Neither the Jews nor Kazakhs will go quietly

With Israel on the brink of all-out war with not just the Palestinians and Hizbullah, but possibly Syria and Iran as well, I'm reminded of a piece written a few years back by Joe McCain, the brother of Senator John McCain. In it, he describes the Jews' contentious history and why they will never back down in the face of existential provocations, such as those we're seeing today in the form of a rocket storm.

In other news, the good people of Kazakhstan are facing an existential threat of their own in the form of Borat, a fictional character played by Britian's Sacha Baron Cohen (mentioned here yesterday, as well). Last November, the nation threatened to sue the entertainer for slandering its people and honor. Borat responded by stating:

...I have no connection with Mr. Cohen and fully support my Government's decision to sue this Jew. Since the 2003 Tuleyakiv reforms, Kazakhstan is as civilized as any other country in the world. Women can now travel on inside of bus, homosexuals no longer have to wear blue hats, and age of consent has been raised to eight years old.

Unfortunately, that seems to have not reassured the fretful state, as they have embarked on a campaign to defend their name. I can only sympathize for them as it's sure to get far worse: Borat, the Movie.

In yet other Kazakh news (they're on a roll these days), Allah is doing his darnest to make it up to these fine folk by gifting them a wonderous gift:

Chicken lays mystery Allah egg

Thu Jul 13, 2006 8:06am ET

ALMATY (Reuters) - A chicken in a Kazakh village has laid an egg with the word "Allah" inscribed on its shell, state media reported Thursday.

"Our mosque confirmed that it says 'Allah' in Arabic," Bites Amantayeva, a farmer from the village of Stepnoi in eastern Kazakhstan, told state news agency Kazinform.

"We'll keep this egg and we don't think it'll go bad."

The news agency said the egg was laid just after a powerful hail storm hit the village.

Kazakhstan is a large, thinly populated Central Asian state where Sunni Islam is a dominant religion.

I'm not making this up. Really. I swear.