"In response to Russia’s war in Ukraine, Central Asian governments have drawn closer together as a bloc, while welcoming Mr. Trump’s transactional approach to foreign policy."

"They are seeking opportunities to reduce their reliance on Moscow, even as they tread lightly so as not to cross the Kremlin or antagonize China. 'For the business relationship, it has never been better,' said Jeff Erlich, the president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Kazakhstan, who has worked in and around the region since the late 1990s. 'In my experience, that is clear.'"

From "Kazakhstan’s Leader Deepens U.S. Ties, Saying Trump Was ‘Sent by Heaven’/The Central Asian nation is aggressively courting President Trump’s Washington to counterbalance its powerful neighbors, Russia and China" (NYT)(gift link, so you can try to figure it out for yourself).

That's one of 2 stories about Kazakhstan at the top of the front page of the NYT right now. The other is: "Trump Cut a Billion-Dollar Mining Deal. His Sons Stand to Profit. An agreement between the U.S. and Kazakhstan has given a group of American investors with ties to the president and the commerce secretary access to one of the world’s largest untapped reserves of tungsten."

This time around, Kazakhstan rolls with the "Borat" satire and makes tourism ads with the catchphrase "Very nice!"

 

The NYT reports: 

[Dennis Keen, and American who lives in Kazakhstan] hosts a travel show on a state television channel. (“I’m kind of like the American Borat,” Mr. Keen said.) When Mr. Keen learned about the sequel, he thought... Kazakhstan should embrace the Borat character’s catchphrase and turn it into the country’s tourism slogan: “Kazakhstan. Very nice!”...  Two weeks ago, Mr. Keen and a friend, Yermek Utemissov, who helps foreign film companies arrange shoots in Kazakhstan, pitched the board of tourism....

The government of Kazakhstan banned the first film and threated to sue Sacha Baron Cohen, but now, Utemissov says, “It’s a newer generation. They’ve got Twitter, they’ve got Instagram, they’ve got Reddit, they know English, they know memes. They get it. They’re inside the media world. We’re looking at the same comedians, the same Kimmel show. Kazakhstan is globalized.” 

"To my Czech mates who were arrested. Send me your details and proof that it was you, and I'll pay your fine."

"While some Kazakhs have accused Dilshod of disrespecting the elderly..."

"... the message of [his grandmother] Maryam’s [rap] songs is clear: love, value and respecting your parents."

In Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus — protecting women from insufficiently absorbent underpants.

If you like your panties, you can keep your panties. But the government must insure proper standards, and if these ladies — pictures of protests at the link — think they like lace panties, please listen and learn. The Moscow-led Customs Union has a better, more scientific and expert understanding of what you really want, and it thinks that deep down inside, you are really very moist and lace does not absorb enough moisture.

ADDED: Confession. Meade found that article and emailed me the link. After I wrote this post and alerted Meade, he read it and said: "Thanks for being my cat's paw... my pussy paw."

MORE: A "cat's paw" is, to quote the OED, "A person used as a tool by another to accomplish a purpose." Historical example:

1657 Killing is Murder 3 These he useth as the Monkey did the Cats paw, to scrape the nuts out of the fire....
1883 American 6 245 Making themselves mere catspaws to secure chestnuts for those publishers.

The use of the word "pussy" to refer the vulva or vagina goes back as far as 1699:

1699 T. Durfey Choice Coll. New Songs 7 Johnny..many Times Pussey had fed.
1790 A. Tait Poems & Songs 144 Thro' Susan's Holland smock or spare Or on her pussie for to stare.
1865 ‘Philocomus’ Love Feast i. 9 My poor pussy, rent and sore, Dreaded yet longed for one fuck more....
1879 Pearl Oct. 108 To handle, feel, and revel in such a luxuriously covered pussy and bottom, excited me more every moment.
1899 Mem. Dolly Morton 88 Two, or three of them put their hands on the ‘spots’—‘pussies’ they called them.
1913 L. Strachey Ermyntrude & Esmeralda (1969) ii. 12 I'm also sure that it's got something to do with the thing between our legs that I always call my Pussy....
1973 A. Powell Temporary Kings v. 258 Louis's stuffed a charming little cushion with hair snipped from the pussies of ladies he's had.

I hope that's not too pedantic... so pudendantic...

1841   F. H. Ramsbotham Princ. & Pract. Obstetr. Med. (1855) 33   These parts, closing and surrounding the genital fissure, altogether constitute the pudendum....
1922   A. G. Magian Sex Probl. Women ii. 31   The Vulva, or Pudendum, includes—(1) The labia majora and minora bounding the pudendal cleft. (2) The mons veneris. (3) The vestibule, [etc.]....
1993   B. W. Aldiss Tupolev too Far (BNC) 36   What I clutch in my hand is a fruit of the sea almond. It's..covered with a fine but coarse fibre like pubic hair. In fact, the nut resembles a girl's pudendum.

AND: The origin of "cat's paw" is a fable by La Fontaine, and it reveals why the quotes above include references to nuts.



(More of J.J. Granville's fantastic illustrations of La Fontaine here.)

"The first glance was not of course positive, it cannot be because you see a lot of not so good things."

"But then, after that, when we start seeing interest in our country, it was of course reflected better, it was positive. People, after looking at this film, they will like to come and see: ‘is it real, is it the same or not?’ It helps to learn more about our country... The statistics show that inbound tourism grew by 13 percent. At the moment, no problem."

Kazakhstan not so mad at Borat now.