From the blog of Joel C. Rosenberg:
Time magazine has just named Russian President Vladimir Putin "Person of the Year" for 2007, noting: "When this intense and brooding KGB agent took over as President of Russia in 2000, he found a country on the verge of becoming a failed state. With dauntless persistence, a sharp vision of what Russia should become and a sense that he embodied the spirit of Mother Russia, Putin has put his country back on the map. And he intends to redraw it himself. Though he will step down as Russia's President in March, he will continue to lead his country as its Prime Minister and attempt to transform it into a new kind of nation, beholden to neither East nor West. 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."....by that measure, Time is right....Putin is emerging as one of the most dangerous men on the planet....he fashions himself a rising Russian Czar....he is steadily seeking to expand his power, territory and global influence, and is willing -- almost eager -- to arm "Axis of Evil" countries such as Iran and North Korea, despite the dangers is so doing....it now seems more clear than ever that he will not truly step down from office in 2008....his title may change (though even that remains to be seen), but his stranglehold over the Russian people most assuredly will not....watch him closely....once he consolidates power, his true global ambitions will finally become known.
posted by Joel C. Rosenberg @ 9:03 AM
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