How much can Kazakh stand?

Kazakhstani proverb: "If you can beat 'em, join 'em." The "'em," in this case, would be Sacha Baron Cohen, the British comedian who has single-handedly made the obscure but oil-rich central Asian country an international laughing stock. The vehicle for global humiliation has been "Borat Sagdiyev," a fictitious Kazakh journalist played by Cohen. Borat emerged two years ago in Cohen's TV series (familiar to some HBO subscribers), "Da Ali G Show," which is, by turns, riotously funny and harrowingly cruel. The deadpan character presents his country as anti-semitic, sexist and stupid, a place where gays wear blue hats and horses are better treated than women. Kazakh wine? Fermented horse urine.

All this has left the Kazakhstan government unamused. It has threatened to sue. It shut down Borat's Kazakh Web site. Last month, it took out full-page newspaper ads to counter "damaging slurs." But last week Kazakhstan finally got its public relations apparatus up and running. "We must have a sense of humor and respect for other people's freedom of creativity," a deputy foreign minister told The Scotsman. "I'd like to invite Cohen here. Women drive cars, wine is made of grapes, and Jews are free to go to synagogue." The PR efforts seemed to be going well -- until Kazakhstan's central bank printed millions of new notes and misspelled the word "bank."

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Cohen's much anticipated film "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" opens in the U.S. Nov. 3. There was a celebrity showing Monday night in Hollywood. At about the same time, a four-minute clip went up on the video-sharing site YouTube.com. In the leaked clip, Borat walks through his hometown in Kazakhstan, pointing out a man in a wooden cart as "the town rapist" and another as "our town mechanic ... and abortionist."

Borat was carried into the Hollywood premiere by a hefty peasant woman, to the amusement of A-listers such as Brooke Shields, Sheryl Crow and Kanye West. An exec from a rival studio saw a "Borat" screening organized by the youth-oriented MySpace.com and described reaction as nothing less than manic.

American victims

In the movie, the Kazakh government sends TV journalist Borat to America. But while the Kazakhs take their usual hit, the victims here are well-meaning, hood-winked Americans, says BBC News:

Artist Linda Stein and two other members of Veteran Feminists of America thought they were being filmed for a documentary to help third world women. But Borat started talking about his wife's farm work ("she pulls the plough"), women walking three steps behind men ("it used to be 10 steps, my country is advancing") and asked whether they watched "Baywatch" and how to contact Pamela Anderson. Ms. Stein tried to throw Borat out when he said women have smaller brains than men. The producer persuaded her to carry on, explaining that Borat did not realize he was saying anything wrong. But the final straw came when Borat asked the women to lift up their shirts.

"I've seen the film and parts of it were hilarious," Ms. Stein said. "As an interviewee, I have had a lot of mixed feelings about it. I just have to move on. I'm not angry." The artist has a sculpture exhibition next week. "He owes me one, and he should buy a sculpture," she said.

Less mellow is Tennessee rodeo manager Bobby Rowe, whom the comedian cajoles into making disparaging remarks about Muslims and homosexuals. "I got into this mess by someone calling me and telling me who they was, and they weren't," he says. "And so I don't do any interviews over the dadgum phone any more. This phone rings 10-12 times a day. That's what got me into this mess and I don't want to get in any deeper."

Perhaps in his own way, Cohen is bringing Americans and Kazakhstanis closer.

Melvin and me

Cohen, who is Jewish, jokingly told reporters in Santa Monica yesterday that he supported Mel Gibson's drunken anti-semitic rant: "We agree with his comments that the Jews started all wars. We also have proof that they were responsible for killing off all the dinosaurs. And Hurricane Katrina -- they did it."

Borat went on to pledge support for President George W. Bush. "Kazakhstan very much admires your mighty warlord, George Walter Bush. He is a very wise man and also a strong man -- but perhaps not as strong as his father, Barbara." However, Borat broke down as he revealed he has been fighting a life-long addiction to fermented horse urine.

(From Life Style Extra, lse.co.uk.)