Chan sang "Rolling in the Deep" with a group of Mongolian locals after finding out that they knew the song by heart, even though they don’t speak English 😁
It was never part of the movie script.
•Reconstrução facial de um homem Xiongnu que viveu no século III a.C., o corpo dele foi encontrado no sítio arqueológico de Ilmovaya Pad, localizado na região russa da Buriácia 🇷🇺
Link do perfil responsável pela reconstrução: @Sulkalmakh
@UNCCD@UNCCDcso@UNEP@UNHumanRights ‼️#Mongolia is hosting #COP17 (17-28 August) to combat #desertification. Yet, the authorities allow cutting off trees and bushes of #RiverTuul - the only surviving river in the city - in order to build a highway. This destruction of environment and desertification must STOP‼️
#RestoringLand
#RestoringHope
#SaveTuulGol
In Mongolia, we are protesting against our city mayor’s brutal decision to destroy the Tuul River. Mayor Nyambaatar has started a new project to build a highway along the Tuul River. Because of this project the river will be ruined.
#savetuul#WorldWaterDay#WaterDay#saveWater