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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2009
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Putin Time's Person of the Year

A Boy Scout he's not, but steely-faced 'Pooty-Poot' has guided Russia back to prominence

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(Newser) – Don't be fooled by the 5' 6" frame of the man George W. Bush termed "Pooty-Poot": Russian President Vladmir Putin is Time's Person of the Year for having "brought Russia back to the table of world power." The quiet man behind the steely stare snuck up to best 2007 heavyweights Al Gore and JK Rowling at perhaps their peak.

Russia is and always will be a world force, Time reasons, and Putin's no-holds-barred leadership has imposed "stability on a nation that has rarely known it." While a bastion of democracy he's not, Putin is, and will continue to be, the guiding hand reminding the West that "Russia is central to our world—and the new world that is being born."

Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, unseen, during a news conference in Moscow's Kremlin on Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2007. Putin is not a Boy Scout, Time says, but he has been the dominant leadership force of 2007 -- and will continue to guide Russia long...
Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, unseen, during a news conference in Moscow's Kremlin on Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2007. Putin is not a Boy Scout, Time says,...   (Associated Press)
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at his meeting with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in the Kremlin in Moscow, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2007. Russia's state natural gas monopoly OAO Gazprom on Tuesday formally began production at a vast field in western Siberia that is to be a key source of...
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at his meeting with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in the Kremlin in Moscow, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2007. Russia's state natural gas monopoly OAO Gazprom...   (Associated Press)
Russian President Vladimir Putin smiles during a welcome ceremony prior to talks with Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk, Belarus, Friday, Dec. 14, 2007. Putin is not a Boy Scout, Time says, but he has been the dominant leadership force of 2007 -- and will continue to guide Russia long...
Russian President Vladimir Putin smiles during a welcome ceremony prior to talks with Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk, Belarus, Friday, Dec. 14, 2007. Putin is not a Boy Scout, Time says,...   (Associated Press)
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at a news conference in Minsk, Belarus, Friday, Dec. 14, 2007. The leaders of Russia and Belarus on Friday pledged closer cooperation on military, economic and foreign policy but gave no indication that the ex-Soviet neighbors were moving closer to a long-discussed full merger.(AP...
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at a news conference in Minsk, Belarus, Friday, Dec. 14, 2007. The leaders of Russia and Belarus on Friday pledged closer cooperation on military, economic and...   (Associated Press)
Russian President Vladimir Putin seen at his meeting with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in the Kremlin in Moscow, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2007. Time magazine formally named the Russian president its Person of the Year. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool)
Russian President Vladimir Putin seen at his meeting with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in the Kremlin in Moscow, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2007. Time magazine formally named the Russian president...   (Associated Press)
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