People can’t seem to get enough of those crazy ‘Stans and their hodgepodge post-soviet cultures lately.

The travel pages kept it real this weekend, with stories on stunt trips and secret destinations, tips on how to find and avoid political hotspots, and news about how growing numbers of people are changing some beloved destinations.

Reuters announced today that deputy foreign minister Rakhat Aliyev, son-in-law to President Nazarbayev, has bowed down before the comic might of the Borat movie juggernaut, and actually invited the faux-Kazakh journalist to tour Kazakhstan.

Jaunted this morning reports that a fourth offensive in Kazakhstan’s war against the Borat movie is upon us.

The Times’ embroilment with the Kazakh government’s anti-Borat agenda continued yesterday with a pair of front-page headlines.

The NYT is doing their damnedest of late to help Kazakhstan overcome their Borat Sagdiyev-induced image problems, before his little movie opens in November.