Iranian Prez Denies Holocaust, World Acts Surprised

What's a sure-fire way for an attention-hungry despot to reclaim an errant international media spotlight? Denying the Holocaust, of course.

Iranian Dictator President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad resorted to his tried-and-true strategy yesterday with a speech to party loyalists, referring to the Holocaust as "a lie based on an unprovable and mythical claim," and launching into a rant about how Israel's days are numbered. Charming, for sure -- and the equivalent of saying to the world, "Don't forget about me! I'm still here and can cause all kinds of trouble for you!"

The remarks were countered with the usual round of international condemnation. Holocaust denial is, indeed, dangerous, especially when coming from the leader of a regime hostile to the state of Israel. But I also can't help but wonder if the global uproar isn't exactly what he wants -- if the renewed attention isn't just indulging the Napoleonic delusions of a short, angry little man. He says, "Jump," we ask, "How high?"

Serious negotiations are underway in the diplomatic backchannels, aimed at containing Iran's nuclear threat and its threat to Israel. On the public front, though, would such efforts be better served by taking Ahmadinejad's hysterical ranting a tad less seriously and letting it push him toward irrelevance?

[Cartoon of Ahmadinejad from kurdistan's Flickr stream (Creative Commons). ]