Do you agree he should have been chosen? Anyone else?

Person of the Year 2007
His final year as Russia’s President has been his most successful yet. At home, he secured his political future. Abroad, he expanded his outsize—if not always benign—influence on global affairs



  1. JPV says:

    Yep, unlike the US, who’s economy is tanking hard and fast, Russia has become prosperous to the point where Moscow is now the most expensive city on the planet.

    Go figure.

  2. gregallen says:

    Wow. An authoritarian leader of Russia. That’s progress.

  3. dickmnixon says:

    Take away $95 and replace it with $60 and the shine will wear off.

  4. moss says:

    “TIME’s Person of the Year is a clear-eyed recognition of the world as it is” – and a chance to sell a few more copies of the mag to gullible people.

    OTOH – maybe they’ll stop watching reality TV for a couple hours.

  5. Lou Bix says:

    I thought he was up for Tyrant of the year.

  6. Guess this guy will just have to keep trying.

    http://www.theonion.com/content/node/56424

  7. GetSmart says:

    Great, Russia is in the hands of a guy that could have starred as the villain in a James Bond flick. There’s definitely leakage from that parallel universe going on. I’m expecting Bizarro Superman to show up any time now.

  8. Improbus says:

    Putin is what Dubya would want to be if only he had a brain.

  9. gregallen says:

    Who would I have nominated instead of Putin?

    Al Gore.

    No other person has more effectively battled the anti-science conservatives to hopefully save our planet before it’s too late.

  10. Dallas says:

    I agree Putin is the man.

    He has advanced Russia in the world stage, leadership economy while America is fucking around in Iraq plundering the US treasury.

    I suppose W could be Person of the Year too as – “most accomplished monkey to lead the US”.

  11. the answer says:

    I bet a lot of his interns saw him from the same view. (reference to the picture)

  12. #11 – Dallas,

    Don’t insult monkeys!!

  13. George Jetson says:

    #10 – gregallen
    Save the planet before it’s too late… Save it from what? There are more imminent and clearly more dangerous issues staring you in the face.

    #11 – Dallas
    Putin is a criminal soon to enhance his resume with mass murder.

  14. gregallen says:

    George Jetson said, #10 – gregallen
    Save the planet before it’s too late… Save it from what? There are more imminent and clearly more dangerous issues staring you in the face.

    Save it from what? Are you kidding me?!?!

    Global Warming is real, it’s not only imminent, it’s current and it’s predicted to change life on earth as we know it.

    As for whatever you’re talking about… we can turn around global warming and address those things as well.

  15. #16 – gregallen,

    I’m with you. We have a bunch of very serious issues to solve if we are to survive as a species. The most immediate of them is global warming. Check out this article …

    http://tinyurl.com/39cvxm

    If you’d like to have a side discussion of it, please go to my blog post about it at …

    http://tinyurl.com/36h3lr

  16. George Jetson says:

    #16 – gregallen
    “we can turn around global warming”

    They can’t even decide what causes global warming. Is it a danger or a natural part of the earth’s natural makeup? How is it possible to turn around something when you don’t know why it’s happening in the first place?

  17. MikeN says:

    Let’s see, for the cost of reducing carbon emissions, you could probably solve the next 50 environmental problems.

    But hey, the elites in the West think it’s more important that energy be expensive, than to give the developing world drinking water. Killing off poor people also helps the global warming situation.

  18. MikeN says:

    That picture look familiar to anyone?

  19. RockOn says:

    #20

    Lincoln?

  20. Angel H. Wong says:

    #12

    But the big problem is that you guys kicked Kuzco out of the office and then reinstated him back.

  21. #22 – pedro,

    Or are you going to tell me this is the firts [sic] time such a climate change occurs?

    No. It isn’t. But it’s the first time it’s happened in such a short time. Previously, the changes were measured in tens of thousands of years, not tens of years.

  22. MikeN says:

    #21, try again, hint it’s a 7 year old picture.

  23. EdgyDude says:

    wait, Person of The Year?, the man that won with 99.3% of voters when only a 92.2% actually voted (http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSL03585550._CH_.2400)? the man whose own people are desperately trying (and so far failing) to get out of power? so if this year Putin won, theb who’s going to be next years winner? Hugo Chavez maybe?

  24. #26 – MikeN,

    Bill, of course. But, wouldn’t he need a desk in front of him? and someone under it?

  25. #18 & 19,

    Why is it that we think all world views are equal. The fact that we the idiots are unsure about global warming does not mean scientists are. I know there was a report recently (political, of course since it’s on some senate website) that showed a significant number of scientists disputing global warming. But, this is a heaping steaming mound of dung!!

    If scientists are disputing global warming, WHY AREN’T THEY PUBLISHING??!!?

    That’s what working scientists do. They publish papers in peer reviewed publications. The only disputes in such journals are about the severity of the effects and the locations that will be most affected. There is no serious debate about the existence of human caused global warming. There is no debate about whether it will be catastrophic, only about how catastrophic it will be.

    Is it possible that every published peer reviewed paper is wrong?

    Of course it is.

    Are you willing to bet the survival of our species on an incredible long shot?

    Of course you are.

    Why the hell are you willing to sacrifice our species and so many others that are more beautiful than our own?

  26. #30 – George Jetson,

    Sorry George, scientists publish competing ideas all the time. It’s what scientists do. They argue back and forth in peer reviewed publications until an issue is decided. The reason you’re not hearing it on this issue is that it has been decided.

    If someone has new data that challenges the established ideas, they will get published. This happens all the time. Consider the whole controversy over the Alvarez impact hypothesis in the 1980s. No one believed that mass extinctions were sudden events or that an impact could cause one.

    Later it became such established fact that everyone assumed all extinctions were impact caused. Now the data is being challenged. The KT extinction was definitely impact caused. But, the others appear not to be.

    Guess what they do appear to be caused by. Or at least what they may have been caused by. The jury is still out. People are still publishing competing papers, as scientists are wont to do.

    Go ahead, guess.

    That’s right. Rampant (non-human caused, of course) global warming!!!

    We’ll see if this turns out to be the correct hypothesis or not as the data comes in. But, the point is that scientists contradict each other all the time. They’re all competing for the few slots in the national academy of sciences. If they all agreed, how would anyone ever be chosen?

    Next time someone offers you almond flavored kool aid, don’t drink it.

  27. George Jetson says:

    #33
    I’m sure the global warming issue has not been decided as you claim. Unfortunately, politics and those with personal agendas have clouded much of the reporting making it difficult to determine fact from myth.

    If science proved the danger of global warming then “no” scientist would be able to dispute the findings. Many are forming conclusions less on fact than on hypothesis.

    The real and most imminent dangers are from those using fear to manipulate the political landscape.

  28. #34 – George,

    Stop the B.S. and find me one of the peer reviewed papers from a climatologist that disputes anthropogenic global warming. You’ve probably been getting too much of the story from Fok Snews.

    Remember anyone can say whatever they want on their blog. Peer review may not be perfect, but it’s by far the best thing we’ve got to weed out the bullshit.

  29. RickCain says:

    Unlike Bush, Putin knows what he’s doing, so at least when he’s restricting Russian rights, abusing his power, killing dissidents, and using his bully pulpit to enhance Russia’s stature in the world….he’s doing it with competence and authority.

    Bush on the other hand is what happens when you put a 3rd rate drunken fratboy in the White House.


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