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Putin was a good choice. Remember, the person of the year doesn’t have to be good, just has to make an impact. And in 2007, Putin’s rise to control and steer Russia is arguably the biggest story. Petraeus doesn’t come close. First, he’s only a tool of the administration to implement a policy, and second that story is more important domestically to the US audience; he doesn’t come close to Putin in terms of world importance. |
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Written By:
Scott Erb
URL:
http://faculty.umf.maine.edu/~erb/blog.htm
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At least they chose someone this year instead of pulling another bizarre, stupid stunt.
To the extent that I am interested at all by the magazine’s proclamations, I am at best and worst ambivalent on their choosing Putin. He’s seems like an incipient dictator to me, but he has been in the news an awful lot. I greatly respect General Petraeus, but I don’t think that he has been as broadly influential as Putin and in a way he hasn’t transformed public attitudes on the Iraq conflict, that is he has not quite transcended the military role that he executes so well and that is probably unfair to demand that he exceed, as dramatically as he might ideally have done.
Oh well, it’s a lousy magazine anyway. I suspect that this silly annual put-on might be the only thing that most people pay any attention to these days. |
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Written By:
Paludicola
URL:
http://www.vikinghats.com
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Petraeus doesn’t come close. First, he’s only a tool of the administration... That Boris would use such a cold war term as "tool" to defend a former KGB don made me chuckle. |
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Written By:
tom scott
URL:
http://
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Tom Scott comments:That Boris would use such a cold war term as "tool" to defend a former KGB don made me chuckle. He essentially called Petraeus a "capitalist running dog." I would expect nothing less from someone so unconsciously conditioned by ancient KGB propaganda. It’s amazing how sticky that stuff is in the academic world.
And there is no such thing as "former KGB," apparently. At least not in the case of Putin. Garry Kasparov, the great chess champion and Russian patriot would no doubt vomit right on Erb’s shoe, if he heard those comments about Putin coming directly out of his mouth. |
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Written By:
Martin McPhillips
URL:
http://mcphillips.blogspot.com/
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Putin was a good choice. you forgot the mandatory "yeah, yeah, that’s the ticket, and Morgan Fairchild..." at the end. |
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Written By:
capt joe
URL:
http://
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And to add some perspective, remember that Putin’s in good company, right up there with Josef Stalin, Adolf Hilter and FDR. |
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Written By:
blackwing1
URL:
http://
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And what was it that David Petraeus did this year? Began a process of defeating an islamist insurgency by military enforced reduction in violence and commencement of tribal civil rule - starting a journey similar to that completed in Chechnya. |
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Written By:
unaha-closp
URL:
http://warisforwinning.blogspot.com/
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I can understand Putin, though I personally think either Ahmadinejad or Petraeus would have been better choices.
Funny that, according to the AP article, the runners up were Gore and JK Rowling... |
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Written By:
J
URL:
http://
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of tribal civil rule - starting a journey similar to that completed in Chechnya.
Minus the TOTAL Devastation inflicted on Chechnya....
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Written By:
Joe
URL:
http://
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I’ve stated here before that the Time “Man of the Year” choice had to be someone who would make Time look the fool later. The obvious choice was Al Gore, but Time is more shrewd than I gave them credit as now we find out that Putin has billions in foreign banks. |
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Written By:
Neo
URL:
http://
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How exactly did Putin change Russia? From becoming an unofficial autocracy to an official autocracy? |
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Written By:
Bandit
URL:
http://
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