Kazakhs are laughing together with Borat -- all the way to the bank.

That hasn't always been the case. The leaders of the Central Asian republic were once so outraged by Sacha Baron Cohen's lewd fictional alter ego, "Kazakh TV reporter Borat Sagdiyev," that their president is said to have complained to President Bush about him during a White House call last year. Borat's faux Internet site that used a real Kazakh domain name was pulled off the Web by the government. The Kazakhs threatened lawsuits against Mr. Cohen.

Then came the hit movie, "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," starring the "Kazakh" on a grand U.S. tour. Its success fast proved the truth of that old saw, in the words last week of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, "that any publicity is good publicity." Or, updated for today, a ride on a popular culture wave is worth almost any price.

Even with its Caspian oil riches, Kazakhstan couldn't buy this sort of global exposure. As the film took off, earnest op-eds questioned the anti-Semitism and other mores embraced by Borat in Kazakhstan's name. (The country is in fact a pretty tolerant place.) Cable TV travel shows sent reporters to the country's beautiful mountains and came back touting an unspoiled holiday destination. Hotel.com reports a post-Borat 300% spike in searches for accommodation in the country. The New York Times Style section wrote up a Kazakh fashionista's visit to the Big Apple, noting that the country's "once sleepy second city, Almaty, has become a designer mecca." Naturally.

Kazakh novelist Sapabek Asip-uly thinks his country owes Mr. Baron Cohen a big thank you for "spark[ing] an immense interest of the whole world in Kazakhstan." In a letter published in a local newspaper, and picked up globally, he called on the Kazakh Club of Art Patrons to give its top annual award to Borat's creator. President Nazarbayev personally invited the comic for a visit.

Borat the character is in fact a stock Slavic boor type who follows in the footsteps of fictional Czech brothers George and Yortuk Festrunk, those "two wild and crazy guys" from 1970s' "Saturday Night Live." In Mr. Baron Cohen's telling, his character was inspired by a chance meeting long ago with a Russian, not with any Kazakhs, who are ethnically Turkic. Borat's greeting of "Jagshemash!" comes closest to "Jak sie masz" -- How are you, in Polish. Those other countries, alas, can't sue to claim him.

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