Vladimir Putin Person of the Year 2007 - TIME

[December]

No one is born with a stare like Vladimir Putin's. The Russian President's pale blue eyes are so cool, so devoid of emotion that the stare must have begun as an affect, the gesture of someone who understood that power might be achieved by the suppression of ordinary needs, like blinking. The affect is now seamless, which makes talking to the Russian President not just exhausting but often chilling. It's a gaze that says, I'm in charge.

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This may explain why there is so little visible security at Putin's dacha, Novo-Ogarevo, the grand Russian presidential retreat set inside a birch- and fir-forested compound west of Moscow. To get there from the capital requires a 25-minute drive through the soul of modern Russia, past decrepit Soviet-era apartment blocks, the mashed-up French Tudor-villa McMansions of the new oligarchs and a shopping mall that boasts not just the routine spoils of affluence like Prada and Gucci but Lamborghinis and Ferraris too.

When you arrive at the dacha's faux-neoclassical gate, you have to leave your car and hop into one of the Kremlin's vehicles that slowly wind their way through a silent forest of snow-tipped firs. Aides warn you not to stray, lest you tempt the snipers positioned in the shadows around the compound. This is where Putin, 55, works. (He lives with his wife and two twentysomething daughters in another mansion deeper in the woods.) The rooms feel vast, newly redone and mostly empty. As we prepare to enter his spacious but spartan office, out walk some of Russia's most powerful men: Putin's chief of staff, his ideologist, the speaker of parliament—all of them wearing expensive bespoke suits and carrying sleek black briefcases. Putin, who rarely meets with the foreign press, then gives us 3 1/2 hours of his time, first in a formal interview in his office and then upstairs over an elaborate dinner of lobster-and-shiitake-mushroom salad, "crab fingers with hot sauce" and impressive vintages of Puligny-Montrachet and a Chilean Cabernet.

Vladimir Putin gives a first impression of contained power: he is compact and moves stiffly but efficiently. He is fit, thanks to years spent honing his black-belt judo skills and, these days, early-morning swims of an hour or more. And while he is diminutive—5 ft. 6 in. (about 1.7 m) seems a reasonable guess—he projects steely confidence and strength. Putin is unmistakably Russian, with chiseled facial features and those penetrating eyes. Charm is not part of his presentation of self—he makes no effort to be ingratiating. One senses that he pays constant obeisance to a determined inner discipline. The successor to the boozy and ultimately tragic Boris Yeltsin, Putin is temperate, sipping his wine only when the protocol of toasts and greetings requires it; mostly he just twirls the Montrachet in his glass. He eats little, though he twitchily picks the crusts off the bread rolls on his plate.

READ MORE -

http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/personoftheyear/article/1,28804,1690753_1690757_1690766,00.html

TIME's Interview with Vladimir Putin

http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/personoftheyear/article/0,28804,1690753_1691763_1691291,00.html

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February 20, 2007
SOCHI. RUSSIA.
At the Krasnaia Poliana mountain resort.

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[lily]

No one is born with a stare like Vladimir Putin's. The Russian President's pale blue eyes are so cool, so devoid of emotion that the stare must have begun as an affect, the gesture of someone who understood that power might be achieved by the suppression of ordinary needs, like blinking. The affect is now seamless, which makes talking to the Russian President not just exhausting but often chilling. It's a gaze that says, I'm in charge.

<snip>

This may explain why there is so little visible security at Putin's dacha, Novo-Ogarevo, the grand Russian presidential retreat set inside a birch- and fir-forested compound west of Moscow.

I don't think it's his eyes, December.

When you arrive at the dacha's faux-neoclassical gate, you have to leave your car and hop into one of the Kremlin's vehicles that slowly wind their way through a silent forest of snow-tipped firs. Aides warn you not to stray, lest you tempt the snipers positioned in the shadows around the compound.

[Shintao]

No one is born with a stare like Vladimir Putin's.

We are fortunate to be dealing with a sane Russian president.

[December]

No one is born with a stare like Vladimir Putin's.

We are fortunate to be dealing with a sane Russian president.


I agree, Shintao.
Unfortunately the Western media loves to demonize him just because he stands for Russia and Russian people first.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin and popular actor Jean-Claude Van Damme attend the Russia vs U.S. Mixed Fighting Championship at the Ledovy sports center in St. Petersburg.

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Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Jean-Claude Van Damme’s daughter Bianca and Russian President Vladimir Putin (front row, left to right) attending the Russia vs U.S. Mixed Fighting Championship at the Ledovy sports center in St. Petersburg.

[ECW]

Putin: Man of the year...

Dick Cheney is looking to have the Time editorial staff arrested because he thought he had it in the bag.

[lily]

Putin: Man of the year...

Dick Cheney is looking to have the Time editorial staff arrested because he thought he had it in the bag.



Well.....it sure beats getting shot in the face!:lmao:

[December]

We are fortunate to be dealing with a sane Russian president.

Shintao, I believe his cool and sane thinking has a lot to do with his knowledge of philosophy of the martial arts.
Putin is a Black Belt in Judo.

What is Kodokan Judo?

Judo is many things to different people. It is a fun sport, an art, a discipline, a recreational or social activity, a fitness program, a means of self-defense or combat, and a way of life. It is all of these and more.

Kodokan Judo comes to us from the fighting system of feudal Japan. Founded in 1882 by Dr. Jigoro Kano, Judo is a refinement of the ancient martial art of Jujutsu. Dr. Kano, President of the University of Education, Tokyo, studied these ancient forms and integrated what he considered to be the best of their techniques into what is now the modern sport of Judo.

Judo was introduced into the Olympic Games in 1964 and is practiced by millions of people throughout the world today. People practice Judo to excel in competition, to stay in shape, to develop self-confidence, and for many other reasons. But most of all, people do Judo just for the fun of it.

http://www.judoinfo.com/whatis.htm

Techniques of Judo. Harai Goshi

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Russian President Putin, (top) a judo black belt, performs a throw during training on June 16, 2002. Putin turns 50 next Monday, October 7, which he is due to spend in the capital of former Soviet republic of Moldova, the city of Chisinau, at the Commonwealth of Independent States meeting.— Reuters

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20021005/world.htm

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Russian President Vladimir Putin executes a throw on a Japanese Judo student during a visit to a Sports Center in Gushikawa, Okinawa, Japan, July 23, 2000. He then allowed himself to be thrown onto the mat. After concluding a final round of talks with other world leaders on global issues, Putin visited the sports center and removed his jacket and shoes for light matches with several Gushikawa students. Putin, 47, told the assembled young Judo fans to persevere with their sport because it brought people together.

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Vladimir Putin, Judo Master

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born October 7, 1952) is the current President of the Russian Federation. He became acting president on December 31, 1999, succeeding Boris Yeltsin, and was sworn in as president following the elections on May 7, 2000. In 2004, he was re-elected for a second term, which expires in 2008.

One of Putin's favorite sports is the martial art of judo. Putin began sambo (a Soviet martial art developed for the Red Army and the NKVD) at the age of 14, before switching to judo, which he continues to practice today. Putin won competitions in his hometown of Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), including the senior championship of Leningrad. He is the president of the Yawara Dojo, the same St. Petersburg dojo he practiced at when young. Putin co-authored a book on his favorite sport, published in Russian as “Judo With Vladimir Putin” and in English under the title “Judo: History, Theory, Practice.”
Though he is not the first world leader to practice judo, Putin is the first leader to move forward into the advanced levels. Currently, Putin is a black belt (6th dan) and is best known for his harai goshi, a sweeping hip throw. Vladimir Putin is Master of Sports (Soviet and Russian sport title) in judo and sambo. After a state visit to Japan, Putin was invited to the Kodokan Institute and showed the students and Japanese officials different judo techniques.
http://www.cnsnews.com/facts/2007/facts2007913.asp


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[micfranklin]

At least the Person of the Year is someone who has actually had some impact on the world...

[December]

December 20, 2007 10:00
Thursday
Vladimir Putin congratulated Russian Muslims on the Kurban Bairam holiday.
The message of congratulations reads, in part:

‘For centuries this holiday has been imbued with the kindest and best feelings and helps bring people together as well as promotes the values of goodness, mercy, love and mutual respect in society. It reveals the depths of the spiritual traditions of Islam, based on humanistic principles.

It is pleasing to see that Russian Muslims are making a worthy contribution to developing inter-religious cooperation, and the unity of the peoples of Russia. The Russian Muslim community actively participates in charity, the revival of family values, and in combating extremism and intolerance’.

December 18, 2007
Tuesday MOSCOW.
Vladimir Putin met with Greek Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis in the Kremlin.

They discussed the current and future directions of Russian-Greek cooperation and, in particular, issues concerning the implementation of major infrastructure projects in the fuel and energy sector, including the Burgas-Alexandroupolis and Southern Stream gas pipeline projects.

The President of Russia and Prime Minister of Greece exchanged opinions on a wide range of international issues, including the situation in the Balkans, the Cyprus settlement, Russia's relations with the European Union and NATO.

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THE GRAND KREMLIN PALACE, MOSCOW. Press conference following the Russian-Greek talks.

http://kremlin.ru/eng/sdocs/news.shtml#154958

[December]

People, years, Putin...

21/ 12/ 2007

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political analyst Boris Kaimakov) - Time magazine has named Vladimir Putin its "Person of the Year".

Those who don't like Putin gleefully remind everyone that now he has joined some of the most hideous dictators in modern history, Hitler and Stalin. Those who like Putin point out that the company includes a lot of very decent people who had fought for peace, against hunger and made a notable contribution to the present world order. Among them is even an anonymous computer user.

Right off, we should give up the discussion of the criteria the magazine uses to choose the "Person of the Year". They are not debatable, they are non-existent. The official formula that credits Putin with displaying "exceptional skill in leading the country" would be a lot more appropriate to describing aerobatics. Which is why the Time article about Putin's presidency is as contradictory as the presidency itself.

The fact itself is remarkable and very pleasant for Putin. This became more than clear when he gave the obligatory interview to Time journalists before the much-prized title was officially conferred on him. But the Americans so annoyed him with their questions that first he demanded that they disclose the names and safe houses of the most corrupt Russian officials and then declared the interview finished without inviting them to tea. True, the interview lasted more than three hours so that the journalists who were hoping for the dessert ought to have grasped that presidential cordiality and open-handed Russian hospitality were different things.

I have no illusions that Time has conferred the title on Putin because it likes him. Most probably the magazine meant to highlight the role of Russia in the modern world. When the Kremlin gives the instruction to turn off the gas tap, half the world is about to faint. It is one thing to discuss Khodorkovsky and the way top Russian lawyers use electoral law to put down sources of instability, and it is quite another thing when there is no gas in your stove when you want to make your morning coffee.

A president who can afford to pursue such a policy deserves close attention. He jolts Western politicians out of the complacency that they have felt after the Soviet threat vanished, and he comes across as a serious irritant or even a threat to the man in the street.

Putin's Munich speech also showed that Russia no longer saw the West as a partner, but as a threat to its security. The speech was like a bombshell. Initially it seemed to be no more than an emotional outburst, but when long-range aviation resumed its flights, when Russia pointedly carried out successful rocket launches and declared its withdrawal from the CFE Treaty, it became clear that the President was determined to make the world reckon with him and that Russia's security interests were not the same as those of the West. At least, that was the impression he had notwithstanding his chumminess with his foreign counterparts.

READ MORE -
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20071221/93704123.html

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[Truth_and_Power]

He's playing with fire, as are we. With any luck, soon iran and israel will be nuclear powers much as pakistan and india are. Back-to-back nuclear powers such as these are dangerous hot spots, especially with a different superpower backing each.

Soon it could be:

india/pakistan
north korea/japan
israel/iran

[December]

From Asia Times:

Putin for president ... of the United States

By Spengler

Flying across the vast Russian plain in 1944, the future French president Charles DeGaulle cursed the destiny that made him a Frenchman; if only he could rule a country the size of Russia, he mused, think of what he might accomplish! A similar thought must have occurred to Vladimir Putin, the most talented political leader of our time: what might he have done at the helm of the world's only superpower, instead of salvaging the hulk of the defeated Soviet Empire? Why not give him the chance? Watching the last round of American political debates, it occurred to me that it's time to think out of the box.

Putin will finish his second term of office as Russian president early in 2008, just when the next American president takes office. There is plenty of time to naturalize him as an American citizenand amend the constitution to permit a foreign-born president. The alternative is to elect another incarnation of the political type that got America into trouble in the first place.

"God has a special providence for fools, drunks, and the United States of America," German statesman Otto von Bismarck is famously alleged to have said. I have only one New Year's forecast, namely that God will take a holiday, at least as far as America is concerned. The year just passed would be viewed as America's annus horribilis by any normal standard, that is, any standard except that of 2008, which will be the worst year for the US since 1980, when Jimmy Carter left office. Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong in American policy, but not as wrong as it will go now. As in 1980, a lame-duck administration will confront economic and strategic reverses. But it is worse than 1980, for no Ronald Reagan is waiting in the wings to set things right.

America needs leadership, and none of available candidates can provide it. Politicians prevailed during the past generation by flattering American complacency. Precisely the opposite is needed. Putin has the requisite tough-mindedness, with only one important deficiency: he is a nasty piece of work. His youth movement, Nashi (Ours) should frighten anyone who knows the political history of the 20th century.

Then again, nobody's perfect. Russia is no country for nice men. But Putin's personal nastiness is beside the point. Washington has willfully misunderstood Russia's most basic requirements (What they didn't say at Kennebunkport, July 3, 2007). No Russian leader could survive without doing more or less what Putin has done.

While his predecessor Boris Yeltsin led Russia into bankruptcy and chaos, Putin restored Russia's economy and global stature on the strength of one insight: the Russian people were the problem. After centuries of Tsarist brutality and three generations of communist terror, the Russian people had become a passive rabble incapable of defending their interests. Yeltsin allowed a locust-swarm to steal what remained of the Russian economy.

By harsh and extra-legal means, Putin reclaimed Russia's economy for the state, creating a huge corpus of wealthy enemies ready to subsidize any Western politician who wants to attack him. As I wrote a year ago (Russia's Hudna with the Muslim world , February 21, 2007), "The only leadership left in Russia by the terrible adverse selection process of the communist system was the former secret guardians of the state, men whose unique position required them to live by their wits."

The Americans, meanwhile, have met the enemy, and it is them. America has coasted on a quarter-century wave of power and prosperity since president Reagan won the Cold War and restarted the economy. America in the 1980s was the only model to be emulated, and a magnet for global capital flows. So compelling were American capital markets that by the late 1990s, almost all the free savings of the world sought an American home. In 2007 a trillion dollars of overseas capital poured into American markets.

Americans no longer had to save; the rest of the world saved for them and lent them money at the lowest interest rates in half a century. Americans no longer had to study; engineers from India to Argentina programmed their computers. And Americans no longer had to face a strategic challenge; after the death of the Soviet Union, so Washington believed, America need only export its self-image. Of all the great illusions of the post-Cold War era, this has turned out to be the most pernicious.

Like emerging Asia in the mid-1990s, Americans used cheap foreign capital to make real-estate speculation into a national pastime. And like Asia in 1997, there is no remedy but to let the sickening slide of asset prices take its course, until the grasshoppers learn to work and save like ants.(Western grasshoppers and Chinese ants , Sept 7, 2007). The Americans are poorer at the end of 2007 than they were a year ago, and at the end of 2008 they will be much poorer still. They will be beholden to the Gulf States, Singapore, China, Russia or whomever can recapitalize a banking system that already may be technically insolvent. They will import less and the Asian economies will suffer.

Scores of millions who were wealthy on paper a year ago will be penniless by the end of 2008. In the American states where home prices rose the fastest - California, Florida, Arizona, and Nevada - prices fell by almost a third during the year to September 30. American equity prices already have fallen by 10% since last October. Both residential and equity values are likely to fall much further before the bloodletting is over.

The American economy emulated Samuel Beckett's absurdist play Waiting for Godot, in which nothing happens, twice. The first occasion in which nothing happened was the tech-stock bubble of 1997-2000. Americans engaged in a collective delusion according to which infinite wealth would be created on the Internet through shopping and salacious entertainment. Perhaps if someone had perfected virtual-reality sex, the stock price bubble might have continued, but the disappointment attendant on the end of the illusion cut the value of American equities by half.

read more -

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/JA08Ag01.html


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January 2, 2008
SOCHI. At the opening ceremony of the Krasnaya Polyana ski resort.


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January 5, 2008
SOCHI. At the Krasnaya Polyana ski resort. With athlete Svetlana Gladysheva.

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