Time's Person of the Year for 2007 is creepy Russian President Vladimir Putin:"...Russia is central to our world—and the new world that is being born. It is the largest country on earth; it shares a 2,600-mile (4,200 km) border with China; it has a significant and restive Islamic population; it has the world's largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction and a lethal nuclear arsenal; it is the world's second largest oil producer after Saudi Arabia; and it is an indispensable player in whatever happens in the Middle East. For all these reasons, if Russia fails, all bets are off for the 21st century. And if Russia succeeds as a nation-state in the family of nations, it will owe much of that success to one man, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin." [...]And creepy, don't forget teh creepy. (Sorry Vlad, it's true.) Anyway...
"TIME's Person of the Year is not and never has been an honor. It is not an endorsement. It is not a popularity contest. At its best, it is a clear-eyed recognition of the world as it is and of the most powerful individuals and forces shaping that world—for better or for worse. It is ultimately about leadership—bold, earth-changing leadership. Putin is not a boy scout. He is not a democrat in any way that the West would define it. He is not a paragon of free speech. He stands, above all, for stability—stability before freedom, stability before choice, stability in a country that has hardly seen it for a hundred years."
Yep. Can't say I disagree that Putin's been a force for stability in a country that was teetering on the brink of collapse when he took the reins. As to his methods, well, the POTY distinction has more to do with the ends than the means. Putin is in his ascendancy at the moment -- he'll be a major newsmaker in the future.
Second: Al Gore, who I was expecting to win. (But he's got his Nobel Peace Prize to keep him warm.)
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