Borat, the media diversion Kazakh clown hiding torture

by **Hugh Manatee Wins** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 5:12 am

A Kazakh government official is visiting Washington and I heard NPR reporting on 'controversy' around a crude comic who 'demeans Kazakhstan' like a drunk at a wedding. Hunh? Ah, the Magician's Other Hand at work again. Kazakhstan was recently cited by Human Rights Watch for returning political refugees to Uzbekistan to be tortured. Tortured, that is, by that US ally in the Caspian Sea oil and gas region where dissidents are boiled to death. Former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray was a whistleblower against US-UK sanctioned torture in Uzbekistan so this British clown 'Borat' is probably serving to cover for both UK and US complicity in that atrocity. And that's why 'Borat' covers for the diplomatic visit to the US by giving the media something petty to cluck over instead. <a href="http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/03/29/kazakh13092.htm">hrw.org/english/docs/2006...h13092.htm</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr>"According to Human Rights Watch research (see below) all the men were detained between 24 – 27 November 2005 in Shymkent. After the men had been detained, relatives knowing of their detentions but unaware of their fate, wrote to the prosecutor general of Kazakhstan requesting an investigation into the men’s detention, and asking for information regarding their whereabouts. In a reply dated January 27, (registered as document number 36/55-05), the office of the South-Kazakhstan province prosecutor stated that the detention of the nine men by Kazakh security agents “was not confirmed.” The letter further stated that the men had in fact been detained by Uzbek police in Tashkent district of Tashkent province, Uzbekistan, during an operation conducted on November 28-December 2, 2005. "<hr></blockquote> Here's Borat on the front page of today's Yahoo DSL internet page-- ------------------------------------------- <blockquote>Quote:<hr> Kazakh leaders say fictitious journalist Borat has taken the joke too far—and are fighting back.» Watch video * Who's Borat? * Borat movie trailer * Learn about Kazakhstan * Is Borat taking the joke too far?<hr></blockquote> Also try: borat movie, borat trailer, borat movie trailer, borat soundboard More... Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan Movie Page - Trailers - Photos * Kazakhs shoot back at Borat's version of their country USA Today - Sep 29 12:53 PM * No "Jagshemash" for Borat, Kazakh cinema chain says Reuters via Yahoo! News - Sep 29 7:27 AM * More Borat Headlines <a href="http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=ytff1-&p=borat&ei=UTF-8&cs=bz">search.yahoo.com/search?f...TF-8&cs=bz</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr> 1. Borat Home Page! Official site of Borat, Sacha Baron Cohen's character from Kazakhstan. Site features photos and video clips of Borat in bizarre situations, including him singing in a country-western night Also includes the Borat movie trailer. Category: Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat Sagdiyev www.borat.tv - 5k - Cached - More from this site - Save 2. Unofficial Borat Homepage Fan site dedicated to Sacha Baron Cohen's spoof Kazakhstani traveler Borat as he visits the U.K. and experiences British culture. Category: Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat Sagdiyev www.boratonline.co.uk - 26k - Cached - More from this site - Save 3. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan - Yahoo! Movies Features the trailer for the movie Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan as well as photos from the premiere, which apparently was on the beach. Category: Movie Titles > Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006) movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&cf=info&id=1809426565 - 30k - Cached - More from this site - Save 4. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006) - IMDb Cast/character credits, user reviews, fan forum, and production details about the mockumentary Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, starring Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat Sagdiyev, a journalist from ... Category: Movie Titles > Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006) www.imdb.com/title/tt0443453 - 54k - Cached - More from this site - Save 5. Borat - Wikipedia Detailed article about the character of Borat Sagdiyev, played by British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. Includes quotes and information about the controversy from the character, his background, and the Borat movie. Category: Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat Sagdiyev en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borat - 55k - Cached - More from this site - Save 6. Borat - MySpace Borat's official MySpace page, complete with horrible wallpaper and annoying background music. Category: Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat Sagdiyev www.myspace.com/borat - 138k - Cached - More from this site - Save 7. Borat Videos on YouTube Large collection of user-uploaded videos of Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat. Category: Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat Sagdiyev youtube.com/results?...&search_sort=relevance&search_query=borat - 47k - Cached - More from this site - Save 8. Borat Movie Trailer - Yahoo! Movies Watch the teaser and theatrical trailers for Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, starring Sacha Baron Cohen as Kazakhstan's sixth most famous man and leading journalist. movies.yahoo.com/feature/borat.html - 18k - Cached - More from this site - Save 9. Kazakhstanis Against Borat ... Borat. It is not even a popular Kasakh name ... - We not like Borat! - Borat is wrong ... Borat makes lie about Kazakhstan! ... stopborat.com - 16k - Cached - More from this site - Save 10. Borat - Rotten Tomatoes Offers a handful of photos from the movie Borat and some reviews as well. Category: Movie Titles > Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006) www.rottentomatoes.com/m/borat - 77k - Cached - More from this site - Save Borat from Yahoo! Answers People say I talk like Borat. Who is Borat. I like girls, .Who is ... - 1 Answers borat ringtone? - 2 Answers Borat Tune? - 1 Answers More borat Answers Yahoo! Shortcut - About<hr></blockquote>

by **StarmanSkye** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 8:00 am

Hugh-- Well Damn Done ... Thanx for the detailed Heads-uP! analysis-insight on back-door PR Poli-slimeball cover-up bouncing-ball distraction vis-a-vis the 'ackward' relationship of the US and its putative 'unruly' Kazakhstani ally. As always, Keep ON shinin'! Starman PS: Uhm, you ARE sort-of on-goingly compiling your info/comments into some kinda possible book format, aintcha? Methinks it would be a SWELL publication project. I'll sure never look-at the same way, or overlook so-called Mass Media 'coincidences' again -- Nor casually dismiss consideration of possible/likely elaborately-conceived sophisticaed PsyOp propaganda-media spin-cycle charades. THANKS!!!

by **orz** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 10:24 am

Does Sacha Baron Cohen know that he's being controlled my the powers that be to distract from this stuff? Or is he totally in on it? Who came up with the idea for Borat, and when? At what point did a CIA (or whoever) agent with the specific notion of "let's make a TV comedy which mocks and distracts from the reality of Kazakhstan" come into contact with the people who make a TV show actually happen, and how were these people persuaded to produce and entire TV show (Borat was a character on the Ali G show years ago) without presumably themselves knowing about it's true purpose? Or are the execs at Channel 4 literally sitting around saying "right, we need to distract the population from the situation in Kazakhstan, let's get Cohen to introduce a minor character in his show who will be eventually spun off into a movie some years later"? Etc......... (these questions are not entirely rhetorical, if anyone has an answer to them that either confirms or refutes Hugh's implications then please go ahead) A bit of background info (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borat">from wikipedia</a>... yeah, i know <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/eyes.gif ALT=":rolleyes"> ): <blockquote>Quote:<hr>It has been suggested that Baron Cohen was influenced by Internet celebrity Mahir Çagri; in fact Borat had been in development since at least 1995 (at LWT/Granada TV). During the DVD commentary of the first disc of season one of Da Ali G Show Baron Cohen says that the evolution of the Borat character was influenced by a real person he met in Southern Russia, "... I can't remember his name - he was a doctor. The moment I met him, I was totally crying - he was [this] hysterically funny guy, albeit unintentionally."<hr></blockquote>

by **Seamus OBlimey** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 11:49 am

I don't believe the Borat character was invented to distract from Kazakhstan's human rights violations. He's been focusing attention on the country since well before it's recent rise to prominence. It may well be that the US press is using Borat to distract from the cozy realtionship between the two presidents. ------------------------- But it has been impossible to avoid Kazakhstan’s efforts to rebut Cohen’s depiction of the country during its president’s visit this week. Its Government has spent heavily on television adverts describing Kazakhstan as the beautiful “heart of Eurasia”, along with a four-page supplement in The New York Times boasting about its sophisticated culture, booming economy, sushi bars and religious tolerance. Borat hit back by staging an impromptu press conference outside Kazakhstan’s Embassy on Thursday. “These are disgusting fabrications,” he said, waving the newspaper advertisement, claiming it was perpetrated by “evil nitwits” from neighbouring Uzbekistan. “If there is one more item of Uzbek propaganda claiming that we do not drink fermented horse urine, give death penalty for baking bagels, or export over 300 tonnes of human pubis per year, then we will be left with no alternative but to commence bombardment of their cities with our catapults.” Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister has, without any intended self-irony, made similar suggestions that Cohen, who is Jewish, may be “acting on behalf of someone’s political order” to denigrate the country. The Government has not ruled out taking legal action against him. <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2381936,00.html">The Times</a> ------------------------- Whatever his agenda the guy is seriously hilarious. See Jeff's post on <a href="http://p216.ezboard.com/frigorousintuitionfrm10.showMessageRange?topicID=5563.topic&start=321&stop=340">Video Links Only</a> thread for proof. He reminds me of a fax I once received from Brazil, "Can you please send the package again because the boy we sent to collect it was stolen." I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

by **wintler** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 12:32 am

Kazakhstan is a serious player in energy, not on SA/Russia/US scale but is one of the few provinces expected to increase oil production in coming years, has uranium too. Recent news mixed, hard to say who SBCohen might work for, assuming he does (which i don't). Kazakh Oil Begins Flowing Into China Associated Press, Houston Chronicle Crude oil from Kazakhstan began flowing into China on Thursday through a newly completed pipeline, a significant step in Beijing's efforts to reduce its reliance on Middle East supplies amid soaring demand. (24 Mar 2006) Koizumi to Sign Kazakh Uranium Pact in First Central Asia Trip Keiichi Yamamura, Bloomberg Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will sign a uranium-development accord with Kazakhstan today during the first visit by a Japanese leader to Central Asia, amid growing interest in the region's mineral and oil resources. (28 Aug 2006) <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=a9yU4Km6gGqo&refer=japan">www.bloomberg.com/apps/ne...efer=japan</a> With Kazakh's Visit, Bush Priorities Clash Autocrat Leads an Oil-Rich Country Peter Baker, Washington Post President Bush launched an initiative this month to combat international kleptocracy, the sort of high-level corruption by foreign officials that he called "a grave and corrosive abuse of power" that "threatens our national interest and violates our values." The plan, he said, would be "a critical component of our freedom agenda." Three weeks later, the White House is making arrangements to host the leader of Kazakhstan, an autocrat who runs a nation that is anything but free and who has been accused by U.S. prosecutors of pocketing the bulk of $78 million in bribes from an American businessman. Not only will President Nursultan Nazarbayev visit the White House, people involved say, but he also will travel to the Bush family compound in Maine. Nazarbayev's upcoming visit, according to analysts and officials, offers a case study in the competing priorities of the Bush administration at a time when the president has vowed to fight for democracy and against corruption around the globe. Nazarbayev has banned opposition parties, intimidated the press and profited from his post, according to the U.S. government. But he also sits atop massive oil reserves that have helped open doors in Washington. (29 Aug 2006) <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/28/AR2006082801282.html">www.washingtonpost.com/wp...01282.html</a> He’s damn funny anyway, thanks for the youtube links.

by **Corvidaerex** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 3:38 am

Cohen has been doing the Borat character since '98 or so. Please don't be crazy and accuse a smart & funny British comedian of being part of the Evil Plot. Cohen is a very funny comic. His work in America is brutal; he basically approaches rednecks and declares his hatred of gays, Jews, etc., and they all say High Five because they're all a bunch of racist anti-Semitic morons. What "Borat" has done is make the usual U.S. / Oil Empire / Dictatorship thing worthy of You Tube, the news and the blogs. Yes, Cohen apparently randomly picked Kazakhstan because it was all but unknown. But now he is helping make it known. Another oil dictatorship. Please, give some props to Borat, because I Like!

by **orz** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 10:26 am

Indeed! "Don't be Crazy" should be our moto, like Google's increasingly ironic "Don't be Evil"! <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/smile.gif ALT=":)">

by **Gouda** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 5:02 pm

"Throw the Jew down the well, so my country can be free!" <a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3309866,00.html">www.ynetnews.com/articles...66,00.html</a> ADL: Concerned over Borat's depiction of anti-Semitism Sacha Baron Cohen, creator of satirical Ali G character known to many, comes under ADL scrutiny. ADL fears many may not grasp 'farcical' nature of Cohen's anti-Semitic character 'Borat,' claiming it may serve to reinforce bigoted beliefs of some Popular entertainer Sacha Baron Cohen, more widely known as Ali G., has entertained audiences with his bombastic, push-the-envelope humor. However, his upcoming film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan based on one of his characters, Borat, has the Anti-defamation League worried. Borat is a parody of an outlandish anti-semite in a series of laughably inappropriate situations. "The premiere of Sacha Baron Cohen's new film featuring his farcical character 'Borat' has raised anew concerns among some in the Jewish community about the character's notoriously boastful expressions of anti-Semitism and stereotyping of others," wrote the ADL in a press release Thursday. The ADL worries that not everyone will understand the satirical nature of Cohen's sketch, fearing the humor to be dangerously too sophisticated for some: "When approaching this film, one has to understand that there is absolutely no intent on the part of the filmmakers to offend, and no malevolence on the part of Sacha Baron Cohen, who is himself proudly Jewish. We hope that everyone who chooses to see the film understands Mr. Cohen's comedic technique, which is to use humor to unmask the absurd and irrational side of anti-Semitism and other phobias born of ignorance and fear. "We are concerned, however, that one serious pitfall is that the audience may not always be sophisticated enough to get the joke, and that some may even find it reinforcing their bigotry," the press release elaborated. Kids: Don't try this at home However, the ADL certainly recognizes Cohen's intent of erasing stereotypes by showing how ridiculous they are on stage, but fears this message may not reach all audiences. The ADL press report continues, "While Mr. Cohen's brand of humor may be tasteless and even offensive to some, we understand that the intent is to dash stereotypes, not to perpetuate them. It is our hope that everyone in the audience will come away with an understanding that some types of comedy that work well on screen do not necessarily translate well in the real world -- especially when attempted on others through retelling or mimicry." Suggestion for Cohen The ADL did level one concrete critique of Cohen's work: "It is unfortunate that Mr. Cohen chose to make jokes at the expense of Kazakhstan. It would have been better to have used a mythological country, rather than focus on a specific nation." A little constructive criticism can go a long way.

by **Pissed Off Cabbie** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 6:49 pm

It does seem like Cohen is being exploited here. The timing is too perfect for it to be a coincidence. Cohen has skirted danger before- his crew had to make a quick getaway after offending a small stadium full of southerners, many of whom were ready and willing to beat the tar out of them.

by **orz** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 7:32 pm

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>It does seem like Cohen is being exploited here. The timing is too perfect for it to be a coincidence.<hr></blockquote>Perfect? Did you read the rest of the thread? The guy's being doing this character for nearly a decade, and it happens to be relevent now... that's the very DEFINITION of a coincidence! a stopped clock and all that.... THe thing is, in what way does this 'distract' from the torture issues etc with Kazakhstan? I mean, the media are gonna underreport what they want, it's not like they need an excuse. If they don't wanna cover this (tho presumably they have done to some extent or we wouldn't know about it!) they just won't, like so many other things. If anything this get people thinking about a country that they otherwise wouldn't... for the media-illiterate out there: the whole reason he CHOSE Kazakhstan is clearly because there are a small country about which most people, especially in the US, have no real knowledge about.<img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/eyes.gif ALT=":rolleyes">

by **Pissed Off Cabbie** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 8:09 pm

What I meant was the Kazakhstan people are hiding the torture reports behind their protestations of Cohen's act. That is how I perceive him being exploited.

by **orz** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 8:55 pm

fair enough tho still i don't see anything really connecting the two in any sinister/covert way, ie anything that seems like a 'coincidence'...

by **HMKGrey** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 9:13 pm

... that this thread didn't go nuts on Borat and declare Cohen a member of the Illuminatus etc. He really is just a very funny comedian. You guys also need to see his priceless interviews with the rich and powerful... Check this FBI interview out: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m-vDgz0A0o">www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m-vDgz0A0o</a> Buzz Aldrin: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNj1UOgacMA">www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNj1UOgacMA</a> AND, James Baker <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXbNLkNhy1M">www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXbNLkNhy1M</a> <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/roll.gif ALT=":rollin">

by **HMKGrey** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 9:15 pm

Oh, and Brent Scowcroft <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCaiHbNz0kU">www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCaiHbNz0kU</a>

by **Hugh Manatee Wins** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 9:58 pm

My original post meant to point at NPR (National Propaganda Radio) focusing on the clown instead of the torture in Kazahkstan and the link to Uzbekistan. The US and Enron have been working for many years towards exploiting Caspian Sea oil and gas. And that's the REAL story, not this clown. Bread and circus clowns, distractions of the empire. Media mind management is opportunistic and uses either available distractions or generates them from scratch, both tactics.

Borat, the media diversion Kazakh clown hiding torture

Borat, the media diversion Kazakh clown hiding torture

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questions

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remember comedy?

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Ali G-chronicity

uhh..no

Meaning

hmm

I'm so glad

More Ali G.

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