Time Magazine has named its annual person of the year, the person or group of people the editors of the magazine feel have had the greates impact on the worlds news wether it be for good or bad reasons. Previous winners range from Winston Churchill (who was named person of the year twice) JFK, Richar Nixon (who also was named person of the year twice), to Adolf Hitler (who was chosen before he went onto order and commit mass murder), Joesph Stalin (who was ordering mass murder at the time of his choice, but no-one actual knew at the time), to every US President since Jimmy Carter, former new york mayor rudolph Giuliani and last years winner 'you' (which basically meant everyone who used the internet in 2006)



This years person of the year is a man who is...well... President Putin, the charming leader of Russia who has one of the worst human rights records in the world. Putin was chosen over former US vice president and nobel prize winner Al Gore, J.K Rowling, Chinese President Hu, and Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The eidtors of Time have announced that Al Gore came 2nd amounst the editors decision, J.K Rowling was 3rd and President Hu was 4th.

President Putin was not chosen for postive reasons, like previous winners, but rather for his role in the resurgence of Russia, as well as his appaling Human Rights record which contiunes to be of great conflict between western states and russia

It is though quite unusal for a non-america, or at least an anti American figure to be named person of the year, due to the backlash from the American public after Ayatollah Khomeini was named person of te year in 1979. That subsequently was the reason that Osma Bin Laden wasn't named person of the year in 2001 (just months after the 9/11 attacks), instead Rudy Giuliani was named.

Next year will see Presiden Putin step down as Presdient, followed by his likely succession to the role of Russian Prime Minister, as he is not allowed to run for a third successive term, but will likely run for president at the set of elections in 2012, although he could technically resign his office early and then run again for a new term of office.