It's not a good idea to get into a verbal food-fight with a comedian. The comedian does it for a living. He's better at insults. Anyone seeing an audience member attempt to take on the talent at a comedy club knows what I'm talking about. That, writ large, is what's happening in the public spat between Sacha Baron Cohen, who plays a character named Borat, and the government of Kazakhstan. Despite the entire force of the Kazakhstan governmental apparatus alligned against him, Cohen is winning in the cleverness front.

After first threatening to sue Cohen for his unflattering portrayal of a Kazakh journalist in the character Borat, Kazakhstan has taken down Borat's official ".kz" website. Sacha Baron Cohen, under the guise of Borat, has responded: "I support my government's decision to sue this Jew." Borat continued that since 2003 reforms, "Kazakhstan is as civilized as any country in the world. Women can now travel on inside of bus. Homosexuals have no longer to wear blue hats. And age of consent has been raised to eight years old."

Kazakhstan has unwittingly played into their comedic antagonist's hands. When Borat: The Movie comes out in 2006, where in Kazakhstan should Cohen send a royalty check in gratitude for the global publicity? "Please, captains of industry," Borat concluded in defense of his homeland, "I encourage you come to Kazakhstan where we have incredible natural resources, hard working labor, and some of the cleanest prostitutes in whole of Central Asia. Goodbye. Chenque!"