Pic of Tsagaan Khas ('White Swastika') by Dan Chung, GuardianOh, bloody brilliant! That's all we need in east Asia: non-Aryans doing that turkey-voting-for-Christmas thang and celebrating a ideology that would send us all to a most unpleasant end.
Tania Branigan writes in the Guardian:
It is, by any standards, an extraordinary choice. Under Hitler, Soviet prisoners of war who appeared Mongolian were singled out for execution. More recently, far-right groups in Europe have attacked Mongolian migrants.
A case of if you can't beat them, join them?
A certain unfamiliarity with the history means the lads are unaware that it was the hordes who swept out of Mongolia that conquered and united China in the early 13th century (Genghis and Kublai Khan), giving it the foundations of its modern identity. And there's an element of confusion around race that is almost endearing:
Enthusiastically shaking hands, he says: "Even though you are a British citizen, you are still Asian, and that makes you very cool."
Perhaps some book-learning and a Nick Griffinesque rebranding is on the cards?
He says the younger members have taught him to be less extreme and the group appears to be reshaping itself – expelling "criminal elements" and insisting on a good education as a prerequisite for membership. One of the leaders is an interior designer.
So the uniforms should be pretty even if the wearers aren't.
Tsagaan Khass say it "works closely" with other organisations and is now discussing a merger. "Some people are in complete denial … [but] we can no longer deny this is a problem," said Anaraa Nyamdorj, of Mongolia's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Centre.
All together, now ... It's Springtime for Genghis in Ulan Bator, tra, la!
Watch out for a make-over by the West and sympathy for an interesting source of China destabilisation with identity politics as the gloss. They come over 'ere ...
