CIA contacts, a web of lies, and a robust propaganda operation. It's time to start asking questions about Borat's methods—and his goals.

The interview in question-conducted in character by Sacha Baron Cohen and featured in his movie Bruno-had been held under false pretenses, and deceptively edited to boot.

Out of character, clean-shaven, sporting a t-shirt, a blazer, and the Queen's English, Cohen provided a sometimes-necessary reminder that he is neither a poor Kazakh reporter nor a gay Austrian fashionista, but an obscenely wealthy, Cambridge-educated Brit.

In his answer to Abu Aita's complaints, Cohen swore, through his lawyers, that the statements in question were "Substantially true." Likewise, Letterman's answer attested to the substantial truth of the interview while also "Admit[ting] Cohen stated that he received information from a contact at the 'C.I.A.'" While substantial truth in libel and slander law allows for "Slight inaccuracies of expression," any conceivable definition of the term still includes Cohen's insistence on the sincerity of the CIA claim.

The second act which "Back-to-Work" had supposedly booked last minute was actually Sacha Baron Cohen, in character as Borat who was in character as "Country Steve." Country Steve sang a song about injecting various liberals with the Wuhan flu, as well as chopping up journalists "Like the Saudis do." Parts of the song also featured anti-Semitic undertones.

In a late-October interview with Steven Colbert, Cohen claimed that one of the two men reached for his gun while rushing the stage.

Cohen seems to relish the idea that he has placed himself in danger for these stunts: he claimed to Letterman that his interview with Abu Aita was conducted at a secret location, with two hulking bodyguards accompanying the "Terrorist," while in reality it was conducted at a popular hotel under Israeli jurisdiction, with Abu Aita accompanied by a journalist friend and the peace activist who runs the Holy Land Trust.

Another interesting dimension to Sacha Baron Cohen's operation-on top of CIA sources connecting with Palestinian activists, small fortunes spent crafting political scenes that spread through the internet like a virus, and online disinformation campaigns undertaken in earnest while publicly pushing for tech censorship-is added by a detail that Rion observed.

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/sacha-baron-cohen-propagandist/