Admiral Donnelly began his speech as Jerome Watkins projected aerial images showing a caravan of typical Mongolian wagons loaded with people and various objects, escorted by horsemen mounted on spirited horses wandering through the grassy steppe, all of them followed by herded cattle lead by other younger riders.
“This image, which seems to be taken from a 13th century engraving, was nevertheless taken a few days ago with a drone, in the north of the Republic of Mongolia. What it is showing is a tribe on its march to a place that we do not know, and that is repeated by dozens in the Asian steppe. It is a nation in movement, and according to our analysts, it is not just a matter of seasonal migrations following sites with abundant pastures.