ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia — Mongolia, where parliamentary elections were being held Friday, is a sparsely populated and landlocked Asian nation known for its bitter winter cold and independent spirit. As a democracy of just 3.4 million people in the shadow of two much larger authoritarian states, China and Russia, it has taken on symbolic importance in an era when democracy is under pressure or in crisis in many countries, including the United States. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] In an earlier era, the fierce nomadic tribes of the Mongolian steppe were widely feared, at one point conquering China and expanding west across Asia to the edges of Europe. Today, it is a country punctuated by extremes.