From The Independent (subscription required):

Can Genghis Khan reconquer Mongolia?

800th anniversary projects are way behind schedule, and many doubt if the warrior is a fit hero for the 21st century

They were supposed to be the celebrations that would attract 400,000 visitors and put independent Mongolia on the world map, but instead a public relations disaster is in the offing.

Plans to commemorate Mongolia's greatest hero, Genghis Khan, are running into major delays and political rows. This summer marks the 800th anniversary of the warlord's unification of the marauding Mongol tribes, at whose head he swept across Asia and created the world's largest land empire, but nearly every construction project in his name is way behind schedule.

Hmmm...we wonder how Genghis would have reacted to such delays and squabbling? After all, this is the legendary leader who once said (well before Schwarzenegger in Conan):

The greatest pleasure of a man is to vanquish your enemies and chase them before you, to rob them of their wealth and see those dear to them bathed in tears, to ride their horses and clasp to your bosom their wives and daughters.

Be glad he's long gone, sniveling Mongolian bureaucrats.

Technorati tags: PR, Public Relations, GK