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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Kazakhstan not amused by Ali G |
| 2005-12-15 |
| The official Web site of Borat Sagdiyev - the fictitious, self-styled second-string Kazakh journalist and sixth-most-famous man in Kazakhstan - was hardly a postcard extolling this vast, oil-rich nation sandwiched between Russia and China. "Kazakhstan is as civilized as any other country in the world!" Borat, as he is known, boasted in a Web site posting that is actually the work of the British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, star of "Da Ali G Show," a television comedy in Britain and the United States. "Women can now travel on inside of bus, homosexuals no longer have to wear blue hat and age of consent has been raised to 8 years old." But now, the grainy image of Borat - posed in his trademark dark curls, below a Kazakh flag and dueling pistols - has vanished along with the Web site, shut down this week by the Kazakh authorities, who were not joking. For almost a year, government officials have been grumbling about Borat, the loutish anti-ambassador of Kazakhstan who is a master of fractured English and likes to expose prejudice by showing how easy it is to encourage a crowd in a bar to sing a chorus of "Throw the Jew down the well so my country can be free!" |
| Posted by:john |
| #1 I don't find him funny either. He is probably used in the recruiting drive for the Kazakh fascists. |
| Posted by: Penguin 2005-12-15 16:31 |