Kazakhstan Now Thankful for Borat

Back in 2006, the Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan was angry at Borat. The movie, starring Sacha Baron Cohen and shot in neighboring Romania, made fun of the country (as the movie's theme song proclaimed, it's the number one exporter of potassium, has the cleanest prostitutes in the region, and is overall a very nice place).

Now, Kazakhstan has changed its tune: it is now thankful for the movie, which brought in a lot of tourists!

The government of Kazakhstan has thanked Sacha Baron Cohen's creation Borat for boosting tourism in the country.
The authorities banned the film and threatened to sue the comedian after its release in 2006.
But now Kazakhstan's foreign minister has said he is "grateful" to Borat for "helping attract tourists" to the country.
He said 10 times more people were applying for visas to go there.

Link

Previously on Neatorama: Borat National Anthem Played at Medal Ceremony

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Kazahkstan has a lot of fascinating history. Especially if you're into the Cold War, the Space Race, or the development of Russian atomic weapons.

It also has pretty much the largest most developed space port in the world. The ISS couldn't exist without Baikonur Cosmodrome.

During the Soviet years it was like the USSR's Texas. Those oil fields fueled the Soviet military complex.

I guess, like Texas they are open to parody due to their perceived backwards agrarian culture.

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"shot in neighboring Romania..." There are two other countries and 1,000 miles between Kazahkstan and Romania. That's about the distance between New York and Florida.

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Recently Kuwait was having an award ceremony honoring a gold medalist from the Kazahkstan Woman's shooting Team and instead of playing the Kazahkstan national anthem they accidently played the anthem from Borat. You can find a video of it on Youtube and watch the gold medalist fight back tears as the anthem plays..... her pain is so yummy and sweet.

google "kuwait plays borat anthem"

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Having spent some time in the glorious nation of Kazakhstan, I would say it has its charms, mostly because of being relatively exotic to a typical Western visitor.