To justify Nikita Khrushchev's removal from office, the new Kremlin leaders have cited this grievous fault: during the Aswan Dam celebrations in May 1964 he granted a Hero of the Soviet Union award to President Nasser of the United Arab Republic without first securing approval from the Supreme Soviet's Presidium. This example may or may not take a major place in the catalogue of Khrushchev's purported mistakes, but the award itself points up the attention Gamel Abdel Nasser still receives in world politics after a decade of controversy and uncertainty about his international status. Russian medals— and American corn—do not prove Nasser's arrival as a leader with significant standing, although great power recognition contributes to that status. That proof depends upon the rank he may gain as the leader of the nonaligned world.