Posted on 09/30/2006 2:42:07 AM PDT by MadIvan
This dude is the Kazahk version of Yakov Smirnoff :) ... looking pretty good so far.
I think you need to be a littl more critical in your thinking. This guy decides to chide Khazakstan, the place we are banking on for energy reserves into the 21st century. Do you know American and European firms but mainly American (Fluor) are building state of the art billion dollar facilities in Khazakstan. Check this f'er for chinese money sticking out of his pockets.
This guy's act and access to mainstream media just doesn't add up. We think it's funny? Wait until Khazanstan says to hell with the west and jumps into the Sino Pact with both feet. This guy Cohen won't be so funny when you are paying 3 bucks a gallon at the pump.
You don't see the Khazaks laughing do you? Consider this cutting edge humor at the risk of looking like a geo-political dunce. And don't tell me my tinfoils on too tight. We are very slow at the switch when it comes to figuring out our media is being used against us. See The Israel HizbAllah war for examples.
Don't give them money or matches . . . and don't encourage them to gamble or drink . Uzbeks - They are the weak link in the great chain of socialism.
"Hey Yorgi - Uzbeks drank my battery fluid."
Kazakhstan is a land locked country. Do you have a plan for getting Kazakh oil to the US that doesn't pass through Russia or China. BTW, production from the Kashagan oil field has just been delayed until 2009 (originally scheduled for 2006).
Don't know whether that's good or bad.
Leni
Dead serious. Don't be so gullible. China and the USA are squaring off all over the map for oil reserves. Check the action in Nigeria. The delta "intifada" started within one week of China holding talks there. This guy's harmless? Is that why the government of Khazakstan is going batshit crazy here? The Chinese are very familiar with the region and honor and face and all that stuff. Cohen has Khazahstan's attention make no mistake. It's no joke.
you do know there are billions of barrels of reserve oil and gas in Khazakstan? It's the biggest field outside of SA. Get familiar with the stakes and come back to me with this is all harmless fun. Trillions at stake here.
I'll pick them up.
I always wondered why the PM of Kajadistan took this issue up with Bush rather than Blair though.
But I've never seen Borat but looking forward to it.
I was paying 3 bucks a gallon until a few weeks ago and he was still pretty funny.
I've never seen Borat but, really, what do you do if you are the president of the US? Ban him? Censor?
Sadly these people who complain about cartoons and such are not even remotely aware of freedom of the press or freedom of speech.
In truth, no one cares about Borat.
The Chinese have taken our system and liberally enhanced what constitutes yelling fire in a crowded theater. They have an advantage in this regard. An international advantage, not necessarily a domestic one (for obvious personal freedom reasons).
The rest of the world is becoming quite adept at using our liberal freedoms against us. Having this political hitman dressed up as a comedian lay down the smack in western venues where it's perfectly legal to do so may ultimately cost us prestige in the region. Obviously the Khazaks are not seeing his insults as humor. He's determined to piss them off. I wonder why. He's working for someone and it's not Exxon Mobil, lets put it that way.
There is no way to stop him without suspending freedom of speech. Period.
People who are OFFENDED by cartoons and satire are ridiculous and should not infringe on our rights. Muslims do not understand AT ALL why Denmark cannot clamp down on the cartoons.
I understand and so do you.
Would it be satire and freedom of speech to have a white guy dress up in blackface and call himself Sambo? Yeah but he would be looking at a firestorm of criticism or worse. We have defined the limits of free speech in this area. We need to get a little more sophisticated about the world.
So, in this real life situation: What would you do? As president of the US.
President Kinghorse does what?
Waiting ...
The Romans did little skits and puppet shows demeaning the dumb bunnies in Gaul, Normandy and elsewhere. Eventually they got theirs.
I would make a comment about it on a news conference, about how we learned to be sensitive to people's feelings when we stopped engaging in blackface theater. I would come up with one or two more tangential examples and I would say the USA does not condone nor support cultural mysoginists.
So, in essence ... you would not curtail Borat's (whoever he is) satire.
I think this is just what Bush has done. Minus the full blown press conference.
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