Podcasts about Irkutsk

An interview with Pavel Kalinin,  CTO at OutThere Astronautics, a New Zealand startup focusing on the development of optical communications systems for space applications.Pavel was born in Irkutsk, Siberia, Russia. He came to New Zealand with his family when he was 5 years old. Pavel has a degree in physics as well as aerospace engineering from the University of Auckland. While at the university, he participated in the Auckland Programme for Space Systems (APSS) competition where his team's proposal was selected to begin building a cubesat to send into Low Earth Orbit. ResourcesAuckland University Program on Space Systems (APSS)University of Auckland Velocity ChallengeMark Rober (Youtube)The Martian by Andrew WeirHosts:  SpaceBase Founder Emeline Paat-DahlstromSupport the showSupport the show

He was born in Siberia in 1797 to a clerical family, and became a married parish priest in Irkutsk. A devout explorer, John Kriukov, told him of the great spiritual needs among the Russian and native peoples in Alaska, then Russian territory. Moved to serve Christ in this very difficult environment, he and his family arrived in Alaska in 1824. He quickly learned the Aleut language and worked humbly and tirelessly among the Aleuts. His spiritual classic, An Indication of the Way to the Kingdom of Heaven, was originally written in Aleut and later translated into many languages.   While he was visiting Russia in 1838, his wife died; one year later he was tonsured a monk and given the name of Innocent (he had been Fr John Veniaminov). Almost immediately after his tonsuring he was, without warning, raised to the rank of Bishop of all Eastern Siberia and Russian America, probably the largest diocese in the world at that time. Returning to Alaska, he continued his missionary work with vigor, often traveling among Aleut and Tlingit settlements in his own kayak. Wherever he went, he found the Alaskan people hungry for the faith, and his labors bore rich fruit which is still obvious today: Alaska has more Orthodox churches per capita than any other state.   In old age he was made Metropolitan of Moscow, head of the entire Russian Orthodox Church. His concern for Christian mission was undiminished, and as Metropolitan he created the Orthodox Missionary Society. He reposed on Holy Saturday of 1879.

VOV1 - Sáng nay, chuyến bay charter số hiệu ZF2577 của Hãng hàng không Azu Air LLC đưa hơn 230 du khách Nga từ Irkutsk hạ canh xuống sân bay quốc tế Cam Ranh, đánh dấu sự trở lại mạnh mẽ của du khách Nga đến Khánh Hòa và góp phần thúc đẩy sự phục hồi của ngành du lịch Nha Trang.- Chủ trì cuộc làm việc với Tiểu ban Kinh tế - Xã hội Đại hội 14 của Đảng, Tổng Bí thư Tô Lâm nêu rõ, báo cáo Kinh tế - Xã hội phải là cẩm nang hành động hiện thực hóa mục tiêu đưa đất nước phát triển.   -  Kinh tế tư nhân hiện đóng góp khoảng 50% GDP của nền kinh tế, hơn 56% tổng vốn đầu tư toàn xã hội và tạo ra hơn 82% việc làm cho xã hội. Đây là động lực quan trọng cho phát triển kinh tế. Chương trình hôm nay xin trân trọng giới thiệu toàn văn bài viết  của Tổng bí thư Tô Lâm nhan đề "Phát triển kinh tế tư nhân - Đòn bẩy cho một Việt Nam thịnh vượng".- Hơn 230 khách du lịch Nga đến Nha Trang bằng chuyến bay thuê bao chuyến, đánh dấu sự phục hồi mạnh mẽ của ngành du lịch.Đây là chuyến bay thuê bao đầu tiên đưa du khách Nga tới Nha Trang –Khánh Hòa. Chuyến bay do Công ty TNHH Anex Việt Nam khai thác. Ngay sau chuyến bay này, doanh nghiệp du lịch sẽ vận hành trở lại các chuyến bay thuê bao nối 11 thành phố của Liên bang Nga với sân bay quốc tế Cam Ranh.Trong tháng 3, dự kiến sẽ có 12 chuyến, sau đó, số chuyến bay tăng dần, đạt cao điểm vào mùa đông. Khách Nga đi theo chương trình du lịch trọn gói với các điểm lưu trú, tham quan nổi tiếng tại Nha Trang – Khánh Hòa. Khôi phục thị trường khách du lịch Nga sẽ góp phần giúp ngành du lịch tỉnh Khánh Hòa đạt mục tiêu 11,8 triệu lượt khách, trong đó, hơn 5 triệu lượt khách quốc tế.-  Tổng thống Mỹ Donald Trump tuyên bố không có ngoại lệ đối với thuế thép và nhôm, đồng thời áp thuế đối ứng và thuế theo lĩnh vực từ ngày 2/4 tới.

fWotD Episode 2845: 2016 Irkutsk mass methanol poisoning Welcome to Featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia’s finest articles.The featured article for Monday, 17 February 2025 is 2016 Irkutsk mass methanol poisoning.In December 2016, over 70 people died of methanol poisoning in the Russian city of Irkutsk. Precipitated by the consumption of adulterated surrogate alcohol, it was the deadliest such incident in Russia's post-Soviet history.Russian consumption of surrogate alcohol rose rapidly in the early 2010s amid worsening economic conditions. Surrogates cost less than government-regulated vodka and were commonly available from supermarkets, small shops, and vending machines. In the Irkutsk incident, people drank hawthorn-scented bath oil with the brand name boyaryshnik. While the product was typically made with and labeled as containing drinkable ethanol, at least one batch was made instead with a toxic amount of methanol. The resulting poisoning led to dozens of casualties and deaths among residents of the Novo-Lenino neighborhood in Irkutsk. A subsequent government investigation found that the surrogate alcohol's producer sourced the methanol from an employee of a local windshield washer fluid production facility. In response to the poisoning, in mid-2017 the Russian government increased legal punishments for illegally producing and selling alcohol and made it more difficult to acquire surrogate alcohols.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:21 UTC on Monday, 17 February 2025.For the full current version of the article, see 2016 Irkutsk mass methanol poisoning on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm standard Ivy.

Send us a textVasily Popov ( https://entities-meta.com/index_en.html ) is a contemporary artist, not afraid to go beyond the boundaries of traditional art, using new technologies and formats to express his ideas, combining the talents of a poet, artist, and innovator in the field of art and technology. Mr. Popov's many achievements include:- As a Poet: authoring five books of poetry, testifying to his deep creative potential and love for words;- As an Artist: creating more than 300 canvases, demonstrating a variety of techniques and styles in the visual arts;- As an Innovator: launching the world's first NFT (non-fungible token) into real space on the International Space Station (ISS), a very unique event at the intersection of art, technology and space, which highlights his desire for experimentation and innovation.Mr. Popov has won many of prestigious awards and his contribution to culture and art is recognized at a high level.  He is a laureate of the Bunin Prize in Literature, a laureate of the Lermontov Prize, and a winner of the Grand Prix of the literary forum "Golden Knight". Mr. Popov also serves as a Member of the Union of Writers of Russia, and serves as a secretary of the board of this organization.Mr. Popov attended the Siberian Institute of Law, Economics and Management, Irkutsk, Russian Federation and the Gorky Literary Institute, Moscow, Russian Federation.This episode is recorded in English And Russian with real-time episode translation by Ms. Victoria Ustimenko Laskina, Preto Business Corp - https://pretobusiness.com/#VasilyPopov #Art #Paintings #Poetry #Space #NFT #ISS #SpaceStation #ElonMusk #OlegArtemyev #Blockchain #NonFungibleToken #Cosmonaut #BaikonurCosmodrome #InternationalSpaceStation  #ProgressPotentialAndPossibilities #IraPastor #Podcast #Podcaster #Podcasting #ViralPodcast #STEM #Innovation #Science #Technology #ResearchSupport the show

Life is full of stories, and whether we like it or not, they happen to us every day. Yes, these stories might sometimes turn out to be life changing events by themselves, but most of the time their impact is felt much smaller. This does not however lessen their importance. In fact, wouldn't it be correct to say that these ‘small stories' are the building blocks that we use to create the person we are today? So how do you tell your own story? Well, sometimes a personal narrative can be made much easier if you create a narrator and in our new podcast; that's exactly what Jeannie McGinnis has done. She uses the character of ‘Kathyrn McKenzie' to tell her diverse stories, ranging from the alluring lights of beauty pageants to a descent into the murky shadows of the Red Light District. From ‘Alaska to Texas' and ‘Irkutsk to Koh Samui'; Kathryn learns from both the mundane and the extraordinary, all the time recounting her humorous and sometimes gritty experiences. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Life is full of stories, and whether we like it or not, they happen to us every day. Yes, these stories might sometimes turn out to be life changing events by themselves, but most of the time their impact is felt much smaller. This does not however lessen their importance. In fact, wouldn't it be correct to say that these ‘small stories' are the building blocks that we use to create the person we are today? So how do you tell your own story? Well, sometimes a personal narrative can be made much easier if you create a narrator and in our new podcast; that's exactly what Jeannie McGinnis has done. She uses the character of ‘Kathyrn McKenzie' to tell her diverse stories, ranging from the alluring lights of beauty pageants to a descent into the murky shadows of the Red Light District. From ‘Alaska to Texas' and ‘Irkutsk to Koh Samui'; Kathryn learns from both the mundane and the extraordinary, all the time recounting her humorous and sometimes gritty experiences. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

HOUR ONE: On a barren field in the U.S. state of Georgia, five granite slabs rise in a star pattern. Each of them weighs over 20 tons and on top of them, there is a capstone. Nobody knows who built it or why they were placed there, but one popular opinion that their purpose is to guide humanity after a predicted post-apocalyptic event that will come in the not so distant future.  (The American Stonehenge) *** When you think "fairies," what comes to mind? You probably picture an adorable and sparkly creature akin to Disney's Tinker Bell, a lovely - and above all, friendly - presence. You may even want to make contact with them. Unfortunately, glittering humanoids with butterfly wings are the stuff of children's books. Retrace faerie folklore, and you'll discover their secret scary origins. (The Dark Side of Fairies) *** In the Summer of 1949, a geologist named Vadim Kolpakov discovered a strange feature on the surface of the earth in the Bodaibo, Irkutsk, region of South-Eastern Siberia.  Encircled by a largely treed area, this anomaly is oval with a conical crater that contains a small ball-like mound in its middle.  The geologic mystery has baffled scientists who are uncertain of what caused this weird formation. (What Caused the Patomskiy Crater) *** Is there any truth behind the enduring legend of the werewolf? 
(Planet Werewolf) *** The Red Pen==========HOUR TWO: Love, money, divorce, anger, and murder. One Pennsylvania family had it all and then some in the late 1800's. (The Butler County Tragedy) *** Count Saint Germain and Jacques Saint Germain, John and Wayne Carter, the Casket Girls of New Orleans. Despite many years between all of their lives, they all still have one grisly thing in common. All were thought to be, and possibly were, real vampires tied to the Big Easy… a place where real blood-suckers continue to live and roam the streets even now in the twenty-first century. (Vampires of New Orleans) *** They have a long history in the United Kingdom, stalking the moors and fog-carpeted streets in the night. But it appears hounds from Hell have also made their way to the Americas. (American Hellhounds)==========SOURCES AND REFERENCES FROM TONIGHT'S SHOW:Big Matt, “Long Road” song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWEvHVz2V6U“American Hellhounds” by Brent Swancer for Mysterious Universe: https://tinyurl.com/yczhkvde“The Butler County Tragedy” by Robert Wilhelm for Murder By Gaslight: https://tinyurl.com/yyn78amz“Vampires of New Orleans” by Brian Harrison for Exemplore: https://tinyurl.com/ycyy4vjpEpisode containing “The Elves of Iceland”: https://weirddarkness.com/?s=Elves+Iceland“Planet Werewolf” by Lea Rose Emery for Graveyard Shift: https://tinyurl.com/vcetp96“The Dark Side of Fairies” by Amber Fua for Ranker: https://tinyurl.com/rbexptk“The American Stonehenge” by Mihai Andrei for ZME Science: https://tinyurl.com/yaogafuz“What Caused the Patomskiy Crater?” by Lochlan McClelland for Historic Mysteries: https://tinyurl.com/wu9r5bc“The Red Pen” by Kjirsty Beth for Paranormality Magazine==========(Over time links seen above may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for material I use whenever possible. If I have overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it immediately. Some links may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)=========="I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46==========WeirdDarkness®, WeirdDarkness© 2024==========To become a Weird Darkness Radio Show affiliate, contact Radio America at affiliates@radioamerica.com, or call 800-807-4703 (press 2 or dial ext 250).

Михаил Кузьмин — доцент кафедры общей психологии ФГБОУ Иркутского государственного университета, научный сотрудник Научного центра проблем здоровья семьи и репродукции человека РАН, практикующий КПТ-терапевт, клинический психолог. С 2005 г. изучает проблему идентичности личности как социальный феномен, как феномен развития, а также нормальные и аномальные аспекты идентичности. Применял эти знания в PR (региональное консалтинговое агентство ООО «Премиум», до 2014 г.), в образовании (Институт развития образования, г. Иркутск, настоящее время), в клинике, науке и практике (ФГБНУ НЦ ПЗСРЧ, лаборатория социально значимых проблем репродуктологии). В настоящее время занимается проблемами психического здоровья при репродуктивных нарушениях и принятием решений в ситуации неопределённости у медицинских работников. Изучает психологию. Преподает психологию. Практикует психологию. Mikhail Kuzmin, Associate Professor of the Department of General Psychology at the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution Irkutsk State University, a research fellow at the Scientific Center for Family Health and Human Reproduction Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences, practicing CBT therapist, and clinical psychologist. Since 2005, he has been studying the problem of personal identity as a social phenomenon, as a developmental phenomenon, and its normal and abnormal aspects. He applied this knowledge in PR (regional consulting agency LLC "Premium," until 2014), in education (Institute for the Development of Education, Irkutsk, present), in clinical work, science, and practice (FSBSI SC FHHRP, laboratory of socially significant problems in reproductive health). Currently, he is focusing on mental health issues related to reproductive disorders and decision-making under uncertainty among healthcare workers. He studies psychology. He teaches psychology. He practices psychology. FIND MIKHAIL ON SOCIAL MEDIA VKontakte ==================================SUPPORT & CONNECT:Support on Patreon: ⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/denofrich⁠⁠Twitter: ⁠⁠https://twitter.com/denofrich⁠⁠Facebook: ⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/mark.develman/⁠⁠YouTube: ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/denofrich⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/den_of_rich/⁠⁠Hashtag: #denofrichType of unconscious: 11© Copyright 2024 Den of Rich. All rights reserved.

In this episode, we're excited to feature Sergei Solodov and Ekaterina Maslennikova, co-owners of the Fred Astaire Lancaster studio. Sergei, originally from Irkutsk, Russia, has a rich background in dance, starting at age 12 and earning a Specialist degree from the St. Petersburg Lesgaft National State University. He's an elite performer in both Ballroom and Latin styles, recognized with an “M” classification by the Russian Federation of Dancesport. Sergei has competed extensively in the U.S. with Ekaterina, earning accolades such as three-time finalists at the United States Dance Championships and World Champion in Rising Star Smooth style at the Fred Astaire World Championships in 2022.Ekaterina, also from Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, began dancing at age 7 and achieved remarkable success, including World Artistic Dance Championship titles and the WADF World and European Championships. Joining Sergei at Fred Astaire Studios in 2019, Ekaterina has also made significant strides in competitive dance, and together they have triumphed in the U.S. and world stages. Both are passionate about teaching, with a focus on connecting with students and helping them grow. In 2023, Sergei and Ekaterina became co-owners of the Fred Astaire Lancaster studio, where they look forward to sharing their love for dance and enhancing their community's lives.

HOUR ONE: Love, money, divorce, anger, and murder. One Pennsylvania family had it all and then some in the late 1800's. (The Butler County Tragedy) *** Count Saint Germain and Jacques Saint Germain, John and Wayne Carter, the Casket Girls of New Orleans. Despite many years between all of their lives, they all still have one grisly thing in common. All were thought to be, and possibly were, real vampires tied to the Big Easy… a place where real blood-suckers continue to live and roam the streets even now in the twenty-first century. (Vampires of New Orleans) *** They have a long history in the United Kingdom, stalking the moors and fog-carpeted streets in the night. But it appears hounds from Hell have also made their way to the Americas. (American Hellhounds)==========HOUR TWO: On a barren field in the U.S. state of Georgia, five granite slabs rise in a star pattern. Each of them weighs over 20 tons and on top of them, there is a capstone. Nobody knows who built it or why they were placed there, but one popular opinion that their purpose is to guide humanity after a predicted post-apocalyptic event that will come in the not so distant future.  (The American Stonehenge) *** When you think "fairies," what comes to mind? You probably picture an adorable and sparkly creature akin to Disney's Tinker Bell, a lovely - and above all, friendly - presence. You may even want to make contact with them. Unfortunately, glittering humanoids with butterfly wings are the stuff of children's books. Retrace faerie folklore, and you'll discover their secret scary origins. (The Dark Side of Fairies) *** In the Summer of 1949, a geologist named Vadim Kolpakov discovered a strange feature on the surface of the earth in the Bodaibo, Irkutsk, region of South-Eastern Siberia.  Encircled by a largely treed area, this anomaly is oval with a conical crater that contains a small ball-like mound in its middle.  The geologic mystery has baffled scientists who are uncertain of what caused this weird formation. (What Caused the Patomskiy Crater) *** Is there any truth behind the enduring legend of the werewolf? 
(Planet Werewolf) *** The Red Pen==========SOURCES AND REFERENCES FROM TONIGHT'S SHOW:Big Matt, “Long Road” song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWEvHVz2V6U“American Hellhounds” by Brent Swancer for Mysterious Universe: https://tinyurl.com/yczhkvde“The Butler County Tragedy” by Robert Wilhelm for Murder By Gaslight: https://tinyurl.com/yyn78amz“Vampires of New Orleans” by Brian Harrison for Exemplore: https://tinyurl.com/ycyy4vjpEpisode containing “The Elves of Iceland”: https://weirddarkness.com/?s=Elves+Iceland“Planet Werewolf” by Lea Rose Emery for Graveyard Shift: https://tinyurl.com/vcetp96“The Dark Side of Fairies” by Amber Fua for Ranker: https://tinyurl.com/rbexptk“The American Stonehenge” by Mihai Andrei for ZME Science: https://tinyurl.com/yaogafuz“What Caused the Patomskiy Crater?” by Lochlan McClelland for Historic Mysteries: https://tinyurl.com/wu9r5bc“The Red Pen” by Kjirsty Beth for Paranormality Magazine==========(Over time links seen above may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for material I use whenever possible. If I have overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it immediately. Some links may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)=========="I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46==========WeirdDarkness®, WeirdDarkness© 2024==========To become a Weird Darkness Radio Show affiliate, contact Radio America at affiliates@radioamerica.com, or call 800-807-4703 (press 2 or dial ext 250).

This is the account of the perilous mission of Michael Strogoff, courier for Czar Alexander II, who is sent from Moscow to the besieged city of Irkutsk, where the governor, brother of the Czar, has taken his last stand against a Tartar rebellion led by the fearsome Feofar-Khan. When telegraph lines are cut between the Russian Far East and the mainland, Strogoff must make his way through hostile territory to warn the governor of the return of the traitor Ivan Ogareff, a disgraced former officer who seeks vengeance against the Tsar's family by the destruction of Irkutsk. (Adapted from Wikipedia.)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

This is the account of the perilous mission of Michael Strogoff, courier for Czar Alexander II, who is sent from Moscow to the besieged city of Irkutsk, where the governor, brother of the Czar, has taken his last stand against a Tartar rebellion led by the fearsome Feofar-Khan. When telegraph lines are cut between the Russian Far East and the mainland, Strogoff must make his way through hostile territory to warn the governor of the return of the traitor Ivan Ogareff, a disgraced former officer who seeks vengeance against the Tsar's family by the destruction of Irkutsk. (Adapted from Wikipedia.)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

This is the account of the perilous mission of Michael Strogoff, courier for Czar Alexander II, who is sent from Moscow to the besieged city of Irkutsk, where the governor, brother of the Czar, has taken his last stand against a Tartar rebellion led by the fearsome Feofar-Khan. When telegraph lines are cut between the Russian Far East and the mainland, Strogoff must make his way through hostile territory to warn the governor of the return of the traitor Ivan Ogareff, a disgraced former officer who seeks vengeance against the Tsar's family by the destruction of Irkutsk. (Adapted from Wikipedia.)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

This is the account of the perilous mission of Michael Strogoff, courier for Czar Alexander II, who is sent from Moscow to the besieged city of Irkutsk, where the governor, brother of the Czar, has taken his last stand against a Tartar rebellion led by the fearsome Feofar-Khan. When telegraph lines are cut between the Russian Far East and the mainland, Strogoff must make his way through hostile territory to warn the governor of the return of the traitor Ivan Ogareff, a disgraced former officer who seeks vengeance against the Tsar's family by the destruction of Irkutsk. (Adapted from Wikipedia.)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

This is the account of the perilous mission of Michael Strogoff, courier for Czar Alexander II, who is sent from Moscow to the besieged city of Irkutsk, where the governor, brother of the Czar, has taken his last stand against a Tartar rebellion led by the fearsome Feofar-Khan. When telegraph lines are cut between the Russian Far East and the mainland, Strogoff must make his way through hostile territory to warn the governor of the return of the traitor Ivan Ogareff, a disgraced former officer who seeks vengeance against the Tsar's family by the destruction of Irkutsk. (Adapted from Wikipedia.)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

This is the account of the perilous mission of Michael Strogoff, courier for Czar Alexander II, who is sent from Moscow to the besieged city of Irkutsk, where the governor, brother of the Czar, has taken his last stand against a Tartar rebellion led by the fearsome Feofar-Khan. When telegraph lines are cut between the Russian Far East and the mainland, Strogoff must make his way through hostile territory to warn the governor of the return of the traitor Ivan Ogareff, a disgraced former officer who seeks vengeance against the Tsar's family by the destruction of Irkutsk. (Adapted from Wikipedia.)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Franske Sylvain Tesson har besøgt de mest spændende afkroge af verden. Han har cykletjorden rundt, gået tværs over Himalaya, siddet 6 måneder alene i en jagthytte i Sibirien,nord for Irkutsk ved Bajkal søen, 6 dagsvandringer fra nærmeste landsby. Vel at mærkefør krigen i Ukraine. Men pludselig, i en brandert, mens Tesson forsøgte at klatre enbygning i Charmoix i 2014, faldt han mod jorden og livet tog pludselig en dramatiskdrejning. Han overlevede, lægerne frarådede ham al fremtidig klatring og vandring, menudlængslen forblev stor. Dagens afsnit kommer til at fokusere på hans fabelagtige bogSneleoparden, hvor han med fotografen Munier rejser til Tibet for at få et glimt af detsagnomspundne dyr. Men får Tesson set Sneleoparden - et af verdens mest sjældne dyr?Er det i virkeligheden hans egen utålmodighed, der er den største hindring? I dag skal vistifte bekendtskab med en spændende og poetisk rejsende, der filosoferer over vores -menneskets - og dyrets plads i verden.Medvirkende:Nils Schultz Ravneberg, har boet og studeret i Paris. Nils har skrevet en Ph.d.-afhandlinginden for fransk samtidshistorie, filosofi og litteratur ved Københavns Universitet, og såkender han Tessons forfatterskab indgående, da han har oversat to af hans bøger tildansk for Den Franske Bogcafés Forlag, Bobo.

Franske Sylvain Tesson har besøgt de mest spændende afkroge af verden. Han har cykletjorden rundt, gået tværs over Himalaya, siddet 6 måneder alene i en jagthytte i Sibirien,nord for Irkutsk ved Bajkal søen, 6 dagsvandringer fra nærmeste landsby. Vel at mærkefør krigen i Ukraine. Men pludselig, i en brandert, mens Tesson forsøgte at klatre enbygning i Charmoix i 2014, faldt han mod jorden og livet tog pludselig en dramatiskdrejning. Han overlevede, lægerne frarådede ham al fremtidig klatring og vandring, menudlængslen forblev stor. Dagens afsnit kommer til at fokusere på hans fabelagtige bogSneleoparden, hvor han med fotografen Munier rejser til Tibet for at få et glimt af detsagnomspundne dyr. Men får Tesson set Sneleoparden - et af verdens mest sjældne dyr?Er det i virkeligheden hans egen utålmodighed, der er den største hindring? I dag skal vistifte bekendtskab med en spændende og poetisk rejsende, der filosoferer over vores -menneskets - og dyrets plads i verden.Medvirkende:Nils Schultz Ravneberg, har boet og studeret i Paris. Nils har skrevet en Ph.d.-afhandlinginden for fransk samtidshistorie, filosofi og litteratur ved Københavns Universitet, og såkender han Tessons forfatterskab indgående, da han

Last time we spoke about the Mongolian Revolution of 1921. Mongolia found herself stuck between two crumbling empires who both were engulfed in brutal civil wars. Warlord Duan Qirui invaded Mongolia effectively making it a protectorate. This prompted Mongolian nobles to form resistance groups like the Consular Hill and East Urga to combat Chinese dominance. The merging of these groups birthed the Mongolian People's Party, seeking Soviet support for independence. Meanwhile, psychopath Roman von Ungern-Sternberg, claiming descent from Genghis Khan, emerged as a militaristic force, aligning with Russian Whites and Japanese interests to seize Mongolia. His brutal campaign ousted Chinese occupiers, restored the Bogd Khan to power, but brought tyranny, especially targeting Jews and Red Russians. The Mongolians were now seeking help, yet again from the Chinese, but someone else was looking to pick a fight with the megalomaniac Ungern-Sternberg. #102 The Case of Mongolia and Tibet's “status”   Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. Last we left off, Ungern-Sternberg was having a merry time in Urga Mongolia. His secret police force led by Colonel Leonid Sipailov was hunting down all Reds and Jews he could find amongst the Russian colonial community of Mongolia. Although they never went after Mongols, they certainly were barbaric to their own. Its estimated Sipailov's goons killed nearly 900 people, roughly 6% of the Russian colonial population of Mongolia at the time. Of these over 50 were Jewish, representing 6% of those executed under Ungern-Sternbergs orders. Meanwhile Ungern-Sternberg continued to develop his Asiatic Cavalry Division, seeking to make it the base model for a future Mongolian national army. His division at this point was quite multicultural, consisting of Russians, Cossacks, Chinese, Japanese, Mongols, Buryats, Tatar, Tibetans and other groups. Ungern-Sternberg had crushed as many Red Russians as he could find, but they were not done for the count. A Mongolian Red leader emerged named Damdin Sukhbaatar. Sukhbaatar meaning “Axe Hero” in Mongolian was born in Ulaanbaatar, a Chinese trading settlement a few kms east of Ikh Khuree. His parents abandoned their home banner in Setsen Khan aimag when he was 6, as they moved to the Russian consulate. He then grew up around Russians, picking up the language. In 1911 when Mongolia declared independence, Sukhbaater joined the new national army. Russian military advisors to the Bogd Khan set up military academies at Khujirbulan in 1912 and Sukhbaatar found himself at one of them. He was shown to have a talent for military tactics and was good at riding and shooting. He quickly became a platoon leader of a machine gun company. In 1914 he found himself involved in a soldiers riot, they were discontent with corruption in the army and bad living conditions. He survived the ordeal and would soon serve under the command of Khatanbaatar Mahsarjav in Eastern Mongolia by 1917. That year sprang forth the Russian Revolution and China's Warlord Era, chaos would reign supreme. Soon Outer Mongolia was under Chinese occupation and this sprang forth two underground political parties, Consular Hill and East Urga group. By 1920 they united to form the Mongolian People's Party and Sukhbaatar found himself becoming a delegate sent multiple times to multiple places in the new Soviet Union seeking military assistance. In 1921 Sukhbaater was placed in charge of smuggling a letter from the Bogd Khan through numerous Chinese checkpoints. In a father of marco polo like fashion, he hid the letter in the handle of his whip and its found in a museum today in Ulaanbaater. Now the year prior the Soviet government stated they were willing to help Mongolia, but asked the delegates to explain to them how they planned to fight off the foreign invaders. In September numerous delegates were sent to Moscow, while Sukhaatar and Choubalsan took up a post in Irkutsk for military training and to be contacts between the Soviets and Mongolia.  Meanwhile back in Mongolia, Ungern-Sternberg began an occupation. Mongolian delegates Chagdarjav and Choibalsan rushed back to Mongolia to find allies amongst the nobles. On February 10th a plenary session of the Comintern in Irkutsk passed a formal resolution to “aid the struggle of the Mongolian people for liberation and independence with money, guns and military instructors" The Mongolian People's Party had thus gained significant military assistance and was now a serious contender in the battle for Mongolia. The party held its first congress secretly between March 1st-3rd at Kyakhta attended by 17 and 26 members. They approved the formation of an army, to be headed by Sukhbaatar alongside two Russian advisors. They also adopted a new party manifesto and by March 13th formed a provisional government headed by Dogsomyn Bodoo. Sukhbaatar had begun recruiting troops for what was called the Mongolian People's Partisans as early as February 9th. By the 15th of February the Mongolians decided to seize Khiagt currently under Chinese occupation. They sent an ultimatum to the Chinese, but their commanders refused to surrender. By March 18th, the Mongolian Partisans were 400 men strong as they stormed the Chinese garrison at Kyakhta Maimaicheng. They seized it from the Chinese, despite being heavily outnumbered and this greatly bolstered their confidence. To this day this victory is celebrated as a military holiday. The party issued a proclamation announcing the formation of a new government that would expel the Chinese and promised to convene a congress of representatives of the masses who would elect a permanent government.  The provisional government moved over to Khiagt where they established ministries of Finance, Foreign affairs and military. A propaganda war also emerged between the provisional government and the Bogd Khaan's court. The provisional government began spreading leaflets along the northern border urging Mongolians to take arms against White Russians while the Bogd Khaan's side issued warnings to the people the supposed revolutionaries were going to destroy their nation and their Buddhist faith with it. Meanwhile the Soviet Union was trying to re-establish diplomatic relations with the Chinese government. They had dispatched representatives to Beijing and the Chinese did the same in Moscow. Because of this delicate situation, the Soviets were trying to keep everything low key about the Mongolian movement. However in early 1921, the Chinese cut talks with the Soviets because of the mess Ungern-Sternberg was causing in Mongolia. The Soviets offered Red Army assistance to dislodge his forces from Mongolia, but the Chinese rejected this. Since talks were severed, the Soviets then felt ok to unrestrain themselves in terms of aiding the Mongolian revolutionaries. Throughout march of 1921, a flow of Soviet advisors and weapons came to the Mongolian revolutionaries. By April they doubled to 800 troops and they began sending spies and diversionary units throughout the region spreading propaganda and terror to weaken Ungern-Sternbergs forces. Once Ungern-Sternberg found out about the incursion he quickly assembled an expeditionary force to dislodge the hostile Red invaders. It seems Ungern-Sternberg was under the false belief he was a very popular figures and would receive support in Mongolia and from Siberia. Truth be told, he failed to strengthen his small army properly and would be outgunned and outnumbered heavily by the Reds. He also had no knowledge the Reds had already conquered Siberia and that the new Soviet government was beginning to make some economic progress.  Ungern-Sternberg divded his Asiatic Cavalry Division into two brigades, one was under his personal commander, the other under Major General Rezukhin. In May of 1921 Rezukhin launched a red west of the Selenga River while Ungern set out towards Troitskosavk. Meanwhile the Soviet Red Army sent units towards Mongolia from different directions. The Soviets enjoyed a enormous advantage in terms of pretty much everything. They had armored cars, minor aircraft, trains, river gunboats, plenty of horses, more ammunitions, supplies and man power. Initially Ungerns force managed to defeat a small detachment of 300 Red Army troops enroute to Troitskosavk. But Between June 11-13th the 35th Division of the Soviet 5th Red Army led by Commander Mikhail Matiyasevich alongside Mongolian People's Partisan forces decisively defeated him. Having failed to capture Troiskosavask, Ungern-Sternberg fled back for Urga, sending word to Rezukhin to do the same. The combined Red forces pursued the White Russians to Urga, skirmishing along the way and would capture the city on July 6th, brushing aside its few guard detachments. Although the Reds had seized Urga, they had not defeated the main bulk of Ungern-Sternbergs division who were then regrouping around Akha-gun-hure along the Selenga River. Meanwhile another Red Army led by Colonel Kazagrandi slaughtered a 350 man strong White Russian force stuck in the Gobi desert. Kazagrandi's forces ultimately accepted the surrender of two groups of White Russians they had managed to cut and divie, one being 42 men, the other 35. Chinese forces were also attacking White Russians remnants as they crossed the border. It is beleived some of these men were deserters of Ungern-Sternbergs division.  Ungern-Sternberg now cought to invade Transbaikal, attempting to rally his soldiers and local peoples proclaimed to all Semyonov had reached an agreement with the Japanese who were soon to unleash an offensive to support them. The reality however was the Japanese had given up on the White cause. After a few days of rest, the Asiatic Cavalry division began raiding Soviet territory on July 18th. His force was estimated to be perhaps 3000 strong. In response the Soviets declared martial law in regions where White remnants were raiding. Ungern-Sternbergs men managed to capture some minor settlements, one being Novoselenginsk that they took on August 1st. Yet upon taking this settlement, Red Army forces began to converge on his location, prompting Ungern-Sternberg to declare they would go back to Mongolia to rid it of communism again.  By this point, most of his men were not idiots, they knew they were following a doomed cause. Many of them sought to desert and flee for Manchuria to join up with Russian refugees there. Ungern-Sternberg meanwhile seemed to also have his own escape plan, he was going to head for Tuba and then Tibet. Men under both brigades began to mutiny and on August 17th, Rezukhin was assassinated. The next day the same assassins tried to kill Ungern-Sternberg. He managed to evade them twice, by fleeing with a smaller detachment consisting exclusively of Mongolians. The Mongols rode out a distance with him, before tying him up and leaving him there to flee. At this point the rest of his two brigades had scattered for this lives fleeing over the Chinese border. Ungern-Sternberg was captured on August 20th by a Red Army detachment led by Petr Efimovich Shchetinkin. Petr also happened to be a Cheka, this was a Soviet secret police organization that infamously conducted the Red Terror. Ironically, I think I can say this here, but I am currently writing a few series for KNG and one is on the Russian Civil War, I go through the formation of all these organizations, if you want to check that out though, I think its a KNG patreon exclusive for awhile. On September 15th of 1921, Ungern-Sternberg was put on trial for well over 6 hours, under the prosecution of Yemelyan Yaroslavsky. In the end he was sentenced to be executed by firing squad. He was killed that night in Novosibirsk. Thus ended the reign of quite a psychopath, gotta say written about many, this guy was something special.  Funny side note, historian John Jennings who worked at the US Air Force Academy argued Ungern-Sternberg ironically may have single handedly led Mongolia into the arms of the Bolsheviks. Ungern-Sternbergs expedition into Mongolia and conquest of Urga had driven out the Chinese forces who may have been a match for the incoming Red Army. Likewise, taking his white army into Mongolia basically drew the Reds to Mongolia to hunt him down, thus in the end some would argue its all his fault Mongolia became a Soviet satellite later on.  After Ungern-Sternbergs death and the mopping up of White armies in the region, the Soviets and Chinese reopened talks about the Mongolian situation. Unbeknownst to the Russians, China had actually appointed Zhang Zuolin to deal with the Ungern-Sternberg situation. Zhang Zuolin was supposed to create an expeditionary army to expel him from Mongolia. Yet by the time he was about to initiate the expedition, Red Army forces flooded the region making it a political nightmare for China. What ended up happening, similar to Colonel Kazagrandi's hunt of Red's in the Gobi desert, Zhang Zuolin hunted down Ungern-Sternbergs remnants as they fled into Manchuria. Thus when the talks began between the Russians and Chinese, the Chinese were emboldened, believing Zhang Zuolin had in fact cleaned up the entire situation on his lonesome and that they had the upper hand militarily. China came to the table stating Mongolia was still part of China and thus was not the subject of international negotiations. Meanwhile after Ungern-Sternberg was run out of Urga, the Mongolian People's Party proclaimed a new government on July 11th. Sukhbaatar became the minister of the army and Bogd Khan had his monarch powers limited to basically just being symbolic. It was a rough start for the new government. Dogsomyn Bodoo became the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, but he immediately found himself at political war with Soliin Danzan. Danzan had lost his seat as party leader to Tseren-Ochiryn Dambadorj a relative to Bodoo. Danzan assumed Bodoo had helped his relative steal his seat. Danzan became the Minister of Finance and began engineering a scheme to get rid of Bodoo from his office.  Bodoo had initiated a very unpopular company, initially instigated by the Soviets. It was to modernize the peoples by forcibly cutting off feudal accessories, such as Mongolian feels, womens jewelry and long hair. Danzan accused Bodoo of plotting alongside another leading figure Ja Lama, the Chinese and Americans to undermine the entire revolution so they could establish an autocratic government. Ja Lama was a warlord who fought the Qing dynasty and claimed to be a Buddhist lama. When Ungern-Sternberg sent a delegation to Lhasa in 1920, Ja-Lama murdered all of them. Since Ungern-Sternbergs death, Ja Lama attempted to operate an independent government from a hideout, he was a bit of a loose cannon. There was also Dambyn Chagdarjav who was loosely linked to the supposed cabal. He was the provisional governments former prime minister when Unger-Sternberg was around. He was quickly outed and replaced with Bodoo, and it seems it was just convenient to toss him in with the accusations against Bodoo. On January 7th, of 1922 Bodoo resigned from all his positions in the government, stating it was because of health issues. This did not stop Danzan who laid charges against Bodoo, Chagdarjav, Ja Lama and 14 others, who were arrested and interrogated by Russian secret police working with the Mongolian government. They were all found guilty and executed by firing squad on August 31st 1922. They all would only be the firsts of a longer lasting purge raging through the 1920s and 1930s. Following the execution of Bodoo, party leaders invited the high Buddhist incarnation, Jalkhanz Khutagt Sodnomyn Damdinbazar, hell of a name by the way, to became the new prime minister. He was largely chosen to quell religious minded Mongolian's who were upset at the execution of Bodoo who was a lama. Danzan was not done with political rivalries. He soon found himself butting heads with Rinchingiin Elbegdori a leader amongst the leftists and chief advisor to the Comintern in Ulaanbaatar. Following the 1921 revolution, Elbegdorj was appointed head of the Army training and education department. Alongside Choibalsan, he founded the radical Mongolian Revolutionary Youth League. He enjoyed backing from Moscow and he came to dominate the political scene in Ulan Bator. Danzan had previously collaborated with him to get rid of Bodoo, but afterwards Danzan sought to reduce the number of Soviet advisors in Mongolia and attempted to place the Revolutionary Youth league under party control. Danzan was a business man who supported capitalism as a path for Mongolia, thus he was not exactly friendly to those like Elbegdorj who wanted to make Mongolia socialist if not full blown communist. Elbegdorj joined some rightists led by Tseren-Ochiryn Dambadorj in an effort to defeat Danzan. During the third party congress in August of 1924, both accused Danzan of only representing the interests of the bourgeois and being in league with American and Chinese corporations. Danzan found himself alongside others put on trial and sentenced to death. Funny enough the trial and execution literally occurred within the same 24 hour period of the congress, the others simply continued on haha. Some rich irony in the fate of Danzan. I wont delve to far into the rest, but it goes without saying, Elbegdorj would himself be accused of representing the interests of bourgeois and was exiled to the USSR and would be executed during the Great Purge in 1938. Yes it was a very messy time for Mongolia, but in 1924 the Chinese and Soviets signed a treaty that saw the Soviets recognize Mongolia was an integral part of China.  That pretty much ends the story for Mongolia for now, but I thought it might be interesting to end this podcast looking at another similar case study, that of Tibet. Now Tibet came under rule of the Qing Dynasty in 1720. When the Wuchang uprising broke out, revolutionary fever hit numerous provinces within China, as it likewise did in territories like Tibet. A Tibetan militia sprang up and launched a surprise attack against the Qing garrison. The Qing forces were overwhelmed by the Tibetans, forced to flee back to China proper. Obviously the Qing dynasty was scrambling to face the revolutionary armies throughout China, and could not hope to challenge the Tibetans. By 1912, Qing officials in Lhasa were forced by the Tibetans to sign a three point agreement, officially surrendering and expelling their forces from central Tibet. When the new republic of China government sprang up that same year, they proclaimed control over everything the previous Qing dynasty controlled, 22 provinces within China, Outer Mongolia and Tibet.  As the provincial government's president, Yuan Shikai sent a telegram to the 13th Dalai Lama, restoring all his traditional titles. The Dalai Lama refused them and stated in a reply "I intend to exercise both temporal and ecclesiastical rule in Tibet." Now prior to the Xinhai Revolution, in 1910 the Qing had sent a military expedition to Tibet, one could argue it was an invasion mind you, to establish direct Qing rule over Tibet. This was because the British had performed their own expeditions in 1904, destabilizing the Qing dominance over Tibet. The Qing forces occupied Lhasa on February 12th of 1910 and they deposed the 13th Dalai Lama by the 25th. The Dalai Lama was forced to flee to India, but he returned in 1913 whence he proclaimed stated “that the relationship between the Chinese emperor and Tibet had been that of patron and priest and had not been based on the subordination of one to the other. We are a small, religious, and independent nation" In January of that year, a treaty was signed between Mongolia and Tibet, proclaiming mutual recognition of each others independence from China. Within the treaty both nations pledged to aid each other against internal and external enemies, free trade and declared a mutual relationship based on the Gelug sect of Buddhism. The Tibetan officials who signed this document at Urga were led by Agvan Dorjiev, a Buryat and thus subject of Russia. This caused some doubts about the validity of the treaty. The 13th Dalai Lama would go on to deny ever authorizing Dorjiev to negotiate such political issues. The Russian government likewise stated Dorjiev had no diplomatic capacity on behalf of the Dalai Lama to do such a thing. The text of the document was neer published, many believe it never even existed, until 1882 when the Mongolian Academy of Science finally published it.  Upon signed the supposed treaty, Agvan Dorjiev proclaimed that Russia was a powerful Buddhist country that would ally with Tibet against China and Britain. In response to this, Britain convoked a conference at Viceregal Lodge in Simla, India to discuss the matter of Tibet's status. The conference was attended by representatives of Britain, the Chinese republic and Tibet's government based out of Lhasa. Sir Henry McMahon, the foreign secretary of British India led the British; for China it was I-fan Chen, the commissioner for Trade and Foreign affairs at Shanghai; and for Tiet it was Paljor Dorje Shatra, known also as Lonchen Shatra, the leading prime minister of Tibet. Now the British and Chinese had telegram communications to their governments, but the Tibetan team only had land communications. What became known as the Simla conference, was held in both Delhi and Silma because of the extreme summer heat of Delhi, saw 8 formal sessions from October 1913 to July 1914. In the first session, Lonchen Shatra declared "Tibet and China have never been under each other and will never associate with each other in future. It is decided that Tibet is an independent state." Thus Tibet was refusing to recognize all the previous treaties and conventions signed between Tibet and China. The Tibetans sought their territorial boundaries to range from the Kuenlun Range in the north, to the borders of Sichuan and Yunnan. The Tibetans also sought payment for damages done to them over the past years. Ifan Chen's counter proposal was to state Tibet was an integral part of China and that China would not tolerate any attempts by the Tibetans or British to interrupt China's territorial integrity. Ifan Chen continued to say a Chinese official would be stationed in Lhasa and they would guide Tibet's foreign and military affairs. Tibet would also grant amnesty to all Chinese who had recently been punished in Tibet, and Tibet would conform to the borders already assigned to it. McMahon then issued the first and most important question “what is the definition of limits of Tibet”. Afterwards they could deal with the lesser issues, such as Tibetans claims of compensation for damages and for Chinese amnesties. Lonchen Shatra agreed to the procedure, Ifan Chen countered it by asking the political status of Tibet should be the first order of business. Ifan Chen also revealed he had definitive orders from his government to give priority to the political question. McMahon thus ruled he would discuss the frontier issue with Lonchen Shatra alone, until Ifan Chen was given authorization from his government to join it, ompf. It took 5 days for Ifan Chen to get the authorization.  On the issue of the frontier, Ifan Chen maintained China had occupied as far west as Giamda, thus this would encompass Pomed, Markham, Zayul, Derge, Gyade, Draya, Batang, Kokonor and Litang. Lonchen Shatra replied that Tibet had always been an independent nation and at one point a Chinese princess had been married to a Tibetan ruler and a boundary pillar had been erected by them at Marugong. Ifan Chen countered by stating the so called pillar was erected 300 li west and soon both argued over the history of pillars and boundary claims going back centuries. China claimed their historical evidence was that of Zhao Erfengs expedition of 1906-1911 which constituted a effective occupation recognized under international law. Lonchen Shatra said that was ridiculous and that what Zhao Erfeng had performed was a raid and thus unlawful.  McMahon meanwhile formed the idea of distinguishing Inner and Outer Tibet. He based this on the premise the Chinese had only really occupied Outer Tibet and never Inner Tibet. McMahon proposed formalizing this with official boundaries and pulled up old maps dating back to the 9th century for border lines. He also brought out maps from the 18th century and using both came up with two defined zones for Inner and Outer Tibet. Lonchen Shatra opposed some parts of Outer Tibet should be added to Inner Tibet and Ifan Chen argued some parts of Inner Tibet should be given to Sichuan province. A series of confused negotiations began over historical claims over territory, while border skirmishes erupted between the Tibetans and Chinese. McMahon losing his patience appealed to both men stating for "can we have a broad and statesmanlike spirit of compromise so that our labors could be brought to a speedy conclusion”. Ifan Chen maintained it was still premature to draft anything since they had not established what was Inner and Outer Tibet. Finally in April of 1914 a draft convention, with a map was begun by the 3 men. Ifan Chen was the most reluctant but gradually accepted it. Britain and China agreed to leave Tibet as a neutral zone, free of their interference. However China repudiated Ifan Chen's plenipotentiary actions, stating he had been coerced into the draft convention, McMahon said that was ridiculous. China charged McMahon for being unfriendly to China and having an uncompromising attitude, which is funny because if I read to you every single meeting these men had, it was 99% Ifan Chen not budging on a single issue. China continued to lobby for more and more adjustments, but all would be turned down prompting China to state they would not sign the convention. The official boundary between Inner and Outer Tibet became known as the McMahon line, it was negotiated between Britain and Tibet separately. The convention stated Tibet formed part of Chinese territory, after the Tibetans selected a Dalai Lama, the Chinese government would be notified and a Chinese commissioner in Lhasa would quote "formally communicate to His Holiness the titles consistent with his dignity, which have been conferred by the Chinese Government". The Tibetan government would appoint all officers for Outer Tibet and Outer Tibet would not be represented in the Chinese parliament or any other such assembly. China refused to acknowledge any of it. This entire situation remains a problem to this very day as most of you probably assumed. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. Mongolia saw some bitter fighting between Red and White Russians and Chinese, and would gradually gravitate towards the Soviets. The case of Tibet, unlike Mongolia, was somewhat less violent, but a political maelstrom nonetheless. The chaos of China's warlord Era would greatly affect these two, well into the 1930's.  

Last time we spoke about the rise of the Spirit Soldier movement. As a result of the hardship brought upon the common people of China during China's Warlord Era a new group known as the Spirit Soldiers rose up. Motivated by grievances against warlord abuses and foreign influences, the Spirit Soldier emerged as a grassroots movement seeking to overthrow the oppressive regime. They believed in summoning divine beings or becoming possessed by them to aid their cause, reminiscent of the Yihetuan. Despite lacking centralized organization and firearms, they managed to seize control of several counties in regions like Hubei and Sichuan. However, they simply were no match for Warlord armies who were better trained, better organized and certainly better armed. While in small groups the Spirit armies managed just fine, but when they assembled 100,000 strong, they were ultimately crushed. Despite this the last Spirit rebellion would occur in 1959.   #101 The Mongolian Revolution of 1921   Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. Oh yes we are not done with Mongolia. As a quick refresher, a few episodes back we talked about what is known as the Occupation of Mongolia. Quite a few things were going on all at once in the late 1910's. The Russian Empire collapsed and now was stuck in a civil war with the Reds vs the Whites. The Republic of China likewise collapsed into the Warlord Era. Mongolia stuck between these two former empires, attempted to gain independence, but swiftly fell into conflict with radicals from both. As a result of the Russian white General Grigori Semyonov trying to force a new pan Mongolia state, Duan Qirui exploited the situation to forcibly invade Mongolia. Duan Qirui had been taking a lot of heat for pushing China to declare war on Germany and getting caught taking secret loans from the Empire of Japan. Everyone in China was calling for Duan to reduce or eliminate his Anhui Army, but the situation in Mongolia gave him the perfect excuse to use it, thus in his mind legitimizing its existence. Duan Qirui dispatched General Xu Shuzheng with the “northwest frontier army” to protect Mongolia from a supposed Red army invasion. In the face of overwhelming military forces, the Mongolians submitted to Xu and were absolutely humiliated and subjugated. And thus Mongolia lived happily ever after. No, not at all. Between 1919-1920 a few Mongolian nobles came together to form two groups, the first was called “Konsulyn denj / the Consular Hill” the second “Zuun khuree / the East Urga” groups. The first group was the brainchild of Dogsomyn Bodoo, a prominent Mongolian politician. Bodoo had worked as a Mongolian language teacher at a Russian-Mongolian school for translators. He spoke Mongolian, Tibetan, Mandarin and Manchu. Because of his work he came into contact with Bolshevism through Russian acquaintances. After the occupation of Mongolia by Duan Qirui's forces, he formed the secret Consular Hill group as a means of resistance. Doboo's Consular Hill soon saw Khorloogiin Choibalsan join. Choibalsan also worked at the Russian Mongolian translator school and shared a Yurt with Doboo. Doboo was a mentor to Choibalsan whom worked primarily as a Russian interpreter at the Russian consulate. Because of the nature of his work, Choibalsan spent a lot of time with the Soviets. Not to give too much away, but later on Choibalsan would become known as “the Stalin of Mongolia”. A Russo-Mongolian printing officer typesetter named Mikhail Kucherenko, a Bolshevik in Urga, visited Bodoo and Choibalsan, talking to them about things related to Mongolian independence and actively resisted the Chinese. The East Urga group were founded by Soliin Danzan an official of the Ministry of Finance and Dansranbilegiin Dogsom , an official in the Ministry of the Army. Danzan had once been a horse thief, but managed to climb the ladder towards being a customs officer or the ministry of finance. Dogs had worked as a scribe for district and provincial assemblies before taking a job at the ministry of finance and Army later on. Another founding member was Damdin Sukhbaatar who grew up around Russians and spoke Russian. He joined the New Mongolia Army in 1911 after the independence movement and rose through the ranks seeing deployment on Mongolia's eastern border. After his death he would be referred to as “the Lenin of Mongolia”. The beginning of the East Urga group saw radicals within the lower house of the Mongolian parliament, such as Danzan and Dogsom met secretly trying to figure a way of getting rid of Xu Shuzheng and the Chinese dominance over their nation. The groups formed a plot to seize the mongolian army's arsenal and assassinate Xu Shuzheng, but the arsenal was too well guarded and Xu departed the region before they could pull it off. Within Urga were many Russian refugees, Red and White alike. They established a Municipal Duma, and some of the Bolshevik minded ones learned of the secret Consular Hill and East Urga groups. In March of 1920, the Duma was sending one of their members, Sorokovikov to Irkutsk, but before he did so, they thought it a good idea for him to learn about these secret groups and what they were up to. Sorokovikov met with representatives of both groups before traveling to Irkutsk. When he returned to Urga in June of that year, he met with the representatives again with promises the USSR would provide any assistance needed to the Mongolian workers. He then extended them invitations to send their groups representatives to Russia to discuss matters further.  As you can imagine, both these groups got pretty excited. Until this point the two groups did not brush shoulders much, they were in fact quite different. The Consular Hill group were progressive socialists while the East Urga group were more nationalistic. While they seemed to be at odds, the Soviet invitation had brought them together and in doing so they decided to merge on June 25th to form the Mongolian People's Party. It was then agreed Danzan and Choibalsan would act as the delegates that would go to Russia. Both men arrived in Verkhneudinsk, the new capital of the Pro-Soviet Far Eastern Republic. They met with Boris Shumyatsky, the acting head of the government. Shumyatsky kind of gave them the cold shoulder as they hounded his government for military assistance to fight off the Chinese. Shumyatsky advised them they should go back home, and get members of their party over in Urga to send a coded message with the stamped seal of the Bogd Khan to formally request such a thing. They did just that and now 5 delegates returned to Verkhneudinsk with it, but Shumyatsky told them he had no real authority to make such a decision and that they needed to go to Irkutsk. So yeah it was one of those cases where a guy you thought was a head honcho, was really not haha. The Mongolian delegates then went to Irkutsk in August where they met with the head of what would soon become the Far Eastern Secretariat of the Communist International aka the Comintern. They explained they required military assistance, soon handing over a list of requests. They wanted military instructors, over 10,000 rifles, some artillery pieces, machine guns and of course funding they could use to recruit soldiers. The head told them….to drag a letter and this time to make sure the name of the party was included in it, not in the name of the Bogd Khan. They were also to list their objectives and requests. Now as funny as this all sounds, not to dox myself, but when I got my first big boy job as they say, I had to learn how to write formal letters to the government, funding requests, partnership things, etc etc, and I can feel for these guys in that sense. They all seemed to have little experience in such matters and yes, some officials were clearing just messing with them, sending them left and right, but some guys were trying to show them how to work an existing process, random rant sorry. Once they finished this new letter they were told it might be considered by the Siberian REvolutionary Committee in Omsk, the buck keeps passing. At this point the mongolians divided themselves into three groups: Delegates Danzan, Losol and Dendev went to Omsk to deliver the new letter; Bodoo and Dogsom went back to Urga to grow the party and begin recruiting a army; and Sukhbaater and Choibalsan went to Irkutsk to serve as liaisons there. Before they all departed, the drafted a new revolutionary message. It dictated the Mongolian nobility would be divested of their hereditary powers. The new system of government would be democratic with a limited monarch run by the Bogd Khaan. Several more meeting with the soviets at Omsk occurred only for the Mongolians to be sold yet again they had to go somewhere else, this time it was Moscow. Thus Danzan led a team of delegates to go to Moscow in September. For a month they discussed matters, but something huge was cooking up in the meantime. Here comes a man named Roman von Ungern-Sternberg. He was born in Graz Austria in January of 1886 to a noble family, descending from present day Estonia. Ungern-Sternberg's first language was German, but he also spoke English, French, Russian and Estonian. Within his family tree he had Hungarian roots and he would claim to be a descendant of Batu Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan. Why is it, all of these “great men figures” always have to come up with a “I am descended from x” haha. He moved to Reval, the capital of Estonia. It's said as a child he was a ferocious bully and a psychopath who would torture animals. Apparently at the age of 12 he strangled his cousins owl, now thats messed up. Now Ungern-Sternberg was very proud of his ancient aristocratic background…though whether any of it was real who knows. He wrote extensively things like “for centuries my family never took orders from the working classes and it was outrageous that dirty workers who've never had any servants of their own, but still think they can command! They should have absolutely no say in the ruling of the vast Russian Empire". He was proud of his Germanic origin, but also identified with the Russian empire…and with Ghenghis khan, so yeah. When asked about his family's military history in the Russian empire he would proud boast “72 family members were killed in the wartime!”. He believed many of the fallen monarchies of Europe could be restored with the help of the cavalry peoples of the Steppe, such as the Mongols.  Ungern-Sternberg of course was attracted to military service and during the Russo-Japanese War he joined the fighting. Its unsure whether he made it to Manchuria to see actual fighting, but he was awarded a Russo-Japanese War Medal in 1913. During the first Russian Revolution of 1905, Estonian peasants ravaged the country trying to murder nobles. Ungern-Sternberg recalled "the peasants that worked on my family's land were rough, untutored, wild and constantly angry, hating everybody and everything without understanding why". After the failed revolution he continued his military career and picked up an interest in Buddhism. Later in life while in Mongolia he would become a Buddhist, but never really relinquished his Lutheran faith. While in Mongolia Ungern-Sternberg became obsessed with the idea that he was the in-incarnation of Genghis Khan. When he graduated from a military academy he demanded a station amongst the Cossacks in Asia. He was appointed an officer in Eastern Siberia where he served under the 1st Argunsky and later the 1st Amursky Cossack regiments. From there he fell in love with the lifestyle of the nomadic Mongol peoples. He was a hell of a drunk and loved to pick fights. There were theories he had been hit so many times to the head during fights, it was believed he had brain damage and was insane as a result. In 1913 he asked to be transferred to the reserves, because he wanted time and space to achieve a new goal, he sought to assist the Mongols in their struggle for independence from China. Russian officials heard rumors he sought to do this and they actively thwarted him as best as they could. He went to the town of Khovd in western Mongolia where he served as an unofficial officer in a Gossack guard detachment for the Russian consulate.  When WW1 broke out, Ungern-Sternberg joined the 34th regiment of Cossack troops stationed in the Galicia frontier. He would take part in the first Russian offensive against Prussia and earned a reputation as an extremely brave but also very reckless and mentally unstable officer. Men who came to know him said he looked happiest atop a horse leading a charge, showing no signs of fear with a wicked smile on his face. He received multiple citations such as the st george of the 4th grade; st vladimir of the 4th grade, st anna of the 3rd and 4th grades and st Stanislas of the 3rd grade. These decorations however were offset by the amount of disciplinary actions issued against him and he would eventually be discharged from one of his commands for attacking another officer in a drunken brawl. He went to prison and was court martialed.  After he got out of prison in January of 1917, he transferred over to the Caucasian theater to fight the Ottomans. Then the Russian revolution began, ending the Russian empire and of course ending the Romanov monarchy, quite the bitter blow to the monarchist Ungern-Sternberg. While still in the Caucasus, Ungern-Sternberg ran into a Cossack Captain, an old friend we met a few podcasts ago, Captain Grigory Semyonov. Working with Semyonov the two organized a volunteer Assyrian Christian unit in modern day Iran. The Assyrian genocide had led to thousands of Assyrians fleeing over to the Russians. Semyonov and Ungern-Sternberg Assyrian force was able to win some small victories over Turkish forces, but in the grand scheme of the theater it did not amount to much. The experience of forging such a group however led them to think about doing the same thing with Buryat troops in Siberia.  At the outbreak of the Russian civil war, Semyonov and Ungern-Sternberg declared themselves Romanov loyalists, joing the White Movement. They both vowed the defeat the Red Army and late into 1917, they as part of a combined group of 5 Cossacks managed to disarm 1500 Red soldiers at a Far Eastern Railway station in China near the Russian border. They took up a position there, preparing for a military expedition into the Transbaikal region, recruiting men into a Special Manchrian regiment. The White army managed to defeat the Red Army along the Far Eastern Railway territory. Semyonov eventually appointed Ungern-Sternberg to be the commander of a force at Dauria, a railway station at the strategic point southeast of Lake Baikal. Despite being part of the white movement, Semyonov and Ungern-Sternberg were quite rebellious. Semyonov for example refused to recognize the authority of Admiral Alexander Kolchak, the prominent white leader in Siberia. Semyonov fancied acting on his own and received support from the Japanese. Ungern-Sternberg, a subornidate to Semyonov also acted independently. Ungern-Sternberg also had his own reasons not to comply fully with Kolchak. Kolchak had promised after a White victory, he would reconvene the Consitutional Assembly, disband the Bolsheviks completely and then decide the future for Russia, that being whether it adopts the monarchy back or goes a different path. Ungern-Sternberg believed god had chosen Russia to be run by a monarchy and that its restoration came first.  Ungern-Sternberg performed successful military campains in Dauria and Hailar, earning the rank of Major-General, promtping Semyonov to enturst him with forming his own military unit to fight the communists. Both men gradually recruited Buryats and Mongols for the task, but they also were growing wary of another. Ungern-Sternberg was unhappy with Semyonov who he deemed to be corrupt, he also took issue with the mans love interest in a Jewish cabert singer, he was after all a rampant anti-semite. Ungern-Sternberg founded the volunteer based Asiatic Cavalry Division in Dauria, alongside a fortress. It is said at this fortress he would torture his red enemies and it was full of their bones.  As we mentioned in a previous episode, the Anhui Clique dispatched General Xu Shuzheng to occupy outer mongolia. However after the first Anhui-Zhili war, the Anhui clique was severely reduced and General Xu Shuzheng's forces in Mongolia were as well. This effectively left the Mongolian protectorate without their protectors. Chaos reigned as Chahar Mongols from Inner Mongolia began to fight with Khalkhas Mongols from Outer Mongolia. Seeing the disunity, Ungern-Sternberg saw a grand opportunity and made plans to take control of Mongolia. He began networking and married the Manchurian princess Ji at Harbin. Princess Ji was a relative of Genreal Zhang Kuiwu, the coammander of Chinese troops in the western part of the Chinese Manchurian railway as well as the govenror of Hailar. He also tried to arrange a meeting between Semyonov and Zhang Zuolin, Eventually Kolchak's white army was defeated by the Red Army and subsequently the Japanese pulled their expeditionary forces out of the Transbaikal region. This put Semyonov in a bad situation as he was unable to cope with the brunt of the impending Red forces, thus he planned to pull back into Manchuria. Ungern-Sternberg had a different idea however. He took his Asiatic Cavalry Division, roughly 1500 men at the time, consisting mostly of Russians, but there was also Cossacks, Buryats, Chinese and a few Japanese, with few machine guns and 4 artillery pieces. He broke his ties to Semyonov and took his division into Outer Mongolia in October of 1920. They gradually advanced to Urga where they ran into Chinees occupying forces. Ungern-Sternberg attempted to negotiate with the Chinese, demadning they disarm, but they rejected his terms. In late October and early November, Ungern-Sternbergs forces assaulted Urga, suffering two disasterous defeats. After this they assailed the Setsen-Khan aimag, a district north of the Kherlen River, ruld by Prince Setsen Khan. During his time in Mongolia Ungern-Sternberg befriended some Mongol forces seeking independence from the Chinese occupation, the most influential leader amongst them being Bogd Khan. Bogd Khan secretly made a pact with Unger-Sternberg, seeking his aid to expel the Chinese from Mongolia. Ungern-Sternberg went to work reorganizing his army. Apparently he had taken a liking to a Lt and gave the man full command over the medical division. During a withdrawal, the Lt raped multiple nurses in the medical division, many of whom were married to other officers, ordered settlements they ran by to be looted and ordered all the wounded the be poisoned because they were a nuisance. Ungern-Sternberg had the man flogged and burned at the stake. So yeah.  During the Chinese occupation of Outer Mongolia, they had initiated strict regulations over Buddhist services and imprisoned anyone whom they considered sought independence, including Russians. While Ungern-Sternberg had 1500 well trained troops, the Chinese had roughly 7000 still in Outer Mongolia. The Chinese enjoyed an advantage in more men, more machine guns, more artillery and they already had fortified Urga. On February 2nd, Ungern-Sternberg assaulted the front line of Urga again. His forces led by Captain Rezzukhin managed to capture a front-line fortificaiton near the Small and Big Madachan villages, due southeast of Urga. Ungern-Sternberg's forces also managed to rescue Bogd Khan who was under house arrests, transporting him to the Manjushri Monastery. Ungern-Sternberg then took a page out of Genghis Khan's note book, ordering his troops to light a large number of campfires in the hills surrounding Urga, trying to scare the Chinese into thinking they were more numerous. On February 4th, they attacked Chinese barracks east of Urga, captured them. Ungern-Sternberg then divided his force in two with the first attacking the Chinese trade settlement “Maimaicheng” and the secnd the Consular Settlement. Ungern-Sternbergs men used exlosives and improvised battering rams to blow open the gates to Maimaicheng. Upon storming the settlement, the battle turned into a melee of sabres, seeing both sides hack each other in a slaughter. Ungern-Sternbergs men took Maimaicheng, and soon joined up with the other force to attack the COnsulder Settlement. The Chinese launched a counter attack, forcing Ungern-Sternbergs men northeast somewhat, but then he counter attacked sending them back to Urga. By the night of the 4th, Urga would fall to the invaders. The Chinese civilian and military officials simply fled for their lives in 11 cars, abandoning the soldiers. The Chinese troops followed suite aftwards heading north, massacring all Mongolian civilians they came across, heading over the Russian border. The Red Russians resided in Urga fled alongside them. The Chinese suffered apparently 1500 men, while Ungern-Sternberg recorded only 60 casualties for his force. Ungern-Sternbergs troops were welcomed with open arms as liberators. The populace of Urga hated their tyrannical Chinese overlords and believed the Russians were their salvation. Then the Russian began plundering the Chinese run stores and hunted down Russian Jews still in the city. Ungern-Sternberg personally ordered the execution of all Jews in the city unless they had special notes handed out by him sparing their lives. It is estimated roughly 50 Jews were killed by Ungern-Sternbergs men in Mongolia. Urga's Jewish community was annihilated. After a few days, Ungern-Sternberg had set up a quasi secret police force led by Colonel Leonid Sipalov who hunted Red Russians. Meanwhile Ungern-Sternberg's army seized the Chinese fortified base at Choi due south of Urga. During the attack the Russians number 900, the Chinese garrison roughly 1500. After taking the fort, the Russians returned to Urga as Ungern-Sternberg dispatched expeditionary groups to find Chinese strength. They came across a abandoned Chinese fort at Zamyn-Uud, taking it without resistance. Most of the Chinese troops left in Mongolia withdrew north to Kyakhta where they were trying find a way to get around the Urga region to escape back to China. Ungern-Sternberg and his men assumed they were trying to reorganize to recapture Urga so he dispatched forces to assail them. Chinese forces were advancing through the area of Talyn Ulaaankhad Hill when Ungern-Sternberg initiated a battle. The battle saw nearly 1000 Chinese, 100 Mongols and various amounts of Russians, Buryats and others killed. The Chinese forces routed during the battle, fleeing south until they got over the Chinese border. After this action, the Chinese effectively had departed Outer Mongolia. On February 22nd february of 1921, Ungern-Sternberg, Mongolian prince and Lamas, held a ceremony to restore the Bogd Khan to the throne. To reward their savior, Bogd Khan granted Ungern-Sternberg a high title, that of “darkhan khoshoi chin wang” in the degree of Khan. Once Semyonov heard of what Ungern-Sternberg had achieved, he likewise promoted him to Lt-General. On that same day, Mongolia proclaimed itself independent as a monarchy under the Bogd Khan, now the 8th Bogd Gegen Jebtsundamba Khutuktu. According to the eye witness account of the polish explorer Kamil Gizycki and polish writer Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski, Ungern-Sternberg went to work ordering Urga's streets thoroughly cleaned, promoted religious tolerance, I would imagine for all excluding Jews and attempted some economic reforms.  The writer Ossendowski had previously served in Kolchaks government, but after its fall sought refugee in Mongolia. He became friends with Ungern-Sternberg, probably looking for a good story, I mean this maniac does make for a good story, hell I am covering him after all ahah. Ossendowski would write pieces of his experience in Mongolia in his book “Beasts, Men and Gods”. A soldier within Ungern-Sternbergs army, named Dmitri Alioshin wrote a novel as well of his experience titled Asian Odyssey and here is a passage about his description of Ungern-Sternberg and his closest followers beliefs. “The whole world is rotten. Greed, hatred and cruelty are in the saddle. We intend to organize a new empire; a new civilization. It will be called the Middle Asiatic Buddhist Empire, carved out of Mongolia, Manchuria and Eastern Siberia. Communication has already been established for that purpose with Djan-Zo-Lin, the war lord of Manchuria, and with Hutukhta, the Living Buddha of Mongolia. Here in these historic plains we will organize an army as powerful as that of Genghis Khan. Then we will move, as that great man did, and smash the whole of Europe. The world must die so that a new and better world may come forth, reincarnated on a higher plane.” Within that passage there was mention of Hutukhta, he was the dominant Buddha of Mongolia at the time. Hutukhta did not share Ungern-Sternbergs dream of restoring Monarchies all across the world and he understood the mans army could not hope to defend them from Soviet or Chinese invaders. In April of 1921, Hutukhta wrote to Beijing asking if the Chinese government was interesting in resuming their protectorship.  In the meantime Ungern-Sternberg began looking for funds. He approached several Chinese warlords, such as Zhang Zuolin, but all rejected him. He also continued his tyrannical treatment never against Mongolians, but against Russians within Mongolia. Its estimated his secret police force killed 846 people, with roughly 120 being in Urga. Ungern-Sternbergs men were not at all happy about the brutality he inflicted upon their fellow Russians. Yet Ungern-Sternbergs days of psychopathic fun were soon to come to an end. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. Poor Mongolia was stuck between two crumbling empires, who both became engulfed in violent civil wars. The spill over from their wars saw Mongolia become a protectorate to the Chinese, nearly a satellite communist state to the USSR and now was independent, but really at the mercy of the White army of Ungern-Sternberg. The psychopath was having a field day, but it was about to come to an end. 

Our show today comes in three parts. Part one: J Mase III, a Black/Trans/queer poet & educator, talks about collaboration, reparations, art, and a trans-Bible character. "Art is the imagination tool that allows you to see and make things possible that weren't before." Part two: Mase performing Josephine And Part Three: A Sound Slice of Orthodox Christians from Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Protection and Chapel of St Innocent of Irkutsk, in a Good Friday procession on East Second Street in NYC. Learn more about J Mase III at his website www.jmaseiii.com. The Bubble&Squeak theme song is Worthless by The jellyrox from the album Bang and Whimper. To find more great music and new podcasts visit www.rockcandyrecordings.com

In this episode of "Sleepless in Singapore," I recount our journey from Irkutsk to Mongolia, an adventure that brought unexpected friendships and breathtaking natural beauty into our lives. Upon arriving in Irkutsk, we didn't linger, quickly moving on to meet Katya, a local who shared incredible tales of her solo travels, from scaling Everest's base camp with minimal gear to navigating deserts and jungles on a shoestring. Her stories, filled with humor and resilience, were both inspiring and a stark reminder of the vast experiences the world has to offer. Our next major stop was Lake Baikal, renowned for its crystal-clear waters and stunning natural beauty. This part of the trip was a profound experience, offering moments of reflection and connection with nature. The simplicity and magnificence of Baikal, coupled with the shared moments with friends old and new, underscored the journey's essence. As we moved into the Mongolian steppe, the landscape shifted to endless horizons and a profound sense of tranquility. This segment of our trip, marked by the rugged beauty of the steppe and the simplicity of nomadic life, offered a deep connection to the earth and a peace seldom found in urban existence.

In this episode of "Sleepless in Singapore," we hop on the Trans-Siberian Railway, excited and a bit anxious. We're moving from Moscow's busy streets to Russia's wide-open spaces. Our first big stop, Kazan, brings us together with Dina, a fellow traveler whose warmth and tips really stand out. Kazan itself is a revelation, a mix of historical beauty and the unexpected, like finding the perfect pair of sneakers after a minor mishap and discovering an ointment that magically cures smelly feet, making for some quirky travel tales. Yekaterinburg, however, shifts the mood. The city greets us with a grey, almost color-drained ambiance that starkly contrasts the vibrancy of Kazan. This part of the journey feels like stepping into a different world, where the vividness of life seems muted. Despite this, our spirits remain high, fueled by interactions with locals and the novelty of standing at the border of two continents. The Transib itself gives us a mix of thoughtful and fun moments, like a bizarre yet memorable visit to a train restaurant that could be a scene from a film. Moving forward, all these bits and pieces from our journey weave into a collection of memories that really show off the varied landscapes and cultural richness of Russia.

He was born in Siberia in 1797 to a clerical family, and became a married parish priest in Irkutsk. A devout explorer, John Kriukov, told him of the great spiritual needs among the Russian and native peoples in Alaska, then Russian territory. Moved to serve Christ in this very difficult environment, he and his family arrived in Alaska in 1824. He quickly learned the Aleut language and worked humbly and tirelessly among the Aleuts. His spiritual classic, An Indication of the Way to the Kingdom of Heaven, was originally written in Aleut and later translated into many languages.   While he was visiting Russia in 1838, his wife died; one year later he was tonsured a monk and given the name of Innocent (he had been Fr John Veniaminov). Almost immediately after his tonsuring he was, without warning, raised to the rank of Bishop of all Eastern Siberia and Russian America, probably the largest diocese in the world at that time. Returning to Alaska, he continued his missionary work with vigor, often traveling among Aleut and Tlingit settlements in his own kayak. Wherever he went, he found the Alaskan people hungry for the faith, and his labors bore rich fruit which is still obvious today: Alaska has more Orthodox churches per capita than any other state.   In old age he was made Metropolitan of Moscow, head of the entire Russian Orthodox Church. His concern for Christian mission was undiminished, and as Metropolitan he created the Orthodox Missionary Society. He reposed on Holy Saturday of 1879.

He was born in Siberia in 1797 to a clerical family, and became a married parish priest in Irkutsk. A devout explorer, John Kriukov, told him of the great spiritual needs among the Russian and native peoples in Alaska, then Russian territory. Moved to serve Christ in this very difficult environment, he and his family arrived in Alaska in 1824. He quickly learned the Aleut language and worked humbly and tirelessly among the Aleuts. His spiritual classic, An Indication of the Way to the Kingdom of Heaven, was originally written in Aleut and later translated into many languages.   While he was visiting Russia in 1838, his wife died; one year later he was tonsured a monk and given the name of Innocent (he had been Fr John Veniaminov). Almost immediately after his tonsuring he was, without warning, raised to the rank of Bishop of all Eastern Siberia and Russian America, probably the largest diocese in the world at that time. Returning to Alaska, he continued his missionary work with vigor, often traveling among Aleut and Tlingit settlements in his own kayak. Wherever he went, he found the Alaskan people hungry for the faith, and his labors bore rich fruit which is still obvious today: Alaska has more Orthodox churches per capita than any other state.   In old age he was made Metropolitan of Moscow, head of the entire Russian Orthodox Church. His concern for Christian mission was undiminished, and as Metropolitan he created the Orthodox Missionary Society. He reposed on Holy Saturday of 1879.

Last time we spoke about the bitter stalemate the emerged during the battles of Shaho and Sandepu. General Kuropatkin had finally rid himself of the nuisance that was Admiral Alexeiev. However his quasi replacement would turn out to perhaps be much worse. The battle of Shaho resulted in nothing, but disaster for the Russians. The battle of Sandepu would go even worse. The megalomaniac General Grippenberg was overly zealous in the offensive maneuvers and made numerous mistakes while refusing to comply with orders from his superior. As a result countless Russians found themselves attacking the wrong village, then becoming attacked by better coordinated Japanese forces. The fighting around Sandepu because of catastrophe seeing Stakelberg relieved of command and Grippenberg asking to be relieved likewise. Yet again the Russians were in a situation of retreat and now all that lay in front of the Japanese was the prize of Mukden.   #82 The Russo-Japanese War part 9: The fall of Mukden   Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. The opening land battle of the war at the Yalu river was nothing but a curtain raiser to what has been described as the first of the “modern wars”. The battle of Liaoyang and the battle of Mukden would be considered the first real modern battles of the 20th century. The battle for Mukden was characterized by deceptive planning and tactical maneuver. It has often been described as a game of chess between Kuropatkin and Oyama. Never before in the history of warfare had so many pawns been brought upon a board of war to be played. If Mukden fell, Vladivsotok would most certainly be next. Yet not all was lost for the Russians. The trusty trans siberian railway continued to bring troops and now Kuropaktin had under this thumb 275,000 riflemen, 16,000 cavalry and over 1219 guns. To their south amasing around Liaoyang Oyama had assembled 200,000 riflemen, 7300 cavalry and 992 guns. The only thing the Japanese held superiority in was machine guns, 200 vs 56.  General Nogi's 3rd IJA arrived to Liaoyang and thus virtually all of Japan's entire fighting strength was now together, but cracks within the Japanese military machine were beginning to become visible. Every major land battle against the Russians saw them fleeing intact, tremendous casualties had been dished out upon the Japanese. Both the Russian empire and Japanese were being financially drained by the war. Tokyo's bankers felt they would soon see refusals from Europe and America for further funds, the war needed to come to an end swiftly. Russia came into the war with a gold reserve of 106.3 million pounds and was being funded primarily by France who handed a series of loans totaling 800 million francs. The Tsar also managed to get a loan from Germany for another 500 million marks. Japan came into the war with a gold reserve of 11.7 million paling in comparison. To compensate Japan took loans from the UK, the US and Canada. Japan's total expenditure for the war would be a colossal 2150 million yen of which 820 million came from overseas funding. Both nations by this point of the war were literally becoming bankrupt and needed it to end quickly. Alongside the casualties and financial troubles, the Baltic fleet of Admiral Rozhdestvenski was drawing near. Tremendous pressure was placed upon Marshal Oyama, not just to seize victory, but to once and for all give a decisive blow to the Russian land forces, not to allow them through Japanese fingers another time.  The new Russian line south of Mukden was over 90 miles long, with relatively little depth and a general reserve centrally placed. Over to the right flank in the west was a wide flat plain, occupied by the 2nd Manchurian army of General Kaulbars who had recently replaced Grippenberg. His right rested on the Hun River and his left on the railway. The railway and old Mandarin road were the boundaries between him and the central position held by the 3rd Manchurian army under General Bildering. His position held the railway, the mandarin road and the Putilov Hill. The rest of the terrain further to the east as far as Shinking was occupied by the 1st Manchurian army led by General Linevich. His territory was more mountainous. 2/3rd's of the Russian cavalry led by General Rennenkampf were placed on the extreme left of the line in some higher features. It was a purely defensive setup and did not enable the Russians much in terms of offensive action.  Back in his HQ at Liaoyang, Oyama and his staff determined to strike when the very worst winter conditions would lessen up, but not before the rivers thawed. It was a bit of a gamble, if the rivers prematurely thawed it could spell doom to the offensive that would rely on easy river crossings. A brand new Japanese army would join the battle and take to the right of the line set up against Rennenkampf in the high mountains. This was the 5th IJA led by General Kawamura Kageaki. Kawamura had notably served as a field commander during the battle of Yalu and thus his army was nicknamed the Yalu Army. Though called an army, it was only in name, for it was quite under strength and consisted of the 11th division, some veterans of the Port Arthur Siege and reservists. To Kawamuras left and east of the railway was the 1st and 4th IJA of Generals Kuroki and Nozu. The 2nd IJA of Oku was to the left of the line. Back in the rear, due west of Liaoyang was Nogi's 3rd IJA, whose arrival would trigger the new offensive. The Times had this to say of Oyama's assembly “To launch, direct and support 400,000 [sic] men engaged at such a season over a front 100 miles in length, was one of the most remarkable tasks ever undertaken on the field of battle by a modern staff. Wisely remaining at a point well in rear of the army, but linked up with every column by telegram and telephone, Oyama, Kodama and their staff were uninfluenced by the emotions of the battlefield, and were able to direct the whole course of the battle with frigid precision and all the desirable calm.”   Nogi was very fortunate not to be relieved of command, certainly there were many commanders who believed he should be. The arrival of Nogi's 3rd IJA weighed heavily upon Kuropatkins mind. Russian intelligence indicated the movement of troops in the east, most likely Kawamura's and this was seen as a threat towards Vladivostok. Although if you pull out a map, you might ask “well how could or why would the Japanese attack Vladivostok”, Kuropatkin nonetheless responded by reinforcing Vladivostok lest it become besieged like Port Arthur. The Japanese had also launched a small cavalry raid against Kuropatkins lines of communication. On January 9th, a Japanese cavalry unit advanced 300 circuitous miles and on February 11th reached their objective, a point along the railway 160 miles north of Mukden. There they blew up a bridge before returning back to their lines on March 13th. The Japanese units received a Kanjo citation for the brave act while Kuropatkin reacted by dispatching a brigade and two regiments to protect rear areas. Throughout the war over land, the Japanese had figured out Kuropatkins psychology quite a bit. Something they took a strong notice of, was how he always reacted to every threat, little or large. Thus peppering these maneuvers, the Japanese knew he would dispatch forces and honestly it worked like a charm. Alongside this the Japanese enjoyed supremacy when it came to intelligence and espionage, their agents outplayed the Russians and kept up the misinformation campaign plaguing Kuropatkins HQ. Kuropatkin was convinced the Japanese sought to avoid the plains where they would be outmatched by the quality of the Russian artillery and quantity of Russian cavalry. The Japanese seemed to always have the edge in mountain warfare, thus Kuropatkin believed the Japanese would hit him in the right flank through the mountains. Kodama played upon this idea “I had resolved to attack the Russians by enveloping them apparently in the east, so that they might despatch their main strength thither while our main force was to be directed against the Shaho–Mukden–Tiehling section of the railway, enveloping them from the west.” Kuropatkin had again overestimated the strength of his adversary, particularly Kawamura's “army”. His scouts believed the army advancing to the right was in fact Nogi's 3rd IJA. Kuropatkin believed two full armies were facing him on his right hand side, but in face it was just Kawamura. In the meantime Nogi's 3rd IJA arrived to the theater sitting behind Oku's 2nd IJA, well protected from Russian scouts. A key factor in Oyama's war plan was to convince Kuropatkin the 3rd IJA were somewhere waiting to pounce upon his right flank, while in truth they sat in the west.  Kawamura's army began their advance on February 23rd prior to the general advance of the Japanese forces. Oyama explained the object of the battle “was to decide the issue of the war. The issue is not one, therefore, of occupying certain points or seizing tracts of territory. It is essential that the enemy be dealt a heavy blow. Since in all our battles hitherto pursuit has been very slow, it is imperative upon this occasion to pursue as promptly and as far as possible.” Kawamura's army advanced towards the Fushun mines and this prompted Kuropatkin to detach the 1st Siberian corp from Kaulbars command and hastily place them in front of Kawamura's advance. From the foreign observers attached to Oyama's army it seemed like he was performing the same type of tactics done during the Zulu wars, one war correspondent wrote gn reminded a correspondent of tactics borrowed from the Zulu Wars: ‘The five Japanese armies were to form a crescent whose cusps, over ninety miles apart at first, would gradually draw together, the western cusp however being finally and suddenly thrown forward so as to form a closed curve with the eastern.' One thing Oyama sought to avoid at all cost was battling in the ancient city of Muken. The Japanese had managed to be on good terms with the Chinese during this war, something in dramatic contrast to their war in 1894 when civilians were butchered. Oyama was keeping a keen eye to the political future of their war. Winning this war with the Russians on Manchurian soil was one thing, consolidating any gains afterwards was another. The Japanese general advance  was taken up in a long line. The 1st IJA advanced towards Kawamura's left flank and both armies would find the Russian defenders putting up a strong resistance. Facing massive delay, Kuroki yet again tenaciously took the initiative  and pushed his men forward regardless of loss. As a war correspondent with his forces would write ‘Kuroki was ready to go on with the attack, but Oyama did not yet consider the sacrifices that this would entail would be warranted.' On February 27th, Nogi's 3rd IJA began their advance going northwest towards the Liao River. Meanwhile the Japanese heavy artillery, including the colossal 11 inch guns began to pound the Russian positions at Putilov and Novgorod Hills. The aim of the artillery was to hold down the central Russian forces. Cossack cavalry sighted Nogi's cavalry screen along the right flank, sounding alerts. Kaulbar reacted by assembling an ad hoc reconnaissance force to travel back to the Russian supply depot located at Hsinmintun, some 33 miles west of Mukden, to get an idea of the size of the Japanese force. A secondary force of 2 squadrons and 4 guns was also tasked with trying to drive the Japanese back over the Hun River. On the 1st of March the fighting in the east and center was a static stalemate. Over in the west, Oku's 2nd IJA were slowly advancing and Nogi's 3rd IJA had just reached Hsinmintun. Kuroki's 1st IJA found themselves in a dilemma. Nogi had taken his force in a dangerous and exposed circuitous path, Kuroki did not have reserves to respond effectively to match Nogi's movement. All Kurkoki could muster was to detach a brigade to act in a counter penetration role. The Japanese staff had believed the Russians would hold one of their flanks and attack on the other. It was now clear the Russians intentions were to defend both however. This was an enormous tactical advantage for the Japanese, one who was on the offensive could ask for no better situation. Upon realizing the situation Baron Kodama would say ‘It also made the result of the battle far greater than had been anticipated. It was never thought possible by us that we could surround the Russians and bring about a second Sedan.”  The next day saw the battle gradually transition into a new phase that would last until the night of March 7th. In the east the Japanese continued to whittle away at the Russians as their commanders watched for signs of Kuropatkin responding to Nogi's threat. They were hoping to see a sign he would thin out or withdraw some troops into the mountains. On March 7th, the anticipated signs began to appear. Kuroki received a report that the Russian trenches to his front had just been hastily evacuated. Kuroki seized the moment and ordered the men to pursue the enemy. Word was sent over to Nozu on his left flank, asking if he saw the trench lines thin out in front of him. Nozu sent scouts forward and they came back stating the Russian were abandoning many positions. Nozu joined in the chase. The Russians were thrown into a fit of chaos. Forces in the rear areas began to riot in crazy drunkenness and looted where it could be done. Kaulbar's 2nd Army, who had been poised to be the hammer to hit the Japanese were now dispersing across the battlefield and could no longer operate in effective formation. Kaulbar grabbed command of the residue of forces, trying to form a counter attack aimed at Oku and Nogi's armies who were now advancing upon Likwanpau. The counter attack was no better coordinated than the rest. Kuropatkin looked on at his hopelessly disorganized force who were no intermingling in penny packets. The Times correspondent wrote this of the scene “There were no less than sixteen detachments fighting isolated actions in this part of the field, many of them having received special instructions direct from army headquarters. Several army corps commanders found themselves without troops and unable to exercise any control upon the course of the battle. This situation had been caused by the precipitate manner in which attempts had been made to stem an attack against which no antecedent precautions had been taken” Nogi's encircling maneuver was progressing at a slow pace, making Oyama quite anxious. Kuropatkin decided to personally lead a counter-stroke against Nogi, lest his 3rd IJA cut off the Russian line of communications. To do this Kuropatkin had to repeat the same tactic used during the battle of Liaoyang, to withdraw forces and create a reserve to use for the counter stroke. Kuropatkin sent orders to Bildering and Linivich to withdraw during the night of March 7th to the shock of both commanders. Neither commander was aware of Nogi's movement. Both men were aware for the past 10 days of the appalling conditions they faced fighting both the Japanese and winter itself. Many of their men in trenches were literally freezing to death, hunkering down under artillery fire. Once Bildering and Linivich began their withdrawal, as I said earlier the Japanese began pouncing upon them. Oyama saw the enormous opportunity laid bare and would write in his general orders  ‘I intend to pursue in earnest and to turn the enemy's retreat into a rout.' Guarding the left flank in front of the Hun River was Major General Mikhail Alexeiev who tried to put up a resistance to give the men more time, but his force was completely overwhelmed. The Russians initially tossed as much artillery as they could at the charging Japanese and indeed it caused tremendous casualties, but the Japanese simply did not stop. The Russian defense cover the riverbank completely collapsed seeing all of them flee.  Now back at the battle of Liaoyang, the Russians withdrew over the Taitzu, an unfordable river, but here the Hun river was frozen and quite fordable. The dice of fate also played a roll, for right as the Japanese crossed the Hun river, the ice began to break. Some Japanese would have to use bridging pontoons for their heavy guns, but it was a lot easier than fording a raging river. So Bildering and Linivich's men were running for their lives, but had zero respite as the Japanese were right on their heels. You can imagine trying to reorganize units while this was going on was very chaotic. Meanwhile back over in the west, Oku's 2nd IJA and Nozu 4th IJA overwhelmed the Russian defenses and breached a gap. And further north, Nogi's 3rd IJA managed to wreck a large portion of the railway tracks above Mukden while also establishing a large blocking line to cut off Kuropatkin's retreat. All of this made Kuropatkins efforts to create a counter-stroke completely useless, it was the same type of catastrophe that had occurred at Liaoyang, just on a larger scale.  On March 9th a violent blizzard occurred that blew right into the face of the defenders as they fled. At the very least it also hindered the Japanese ability to chase after them and this storm would rage on until the next day. Regardless the Japanese kept closing up their ring as the blizzard, a smoke of burning supplies filled the air. At the Mukden station, the Russians were hastily evacuating their sick and wounded, even the personal trains of commanding generals were used. With the increasing noise of battle drawing closer and closer to the city, Kuropatkin knew they had lost the battle. At 6:45pm on March 9th he gave the full retreat orders. His plan of retreat had the 2nd Manchurian army acting as a rearguard while the 1st and 3rd armies would withdraw to Tiehling. Nozu's 4th IJA breakthrough over the Hun river, however, forced the fleeing Russians into a sort of funnel. The 2nd and 3rd Manchurian armies had been assigned an axis of retreat along the line of communication, while the 1st Manchurian army kept trying to flee east avoiding the entire debacle unfolding. The Russian withdrawal northward along the line of communication was at first conducted in good order. The Japanese were pursuing them on a parallel course, but enjoyed superior artillery and rifle fire positions as they held the railway embankment. The Times correspondent with the 2nd Manchurian army had this to write “All tactical control had been lost before the retreat began and the army followed the stream of fugitives in mobs and groups as best it might. The Russian Armies were scattered in the hills as sheep having no shepherd. Companies, battalions, regiments and even brigades disappeared from the ken of their commanders and from each other”. Kaulber was exhausted and completely demoralized, he also was wounded having fallen from his horse at one point and now his shoulder was in a sling. He was pausing for a rest when he overheard a liaison officer asking about the location of the 7th regiment. Kaulbar could not help himself but scream out “‘The Seventh Regiment? I do not know what has become of my whole army and he asks me where my Seventh Regiment is!” Some of the generals managed to form a proper rearguard when the Japanese suddenly came upon them. Seeing the Japanese reinvigorated the panic and soon the Russians began to rout. The wounded and war materials were all abandoned as men fled for their lives. The terror fueled their retreat so intensely, many Russians ran wildly up any nearby mountains they could see.  At 10am Oyama sent a message back to Tokyo “Today, at 10 a.m., we occupied Mukden. Our enveloping movement, which has been proceeding since several days, has completely attained its object.” However, yet again Oyama failed to capture or annihilate the bulk of the Russian army. It seemed Oyama was fated to win battles but not a war. The battle of Mukden saw a quarter of the Japanese involved become casualties, 15,892 officers and 59,612 men. For the Russians, when Kuropatkin reached Tiehling over a third of his force did not report for duty. 20,000 were killed or missing, another 20,000 were captured by the Japanese in the grand enveloping maneuver and 49,000 were wounded. Kuropatkins war supplies had been effectively lost, wagons and horses were hard to find. Fearing the Japanese would simply storm Tiehling, the city was quickly put to the torch and the Russians continued marching for 10 days northward to a new line of defense at Hispingkai, modern day Siping in Jiling province. There General Mikhail Batyanov relieved General Bildering of his command over the 3rd Manchurian army. He organized a new line of defense against the Japanese who were expected to continue their march north. However the expectations would come to naught, as Kuropatkin quickly organized a complete withdrawal of Russian forces from the region. There would not be any more significant fighting within Manchuria. The Russians had been driven out of southern Manchuria, but luckily for them Oyama had stretched his logistical capabilities when he attacked Mukden. You have to imagine such a vast amount of men requires so much provisions, and getting said provisions further inland was a colossal task. Despite being defeated yet again, even more demoralized and losing vast quantities of war supplies, the Russian army was still intact. The Japanese had seized a vast amount of the trans siberian railway and delivered a crippling blow, but not a fatal one to the Russian land forces.  The victory at Mukden shocked the great world powers, they simply could not believe a non white army had so thoroughly defeated an empire like Russia on the field of battle. All the great powers knew Russia held the advantage in numbers of men and materials, but the Japanese simply outperformed them it was astonishing. The battle of Mukden also showcased, the Imperial Japanese Army was now officially the 6th largest army in the world. For Tsar Nicholas II the news was incredibly shocking. A nation with just 2% the landmass of his empire had so brutally defeated his army. The Russian commanders were lambasted for incompetency and they in turn would turn upon another. General Samsonov and Rennekampf began to hate another and publicly attacked another. All of the shame and guilt that was delivered upon such men would have a long lasting effect when world war one broke out. You would think such commanders who benefited from commanding in what has colloquially been called world war zero would take lesson learned and apply them against the Germans and Austro-Hungarians…but instead they would be completely annihilated.  It was to be Kuropatkin's last battle as a commander, Tsar Nicholas II ordered him to be relieved by Linivich and to return to Irkutsk. Kuropatkins pleaded with the Tsar to allow him to retain his command, and the Tsar agreed to exchange back the commands between the two men. Many would write about how the battle for Mukden was lost. Cassels history of the Russo-Japanese War states “Yet by the employment of artifice, coupled by the most perfect co-ordination of his various armies, he [Oyama] was able, if not to envelop completely a force not appreciably smaller than his own [sic] , at any rate to squeeze it out of a strong position and to damage it very seriously in the process. Without artifice, deceit, delusion, dust-throwing, or some such dissimulatory methods, the result of the Battle of Mukden might have been altogether different.” The Times correspondent attached to the 2nd Manchurian army had this to write “The crowning victory of Mukden was won, first and foremost because the statesmen of Japan had the spirit and the backbone to declare war at their own hour; it was won because Japan was united in the attainment of national aims and shrank from no sacrifice to secure it; because the moral forces within the nation doubled and trebled material strength; because all was prepared, weighed, studied, known; because the shortcomings of the enemy, which were many, were recognised and profited by; because a general staff, framed on the best existing model, was able to direct all forces to a common end; because each soldier and seaman knew and understood the part he had to play, and played it wholeheartedly for his country regardless of his own unimportant fate; and last, but not least, because the offensive in naval war was the beginning and middle and end of national strategy.” Tsar Nicholas II had this to write in his diary after hearing the news of the loss at Mukden . ‘It is painful and distressing,' However, the Tsar could not possibly know, the embarrassment faced upon the war over the land was about to become twofold upon the sea. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. Kuropatkin and the Russian land forces had been served defeat after defeat after defeat, here at Mukden would be their last. Though they were defeated, their army remained intact and there lingered still hope for Russia to come out on top, as their Baltic fleet approached the Pacific hoping to win a decisive battle.

Александр Манаков, шоумен более 20 лет. Экс руководитель международного сообщества «СПАРТА» г. Иркутск. Сертифицированный мастер ГВОЗДЕтерапии. Многолетний практик на досках садху, телесный практик, энергопорактик. Спикер, ведущий многочисленных международных трансформационных программ, ретритов, мотивационных мероприятий, как онлайн, так и в офлайн. Тренер, коуч. Как проводник преподает в различных школах гвоздестояния и гвоздетерапии. Создатель Бренда по изготовлению премиальных Досок Садху SADHU DOBRA. Создатель Академии трансформации SADHU DOBRA по обучению проводников гвоздетерапии и для личного применения гвоздей. Трижды рекордсмен по стоянию на гвоздях. Любитель яркой жизни, спорта, новых впечатлений, экстрима, исследований себя через различные практики и инструменты. Благодаря Александру сотни учеников по всему миру нашли себя, изменили свою жизнь к лучшему, поменяли мышления и стали достигать свои истинные цели в лёгкости. Alexander Manakov, showman for more than 20 years. Former head of the international community “SPARTA”, Irkutsk. Certified master of NAIL therapy. Long-term practitioner on sadhu boards, body practitioner, energy practitioner. Speaker, host of numerous international transformation programs, retreats, motivational events, both online and offline. Trainer, coach. As a guide he teaches at various schools of nailing and nail therapy. Creator of the Brand for the production of premium Sadhu Boards SADHU DOBRA. Creator of the SADHU DOBRA Transformation Academy for training nail therapy guides and for personal use of nails. Three times record holder for standing on nails. A lover of a vibrant life, sports, new experiences, extreme sports, self-exploration through various practices and tools. Thanks to Alexander, hundreds of students around the world found themselves, changed their lives for the better, changed their thinking and began to achieve their true goals with ease. FIND ALEXANDER ON SOCIAL MEDIA Instagram | VKontakte | Facebook ================================SUPPORT & CONNECT:Support on Patreon: ⁠https://www.patreon.com/denofrich⁠Twitter: ⁠https://twitter.com/denofrich⁠Facebook: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/mark.develman/⁠YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/denofrich⁠Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/den_of_rich/⁠Hashtag: #denofrich© Copyright 2023 Den of Rich. All rights reserved.

OCTOBER IS “OVERCOMING THE DARKNESS” MONTH when I dedicate the podcast to raising funds to support organizations who help people struggling with depression, anxiety, and thoughts of suicide or self-harm. Please help with either a small donation or share this link in your social media to encourage others to give, to get more information about the fundraiser and organizations we are helping, or to get the help that they or a loved one need: https://weirddarkness.com/hope.PLEASE SHARE THIS EPISODE in your social media so others who loves strange and macabre stories can listen too: https://weirddarkness.com/archives/18046IN THIS EPISODE: On a barren field in the U.S. state of Georgia, five granite slabs rise in a star pattern. Each of them weighs over 20 tons and on top of them, there is a capstone. Nobody knows who built it or why they were placed there, but one popular opinion that their purpose is to guide humanity after a predicted post-apocalyptic event that will come in the not so distant future. *** When you think "fairies," what comes to mind? You probably picture an adorable and sparkly creature akin to Disney's Tinker Bell, a lovely - and above all, friendly - presence. You may even want to make contact with them. Unfortunately, glittering humanoids with butterfly wings are the stuff of children's books. Retrace faerie folklore, and you'll discover their secret scary origins. *** In the Summer of 1949, a geologist named Vadim Kolpakov discovered a strange feature on the surface of the earth in the Bodaibo, Irkutsk, region of South-Eastern Siberia. Encircled by a largely treed area, this anomaly is oval with a conical crater that contains a small ball-like mound in its middle. The geologic mystery has baffled scientists who are uncertain of what caused this weird formation. *** Is there any truth behind the enduring legend of the werewolf?SOURCES AND REFERENCES FROM THE EPISODE…Episode containing “The Elves of Iceland”: https://weirddarkness.com/?s=Elves+Iceland “Planet Werewolf” by Lea Rose Emery for Graveyard Shift: https://tinyurl.com/vcetp96 “The Dark Side of Fairies” by Amber Fua for Ranker: https://tinyurl.com/rbexptk “The American Stonehenge” by Mihai Andrei for ZME Science: https://tinyurl.com/yaogafuz “What Caused the Patomskiy Crater?” by Lochlan McClelland for Historic Mysteries: https://tinyurl.com/wu9r5bc Visit our Sponsors & Friends: https://weirddarkness.com/sponsors Join the Weird Darkness Syndicate: https://weirddarkness.com/syndicate Advertise in the Weird Darkness podcast or syndicated radio show: https://weirddarkness.com/advertise= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =Weird Darkness theme by Alibi Music Library. Background music provided by Alibi Music Library, EpidemicSound and/or StoryBlocks with paid license. Music from Shadows Symphony (https://tinyurl.com/yyrv987t), Midnight Syndicate (http://amzn.to/2BYCoXZ) Kevin MacLeod (https://tinyurl.com/y2v7fgbu), Tony Longworth (https://tinyurl.com/y2nhnbt7), and Nicolas Gasparini (https://tinyurl.com/lnqpfs8) is used with permission of the artists.= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =OTHER PODCASTS I HOST…Paranormality Magazine: (COMING SEPT. 30, 2023) https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymagMicro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrorsRetro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradioChurch of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =(Over time links seen above may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = ="I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2023, Weird Darkness.= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/3655291/advertisement

“A wonderful aspect of traveling by train is the transactional relationship between passengers who feed off one another, picking up tips, offering advice, guarding each other's belongings, and generating a trust that is unique to railway travel.”  –Monisha Rajesh In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Monisha discuss how her interest in train-travel dates back to a series of journeys she took around India (1:30); her more recent experience of taking the Trans-Mongolian train across Russia and into Asia (14:00); what it was like to travel by train in North Korea, China, and Southeast Asia, and how they differ from European trains (28:00); what it was like to take trains across Canada and the United States, and which global trains Monisha likes best (45:00). Monisha Rajesh (@monisha_rajesh) is a travel journalist, and the author of Around India in 80 Trains, and Around the World in 80 Trains. She currently lives in London with her husband and two daughters. Notable Links: Indrail Pass (Indian rail-pass for foreign nationals) Saint Basil's Cathedral (church in Moscow's Red Square) Eurail Pass (rail-pass covering 33 European countries) Trans–Mongolian Railway (long-haul train route) Circum-Baikal Railway (railway in Russia's Irkutsk region) War and Peace (novel by Leo Tolstoy) Game of Thrones (fantasy TV series) Korean State Railway (train system in North Korea) Southwest Chief (American Amtrak route) German Baptist Brethren (Anabaptist group) Qinghai–Tibet railway (Asian train route) Skeena (Canadian passenger train service) Mandovi Express (train route in India) Flight shaming (environmental social movement) Sunset Limited (American Amtrak route) The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel's 2017 album Lumber. Note: We don't host a “comments” section, but we're happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at deviate@rolfpotts.com.

LA BIBLIOTECA DE LA HISTORIA presenta la audioserie titulada "Érase una vez el Este". Este es el séptimo capítulo, y se se titula "Cadena perpetua". Esta serie o audioserie en la que se mezclan la realidad y la ficción, consiste en una serie de programas en los que escucharéis como se habla de hechos reales que han sucedido en los últimos años y también en fechas recientes en Europa, concretamente en la zona del este de Europa. Como digo, es una audioserie muy conectada con la actualidad en los momentos en la que estamos presentándola. Y este proyecto no es idea mía, sino que es idea de dos amigos de LA BIBLIOTECA DE LA HISTORIA, como son Juan Lamas, malagueño, historiador, escritor y guionista, y Verónica, barcelonesa, licenciada en administración y finanzas, actriz y cantante amateur y gran apasionada por la historia. Ellos son los artífices de esto y les agradezco su trabajo. Os dejo con el séptimo capítulo titulado "Cadena perpetua". *En este programa tenemos el placer de contar con la amiga Raluca interpretando la voz de Solovey y con el amigo Joaquín interpretando la voz de Ahjmat. Les doy las gracias por participar. Sinopsis: Dicen que el lago Baikal es el corazón espiritual de Rusia y que desde sus orillas se decide el destino de personas que viven a miles de kilómetros, se ejecutan planes de dominación y se castigan las traiciones. Hay pecados que no pueden ser perdonados para ciertas religiones profanas. Este es un Podcast producido y dirigido por Gerión de Contestania, miembro del grupo "Divulgadores de la Historia". Somos un podcast perteneciente al sello iVoox Originals. Canal de YouTube de LA BIBLIOTECA DE LA HISTORIA: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfHTOD0Z_yC-McS71OhfHIA *Si te ha gustado el programa dale al "Like", ya que con esto ayudarás a darnos más visibilidad. También puedes dejar tu comentario, decirnos en que hemos fallado o errado y también puedes sugerir un tema para que sea tratado en un futuro programa de LA BIBLIOTECA DE LA HISTORIA. Gracias. Música del audio: -El podcact LA BIBLIOTECA DE LA HISTORIA cuenta con licencia de Epidemic Sound. Enlaces a los cortes de noticiarios y a la música empleada en el programa: Noticias: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNtiwTf3BcE CULTURA RUSA - TEMA Baikal El precio del agua. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfsKExW6eWg Euronews. Alerta en el Lago Baikal - science. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-HORiOqBtI&t=99s Screen TV. El Lago BAIKAL, el ojo azul de Siberia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OB94naTUYgLa región siberiana de Irkutsk, en estado de emergencia por las llamas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq2PMZXWQdU Euronews. ¿Pornografía en el billete de cien rublos? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvMRlCRfqGI&t=4s France 24. ¿Qué es el Novichok?. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnm6i7N6UcM El descontento resucita al Partido Comunista ruso. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KTV4otVoNc El lago Baikal, en peligro por una plaga de algas verdes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiHr50Qr42Y euronews reporter - Los nuevos sindicatos rusos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_NwctfZALs Hostigamiento contra homosexuales en Rusia genera preocupación -- Noticiero Univisión. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzbcegO7F6A La abuela rusa que recorre el hielo del Baikal a los 79 años. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXih5QRxSnQ Los comunistas rusos critican al Kremlin en el Día de los defensores de la Patria. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKq7BmxE1g0 Moscú endurece ley sobre “propaganda LGBT” DW en español. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AN1YULSv-Y0 MUERE GORBACHOV: ¿Qué significó su FIGURA para la URSS? ¿cómo lo valora la RUSIA de PUTIN? | RTVE. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOmnCQDOBH4 Putin no asistirá al funeral de Mijaíl Gorbachov | El Espectador. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfJnnESsr-4Rusia arresta a una veintena de activistas LGBT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eumzr5XrRwgRusos AFP Rusos aún divididos sobre su pasado en la URSS. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTZeWZLI9xE Putin sobre contaminación de lago Baikal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I2URfRFdaU Canal 22. Historia. Siberia. Música: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb9cOAnw6Y4 "Noche Oscura"(Dark is the Night-Тёмная ночь) subtitulado en español. Mark Bernes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6x3CHbL3ocРусь от края до края» Кубанский казачий хор https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMRzxcdBei0 Ойся ты ойся Если Девушка Казачка Kazachka https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNpLOo0xFfs Moscow, 1953. Christopher Willis. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4r8K3naJSE&t=27s Aram Khachaturian - Bed-Time Story (Children's Album, Book 2, No. 2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCGnyRiLFBY Estepa rusa HYPNOFON https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E__Q4mmPKLY Korobeiniki https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4AQsqpSLZQ Música sin Copyright/Rock Oscuro/Floor Plan/Silent Partner. caseif - Particles & Trap Nation Visualizer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUHhY8kSEr0 ЯОЙ || MARRY ME, BELLAMY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-zH3Dgo7ow Russian Cyberfolk Song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeSm9mQDkHA Песня красноармейца из фильма «Кортик» (Валентин Никулин) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTS7HBGpy5c RAMMSTEIN - MUTTER | кавер НА РУССКОМ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luwK7ttrJ2o В НЕБО - Polina Poliakova (RIVER) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXATiyN0Yek. Arrojar dados (No son dientes de oro!!!) Redes Sociales: -Twitter: LABIBLIOTECADE3 -Facebook: Gerión De Contestania Muchísimas gracias por escuchar LA BIBLIOTECA DE LA HISTORIA y hasta la semana que viene. Podcast amigos: La Biblioteca Perdida: https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-podcast-la-biblioteca-perdida_sq_f171036_1.html Cliophilos: https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-cliophilos-paseo-historia_sq_f1487551_1.html Niebla de Guerra: https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-niebla-guerra_sq_f1608912_1.html Casus Belli: https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-casus-belli-podcast_sq_f1391278_1.html Victoria Podcast: https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-victoria-podcast_sq_f1781831_1.html BELLUMARTIS: https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-bellumartis-podcast_sq_f1618669_1.html Relatos Salvajes: https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-relatos-salvajes_sq_f1470115_1.html Motor y al Aire: https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-motor-al-aire_sq_f1117313_1.html Pasaporte Historia: https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-pasaporte-historia_sq_f1835476_1.html Cita con Rama Podcast: https://www.ivoox.com/cita-rama-podcast-ciencia-ficcion_sq_f11043138_1.html Sierra Delta: https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-sierra-delta_sq_f1507669_1.html Permiso para Clave: https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-permiso-para-clave_sq_f1909797_1.html Héroes de Guerra 2.0: https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-heroes-guerra_sq_f1256035_1.html Escucha el episodio completo en la app de iVoox, o descubre todo el catálogo de iVoox Originals

Prepare for freezing temperatures and bleak, barren landscapes, as Adam recounts his journey from the city of Irkutsk, central Siberia, to the deepest lake in the world: Lake Baikal. The Trans-Siberian Railway is the longest railway line in the world, spanning over 9,280kms and crossing 8 time zones! In 2015, Adam completed the entire length, traveling from Moscow to Vladivostok, in winter, over the course of one month. Calling all train travel enthusiasts! If you've ever wondered what it's like to travel on the Trans-Siberian railway, be sure to tune in... and remember to bring extra layers! Have you traveled long distances overland? We'd love to hear from you! Send us an email at tripologypodcast@gmail.com You can support the show by subscribing and recommending us to friends. Please rate the show and help us grow! It may only take a minute but it makes a HUGE difference. Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/tripologypodcast PATREON: patreon.com/tripologypodcast Thank you for your continued support. It means the world.

GUEST OVERVIEW: Alexandra Kashurnikova Russian journalist, TV-anchor, the Olympic torchbearer (Sochi 2014) Was born in Siberia, Irkutsk city, near the world famous lake Baikal. Alexandra has been working as a TV-news presenter since her 17. As the head of International department of Irkutsk regional TV-station "AIST" she produced numbers of international projects with Asian country's TV-channels including "CCTV-Russian". Nowadays Alexandra works for public organization "Narodny front" founded by the President of Russia. She covers all projects of the youth team of this All-Russian volunteer's movement. As a journalist, Alexandra works in emergency zones and hosting official events with the participant of Vladimir Putin. https://yadi.sk/d/88lWEQVDHb7BJg  

In part 2 of The Academy Maniac's Artyom and Nikita are still the scum if the earth. We'll tell you about the final 5 victims, the terrible things these two have said on social media and how someone with in Nikita's own family discovers what he's been doing and blows the case wide open. The light at the end of this tunnel is growing brighter, so join us to get through the rest of this terrible case. Academic maniacs: the sentence of “threamers” was handed down in Irkutsk four years ago. (2017, April 30). Irkutsk Media. Retrieved February 14, 2023, from https://irkutskmedia.ru/news/585126/Admin_L6Ma5Gus. (2021, December 1). Akademovsky maniac Nikita Lytkin committed suicide in the Irkutsk colony. Pledge Times. https://pledgetimes.com/akademovsky-maniac-nikita-lytkin-committed-suicide-in-the-irkutsk-colony/Cork, B. (n.d.). “Academovsky hammers” turned out to be young neo-Nazis. VSP. Retrieved February 14, 2023, from https://www.vsp.ru/2011/04/09/merzkaya-istoriya/Cudjoe, D. (n.d.). Artyom Anoufriev And Nikita Lytkin: Copycat Teenage Serial Killers Of Dnepropetrovsk Maniacs. https://cdn.scooper.news/static/half/detail/207/1030853.html?page_from=shareLIPCHINSKAYA, О. (2015, February 4). “We are gods, we decide who to live and who to die.” irk.kp.ru. Retrieved February 14, 2023, from https://www.irk.kp.ru/daily/25669.4/830365/Lisina, Y. (2012, October 16). The trial of the “hampers”: Anufriev cut his neck on the way to the meeting. irk.kp. Retrieved May 18, 2023, from https://www.irk.kp.ru/online/news/1272353/Lisina, Y. (2016, August 24). Teacher of academic maniac Artem Anufriev: &qout;Hate for everyone inspired him by his mother. irk.kp.ru. Retrieved February 14, 2023, from https://www.irk.kp.ru/daily/25960/2900180/Manaev, G. (2023, February 14). 5 scariest Russian maniacs. Russia Beyond. https://www.rbth.com/history/329511-5-scariest-russian-criminalsRussian serial killer Artem Anufriev. (n.d.). https://en.delachieve.com/russian-serial-killer-artem-anufriev/The Academy Maniacs. (n.d.). Criminal. https://vocal.media/criminal/the-academy-maniacsWikipedia contributors. (2023). Academy maniacs. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_maniacs#Nikita_LytkinЛипчинская, О. (2018, April 2). Академовский маньяк-молоточник из Иркутска в колонии пишет книгу и. . . во всем винит журналистов. irk.kp.ru. https://www.irk.kp.ru/daily/26221/3104843/«Убить – это весело». Следователь по делу юных убийц из Академгородка рассказал  «Иркутскому репортёру» о своих обвиняемых. (2011, October 29). https://www.vsp.ru/2011/10/29/ubit-eto-veselo/Support the showIf you enjoyed learning about this case, check out our Instagram @bookofthedeadpodShoot us an email with a case suggestions or just say "hi" at bookofthedeadpod@gmail.comAnd don't forget to rate and review and share with your friendsMuch Love-Courtney and Lisa

The long awaited chapter Courtney has been working on is finally here! In 2010 the the Akademgorodok micro district of Irkutsk was terrorized by the Academy Maniac's, otherwise known as The Hammer Men, from January to April. For month's residents would live in fear as 16 people were attacked, and, in the beginning, the police weren't doing anything to help. In Part one, we talk about the Killers' backgrounds and the first 11 victims. This is a rough story, so grab a drink and join us down the rabbit hole.Academic maniacs: the sentence of “threamers” was handed down in Irkutsk four years ago. (2017, April 30). Irkutsk Media. Retrieved February 14, 2023, from https://irkutskmedia.ru/news/585126/Admin_L6Ma5Gus. (2021, December 1). Akademovsky maniac Nikita Lytkin committed suicide in the Irkutsk colony. Pledge Times. https://pledgetimes.com/akademovsky-maniac-nikita-lytkin-committed-suicide-in-the-irkutsk-colony/Cork, B. (n.d.). “Academovsky hammers” turned out to be young neo-Nazis. VSP. Retrieved February 14, 2023, from https://www.vsp.ru/2011/04/09/merzkaya-istoriya/Cudjoe, D. (n.d.). Artyom Anoufriev And Nikita Lytkin: Copycat Teenage Serial Killers Of Dnepropetrovsk Maniacs. https://cdn.scooper.news/static/half/detail/207/1030853.html?page_from=shareLIPCHINSKAYA, О. (2015, February 4). “We are gods, we decide who to live and who to die.” irk.kp.ru. Retrieved February 14, 2023, from https://www.irk.kp.ru/daily/25669.4/830365/Lisina, Y. (2012, October 16). The trial of the “hampers”: Anufriev cut his neck on the way to the meeting. irk.kp. Retrieved May 18, 2023, from https://www.irk.kp.ru/online/news/1272353/Lisina, Y. (2016, August 24). Teacher of academic maniac Artem Anufriev: &qout;Hate for everyone inspired him by his mother. irk.kp.ru. Retrieved February 14, 2023, from https://www.irk.kp.ru/daily/25960/2900180/Manaev, G. (2023, February 14). 5 scariest Russian maniacs. Russia Beyond. https://www.rbth.com/history/329511-5-scariest-russian-criminalsRussian serial killer Artem Anufriev. (n.d.). https://en.delachieve.com/russian-serial-killer-artem-anufriev/The Academy Maniacs. (n.d.). Criminal. https://vocal.media/criminal/the-academy-maniacsWikipedia contributors. (2023). Academy maniacs. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_maniacs#Nikita_LytkinЛипчинская, О. (2018, April 2). Академовский маньяк-молоточник из Иркутска в колонии пишет книгу и. . . во всем винит журналистов. irk.kp.ru. https://www.irk.kp.ru/daily/26221/3104843/«Убить – это весело». Следователь по делу юных убийц из Академгородка рассказал  «Иркутскому репортёру» о своих обвиняемых. (2011, October 29). https://www.vsp.ru/2011/10/29/ubit-eto-veselo/Support the showIf you enjoyed learning about this case, check out our Instagram @bookofthedeadpodShoot us an email with a case suggestions or just say "hi" at bookofthedeadpod@gmail.comAnd don't forget to rate and review and share with your friendsMuch Love-Courtney and Lisa

He was born in Siberia in 1797 to a clerical family, and became a married parish priest in Irkutsk. A devout explorer, John Kriukov, told him of the great spiritual needs among the Russian and native peoples in Alaska, then Russian territory. Moved to serve Christ in this very difficult environment, he and his family arrived in Alaska in 1824. He quickly learned the Aleut language and worked humbly and tirelessly among the Aleuts. His spiritual classic, An Indication of the Way to the Kingdom of Heaven, was originally written in Aleut and later translated into many languages.   While he was visiting Russia in 1838, his wife died; one year later he was tonsured a monk and given the name of Innocent (he had been Fr John Veniaminov). Almost immediately after his tonsuring he was, without warning, raised to the rank of Bishop of all Eastern Siberia and Russian America, probably the largest diocese in the world at that time. Returning to Alaska, he continued his missionary work with vigor, often traveling among Aleut and Tlingit settlements in his own kayak. Wherever he went, he found the Alaskan people hungry for the faith, and his labors bore rich fruit which is still obvious today: Alaska has more Orthodox churches per capita than any other state.   In old age he was made Metropolitan of Moscow, head of the entire Russian Orthodox Church. His concern for Christian mission was undiminished, and as Metropolitan he created the Orthodox Missionary Society. He reposed on Holy Saturday of 1879.

He was born in Siberia in 1797 to a clerical family, and became a married parish priest in Irkutsk. A devout explorer, John Kriukov, told him of the great spiritual needs among the Russian and native peoples in Alaska, then Russian territory. Moved to serve Christ in this very difficult environment, he and his family arrived in Alaska in 1824. He quickly learned the Aleut language and worked humbly and tirelessly among the Aleuts. His spiritual classic, An Indication of the Way to the Kingdom of Heaven, was originally written in Aleut and later translated into many languages.   While he was visiting Russia in 1838, his wife died; one year later he was tonsured a monk and given the name of Innocent (he had been Fr John Veniaminov). Almost immediately after his tonsuring he was, without warning, raised to the rank of Bishop of all Eastern Siberia and Russian America, probably the largest diocese in the world at that time. Returning to Alaska, he continued his missionary work with vigor, often traveling among Aleut and Tlingit settlements in his own kayak. Wherever he went, he found the Alaskan people hungry for the faith, and his labors bore rich fruit which is still obvious today: Alaska has more Orthodox churches per capita than any other state.   In old age he was made Metropolitan of Moscow, head of the entire Russian Orthodox Church. His concern for Christian mission was undiminished, and as Metropolitan he created the Orthodox Missionary Society. He reposed on Holy Saturday of 1879.

Saint Innocent of Alaska (also known as Saint Innocent of Irkutsk, or Saint Innocent Metropolitan of Moscow) was a 19th century missionary priest and an archbishop of the Russian Orthodox Church. He is especially known for bringing the gospel to the native peoples of the Aleutian Islands and Alaska, which was then under Russian control. Jim John Marks guests hosts this podcast, drawing mostly from a biography of the saint by Father Symeon Kees, an American priest of the Antiochian Orthodox Church, titled "A Brief Biography of St. Innocent of Alaska". The sources used in that article are:Afonsky, Bishop Gregory. A History of the Orthodox Church in Alaska (1794-1917).Kodiak, AK: St. Herman's Theological Seminary, 1977.Cowie, Sarah Elizabeth. Saint Innocent of Alaska: Apostle and Missionary. BenLomond, CA: Conciliar Press, 2005.Garret, Paul D. St. Innocent: Apostle to America. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir'sSeminary Press, 1979.Gray, George A. & Jan V. Bear. Portraits of American Saints. Los Angeles: DiocesanCouncil and Department of Missions, Diocese of the West, OCA, 1994.Ushimaru, Procius Yasuo. Bishop Innocent: Founder of American Orthodoxy. Bridgeport,CT: Metropolitan Council Publications Committee, 1964.

Brendan Jones lives in Sitka, Alaska with his wife, three daughters, six chickens, and one dog.  He first came to Sitka as a young man to land what work he could find.  Soon he was writing for the Sitka Sentinel, and has gone on to write for a range of publications including The New York Times, the Smithsonian, GQ, Washington Post, Patagonia and others.  He has recently won the 2022 Green Earth Book Award for Whispering Alaska.  All the while, he balances writing with being a father and spending time in the wilds as a fisher, hunter and outdoorsman. This podcast conversation includes:Early days in Sitka, living in the woods, and getting hired as a reporter for the Sitka SentinelTraveling west to China and around the world, west to east on little funds before returning to Columbia UniversityWorking as a Sitka carpenter, then returning to the East Coast to start a businessBack to Sitka, Brendan bought the classic WW II tug, AdakHow he met his bride as a Salsa dancing instructorThe story of the Adak taking on water, saving it, an intervention and a rebuild in WrangellWith his wife, two daughters, and their dog—a year in Irkutsk, Russia, as a Fulbright scholar, teaching and researching the 19th century Russian-American Company frigate “Neva”The story of how the Neva met it's end on Kruzof IslandA reading from Brendan's manuscript,  "Americans in Siberia"Comments on his Washington Post article, "We Need Alaska's Tongass National Forest Now More Than Ever".  The Tongass as a carbon sequestration forestComments on Brendan's New York Times article, "A Canadian Threat to Fishing", on salmon and transboundary mining issues Reflections on raising a family in Sitka and Southeast AlaskaOriginal Music by Christian Arthur:  https://christianarthur.com/Show notes:  www.alaskastoryproject.comBrendan Jones: https://www.brendanisaacjones.com/

Morse code transcription: vvv vvv Rishi Sunak well ahead of rivals with one day until PM nominations close Ukraine war The cost of occupation in Kherson Salman Rushdie has lost sight in one eye, agent Andrew Wylie says China congress Xi cements power by packing top team with loyalists Hurricane Roslyn Mexico braces for powerful storm Climate activists throw mashed potatoes at Monet work in Germany Princeton students family kept in the dark over death Hollywood reflects on MeToo impact as new Weinstein trial begins Verstappen equals win record with dramatic US GP win Cheney slams pro Putin McCarthy over Ukraine funding threat Boris Johnson pulls out of race to be leader of UKs Conservative Party and next prime minister Cheney 1 6 panel wont let Trump turn testimony into circus Trump backed Ariz. candidate Kari Lake pledges full term amid VP talk Chinas Leader Xi Jinping Secures Third Term Latest Updates Xi Jinpings party is just getting started Russian fighter plane crashes in Siberian city of Irkutsk Hurricane Roslyn makes landfall in Mexico, potentially bringing life threatening conditions Philippines Student anti cheating exam hats go viral Woodwards taped time with Trump reveals much about both the author and his subject

Here's Part 2 of the horror talk of the Academy Maniacs, Artyom Alexandrovich Anoufriev (4 October 1992) and Nikita Vakhtangovich Lytkin (24 March 1993 – 30 November 2021), two serial killers from Irkutsk, Russia; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLjRCTmo7m4

Here's Part 1 of the horror talk of the Academy Maniacs, Artyom Alexandrovich Anoufriev (4 October 1992) and Nikita Vakhtangovich Lytkin (24 March 1993 – 30 November 2021), two serial killers from Irkutsk, Russia; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLjRCTmo7m4

Here's Part 3 of the horror talk of the Academy Maniacs, Artyom Alexandrovich Anoufriev (4 October 1992) and Nikita Vakhtangovich Lytkin (24 March 1993 – 30 November 2021), two serial killers from Irkutsk, Russia; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLjRCTmo7m4

Ely Alkurd owns Dar Tèta, a Middle Eastern restaurant in the town Forrest near Great Ocean Road in Victoria. She was born in Jordan and after school went to study in the USSR, where she was assigned first to Irkutsk and then to Donetsk. Eli graduated from graduate school in Kharkov. In this podcast, she tells her amazing story. This is a Russian language content. - Эли Алькурд владеет рестораном ближневосточной кухни Dar Tèta в небольшом городке Forrest рядом с Great Ocean Road в Виктории. Она родилась в Иордании и после школы поехала учиться в СССР, где ее распределили сначала в Иркутск, а потом в Донецк. Аспирантуру Эли окончила в Харькове. В этом подкасте она рассказывает свою удивительную историю.

“PLANET WEREWOLF” and More Terrifying True Paranormal Stories! #WeirdDarknessIN THIS EPISODE: On a barren field in the U.S. state of Georgia, five granite slabs rise in a star pattern. Each of them weighs over 20 tons and on top of them, there is a capstone. Nobody knows who built it or why they were placed there, but one popular opinion that their purpose is to guide humanity after a predicted post-apocalyptic event that will come in the not so distant future. *** When you think "fairies," what comes to mind? You probably picture an adorable and sparkly creature akin to Disney's Tinker Bell, a lovely - and above all, friendly - presence. You may even want to make contact with them. Unfortunately, glittering humanoids with butterfly wings are the stuff of children's books. Retrace faerie folklore, and you'll discover their secret scary origins. *** In the Summer of 1949, a geologist named Vadim Kolpakov discovered a strange feature on the surface of the earth in the Bodaibo, Irkutsk, region of South-Eastern Siberia.  Encircled by a largely treed area, this anomaly is oval with a conical crater that contains a small ball-like mound in its middle.  The geologic mystery has baffled scientists who are uncertain of what caused this weird formation. *** Is there any truth behind the enduring legend of the werewolf?(Dark Archives episode, originally posted April 14, 2020)SOURCES AND ESSENTIAL WEB LINKS…Episode containing “The Elves of Iceland”: https://weirddarkness.com/archives/5973 Episode containing “Agenda 21”: https://weirddarkness.com/archives/6061 Episode containing “The Wendigo” by Algernon Blackwood: https://weirddarkness.com/archives/6024 “Planet Werewolf” by Lea Rose Emery for Graveyard Shift: https://tinyurl.com/vcetp96 “The Dark Side of Fairies” by Amber Fua for Ranker: https://tinyurl.com/rbexptk “The American Stonehenge” by Mihai Andrei for ZME Science: https://tinyurl.com/yaogafuz “What Caused the Patomskiy Crater?” by Lochlan McClelland for Historic Mysteries: https://tinyurl.com/wu9r5bc Subscribe to the podcast by searching for Weird Darkness wherever you listen to podcasts – or use this RSS feed link: https://www.spreaker.com/show/3655291/episodes/feed.Weird Darkness theme by Alibi Music Library. Background music provided by Alibi Music, EpidemicSound and/or AudioBlocks with paid license. Music from Shadows Symphony (https://tinyurl.com/yyrv987t), Midnight Syndicate (http://amzn.to/2BYCoXZ), Kevin MacLeod (https://tinyurl.com/y2v7fgbu), Tony Longworth (https://tinyurl.com/y2nhnbt7), and/or Nicolas Gasparini/Myuu (https://tinyurl.com/lnqpfs8) is used with permission. 

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =(Over time links seen above may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = ="I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46Visit the Church of the Undead: http://undead.church/ Find out how to escape eternal darkness at https://weirddarkness.com/eternaldarkness Trademark, Weird Darkness ®. Copyright, Weird Darkness ©.= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =00:19:17.623,

Photo: Ostrog is a small wooden fort; here:  The tower of Ilimsky ostrog, now in Taltsy Museum in Irkutsk, Siberia. @Batchelorshow #Ukraine:  Moscow POV: "From Fortress Russia to Rubble Russia." Professor H. J. Mackinder, International Relations. #FriendsofHistoryDebatingSociety ..  ..  ..  Permissions Ostrog Turm von Ilimsk (1667)im Taltzy Museum nahe Irkutsk Date | 28 July 2000 Source | Own work Author | Dr.A.Hugentobler You are free: to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work; to remix – to adapt the workUnder the following conditions: attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.

Full shownotes at www.80dayspodcast.com/ulaanbataar | Support: www.patreon.com/80dayspodcast Merch store: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/eightydayspodcast?ref_id=25321 In this episode of 80 Days: An Exploration Podcast, we'll be talking about Ulaanbaatar, meaning Red Hero, was originally founded in 1639 as a nomadic Bhuddist monastery, essentially a moveable city,  and was not permanently settled at its current location in 1778, where it became a crucial trading hub between Russia and China. The city is located in present-day north central Mongolia, around 1000km or 700 miles northwest of Beijing and about 500km or 300 miles south of Irkutsk, Russia. Its current population is around 1.5 million, meaning it contains around 50% of Mongolia's residents, and is comparable in population to San Diego or Munich. Your hosts, as always, are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly in Ireland, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 in the UK, and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach in Ireland . (Theme music by Thomas O'Boyle @thatthomasfella)

Alexander Lobok is a philosopher, psychologist, and teacher. Ph.D. in Philosophy. Doctor of Psychology. A psychotherapist working in the paradigm of existential psychology. A specialist in difficult issues of building family and interpersonal relationships. Work with educational depressions, situations of loss of meaning, video games addiction, building trajectories of personal self-actualization, and much more. Author of the books: "Overcoming Morality", "Subconscious Marx", "Anthropology of Myth", "Other Mathematics", "Laboratory of Children's Written Speech", "Science of Discipleship, or the Reverse Side of Didactics", "Diamond Land of Olonkho Pedagogy", "Cartography of the Inner childhood ”,“ №0. First feast. How the University of Probability Education is Possible ”and many articles devoted to the problems of innovative pedagogy. Professor of the University of Probabilistic Education, and author of the Azarttaining system - a set of innovative technologies and educational games that reveal the secrets of educational passion. "Archcard", "Magnematics", "Font magic", "ABC of meanings", "Ischeznayka" - these are game complexes invented by Alexander Lobok (each complex represents tens and even hundreds of game scenarios), allowing to form linguistic and mathematical thinking in children themselves of different ages through the activation in them the state of educational passion. Geography of Alexander Lobok's author's seminars for teachers, parents, and children: Kaliningrad, St. Petersburg, Arkhangelsk, Krasnodar, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Izhevsk, Perm, Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Tyumen, Novy Urengoy, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Ust- Ilimsk, Chita, Vladivostok, Anadyr, Seattle, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Barcelona, Montenegro, Bulgaria, and others. FIND ALEXANDER ON SOCIAL MEDIA Facebook | YouTube | Instagram ================================ SUPPORT & CONNECT: Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/denofrich Twitter: https://twitter.com/denofrich Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/denofrich YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/denofrich Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/den_of_rich/ Hashtag: #denofrich © Copyright 2022 Den of Rich. All rights reserved.

He was born in Siberia in 1797 to a clerical family, and became a married parish priest in Irkutsk. A devout explorer, John Kriukov, told him of the great spiritual needs among the Russian and native peoples in Alaska, then Russian territory. Moved to serve Christ in this very difficult environment, he and his family arrived in Alaska in 1824. He quickly learned the Aleut language and worked humbly and tirelessly among the Aleuts. His spiritual classic, An Indication of the Way to the Kingdom of Heaven, was originally written in Aleut and later translated into many languages.   While he was visiting Russia in 1838, his wife died; one year later he was tonsured a monk and given the name of Innocent (he had been Fr John Veniamov). Almost immediately after his tonsuring he was, without warning, raised to the rank of Bishop of all Eastern Siberia and Russian America, probably the largest diocese in the world at that time. Returning to Alaska, he continued his missionary work with vigor, often traveling among Aleut and Tlingit settlements in his own kayak. Wherever he went, he found the Alaskan people hungry for the faith, and his labors bore rich fruit which is still obvious today: Alaska has more Orthodox churches per capita than any other state.   In old age he was made Metropolitan of Moscow, head of the entire Russian Orthodox Church. His concern for Christian mission was undiminished, and as Metropolitan he created the Orthodox Missionary Society. He reposed on Holy Saturday of 1879.

He was descended from a noble family near Chernigov. He became a monk at the Lavra of the Kiev Caves in 1706 and in 1721 was consecrated bishop. He was sent as a missionary to China but, due to political complications, could not gain entry into the country and settled temporarily near Lake Baikal in Siberia. He and his companions soon ran out of money and were forced to live for a time on alms and by day- labor. Rather than become discouraged, Saint Innocent made use of this time to learn the native language and found a school for the local Mongol people, many of whom he brought to the faith.   In 1722 he was appointed Bishop of Irkutsk, a diocese that covered all the huge area of eastern Siberia. At the time of his appointment there were only about thirty churches in the whole diocese. For ten years the bishop devoted himself to converting the Mongol peoples, preaching to them and catechizing them in their own language. At the same time he worked for moral reform among the Russian Orthodox people of the region. As bishop, he lived in the Monastery of the Ascension in Irkutsk, where he established a firm ascetical life, in which he himself took a full part. He spent every night in prayer, meditation on the writings of the Fathers, and preparing sermons in both Russian and the local languages.   Under the strain of the cruel Siberian climate the Saint fell ill and reposed in 1731. Many miracles take place to this day at his tomb. Among the people of Siberia he is honored as highly as Saint Nicholas and counted as the Enlightener of their land.