Catholicgauze, everybody is blogging about Borat right now. I did a quick run through high authority blogs discussing Kazakhstan on Technorati yesterday and almost none were actually talking about the meeting between the presidents. And I think mine is the only one that’s even mentioned the joint statement released by the two.

It’s not that this is unexpected. Coverage of Central Asia tends to skew directions that aren’t always the most newsworthy. What gets me in this case is that people are grossly exaggerating Kazakhstan’s current anger at Borat. They acted like fools in the past and they’re still paying for it. Their current PR campaign and the release of the movie Nomad have nothing to do with Borat though. In fact, if either side is reacting to the other right now, it’s Cohen to the Kazakh government. (Not that one can begrudge him going after the free publicity.)

I actually ate lunch in Lafayette Park that afternoon (I work a block away from the White House) and must have just missed this. If I had seen him, I would have tried to give him my best anti-Semitic antedote, primarily how spiders crawl out of their bodies if you stab a Jew in the heart. (ps, screenings are going on all around DC and NYC for Borat if anyone is interested)