Cohen provokes Kazakhstan wrath
British comic Sacha Baron Cohen's bumbling TV alter ego Borat Sagdiyev is embroiled in a legal row with his native Kazakhstan for allegedly portraying the central Asian nation as a country of drunken fools and Stalinists.
The Kazakhstan government is threatening to sue the Ali G star, after fears enemies have recruited the spoof reporter in a vicious plot to undermine the nation.
The court action comes in the wake of Borat's notorious appearance as host of the MTV Europe Music Awards, which saw him arrive in an Air Kazakh aeroplane piloted by a one-eyed, vodka swigging local.
In the past however, Cohen's uncouth reporter has also slammed the country for mock-past times including gypsy catching, goat punching, anti-Semitism and the pleasure of drinking horse urine.
Kazakh Foreign Ministry spokesman Yerzhan Ashykbayev says: "We do not rule out that Mr Cohen is serving someone's political order designed to present Kazakhstan and its people in a derogatory way.
"We reserve the right to take any legal action to prevent new pranks of the kind."
