Kazakhstani president: Is not nice!

Don't blame us for the retina-searing picture of Borat in a thong at this link -- but if you click it you'll get one heck of an amusing story:

US President George Bush is to host White House talks on British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. Cohen, 35, creator of Ali G, has infuriated the Kazakhstan government with his portrayal of Borat, a bumbling Kazakh TV presenter. ... President [Nursultan] Nazarbayev has confirmed his government will buy "educational" TV spots and print advertisements about the "real Kazakhstan" in a bid to save the country's reputation before the film is released in the US in November. ... A spokesman for the Kazakhstan Embassy says it is unlikely that President Nazarbayev will find the film funny.

Now, I am a big fan of Borat, but I'm gonna help the Kazakhstani president out a little here. Kazakhstan is:

• the ninth largest country in the world, about the same size as all of Western Europe
• possibly the place where humans first domesticated horses
• largely agricultural, thanks to a Khrushchev program called "Virgin Lands" that tried to turn it into the Soviets' major source of grain
• the country where the Soviets launched their space shuttle and the Mir space station
• a former candidate to host the 2014 Olympics

I'm still gonna see the movie.