But we have embarrassing presidents... Bush, Obama, Clinton with his blowjobs. Indian politicians are for the most part ridiculous. Berlusconi, Sarkozy... Putin is videotaped half-naked and doing judo! But this hasn't prevented people from these nations from joining the world, no? And Iran is a pariah state only for and *because of* certain countries in the West, yes? Are they shunned by Russia, China, India?
Re: Holocaust denial: there is an interview with Khatami that someone posted (here? on PEN-L?) or I came across a while ago, where he answers this "Do you deny the Holocaust?" accusation by answering that "Holocaust denial is a Western idea". I think roughly speaking, that's probably the case for the majority of the rest of the world. They are probably sad that a large number of Roma, Jews, Russians and others died as a result of Hitler's actions, but if anything, are more concerned with what goes on in the world today under the excuse of the Holocaust, than about this or that politician's opinion on whether a particular set of historical events is accurate or not.
For "educated" people, shouldn't it be far more embarrassing that every other prominent leader in their part of the world treats Israel's claims and stories seriously? You and I might find it embarrassing but not so the liberal majority (this we may as well call "Holocaust affirmation").
--ravi