Time magazine's 2007 Person of the Year is... Russian President Vladimir Putin. Why Putin? Here's the rationale of Time EIC Rick Stengel:

In a year when Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize and green became the new red, white and blue; when the combat in Iraq showed signs of cooling but Baghdad's politicians showed no signs of statesmanship; when China, the rising superpower, juggled its pride in hosting next summer's Olympic Games with its embarrassment at shipping toxic toys around the world; and when J.K. Rowling set millions of minds and hearts on fire with the final volume of her 17-year saga-one nation that had fallen off our mental map, led by one steely and determined man, emerged as a critical linchpin of the 21st century. Russia lives in history-and history lives in Russia. [...] 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.

Stengel goes on to ask the rhetorical question of whether the Russian dictator will end up being more of a Stalin or a Peter the Great. Hmm... Maybe we should ask Garry Kasparov?

(Image via Time)