The Time article’s headline sets the tone, reading “Choosing Order Before Freedom.”

Perhaps most relevant to understand Time’s choice is this reminder about what the ‘Person of the Year’ designation entails: it "is not and never has been an honour... not an endorsement... not a popularity contest... 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," wrote Richard Stengel for the Time.

In his reaction, Guardian blogger Roy Greenslade seems worried about the positive spins that the Kremlin will be able to get out of this nomination, which is widely prestigious – whether honoring or not.

But, like it or not, nobody can deny that Putin demonstrated “bold, earth-changing leadership.”

“At significant cost to the principles and ideas that free nations prize, he has performed an extraordinary feat of leadership in imposing stability on a nation that has rarely known it and brought Russia back to the table of world power,” wrote Stengel.

Time magazine does seem to have a tradition of picking Russian leaders: Putin is the fifth Russian or Soviet leader to be named Person of the Year after Gorbachev, Andropov, Khrushchev and Stalin, who was named twice.

Other names considered for the Person of the Year included Nobel Prize-winner Al Gore and Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling.

In 2006, the Time’s Person of the year was… you.

Source: Roy Greenslade – Time magazine – International Herald Tribune