A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Friday, January 9, 2015

NYT Invents New Country, Kyrzbekistan

The New York Times is certainly influential, apparently so much so it can invent its own countries.
And, of course, predictably, social media is having fun with it.

And of course, Kyrzbekistan already has its own Facebook page (several in fact; the link is the best, complete with a map).

My spellchecker keeps flagging it as I write it. Apparently theirs didn't.

Besides giving a big boost to the previously unknown Kyrzbekistan Liberation Front, it has produced some other reactions, for which Kyrzbeks everywhere (or is it Kyrzbekis?) will be grateful:






I am also reminded of the time in 2012 when Kuwait played the fake Kazakh national anthem from the movie Borat instead of the real anthem when a Kazakh team was visiting.

UPDATING: More from the #Kyrzbekistan Twitter feed:




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