Jonah Goldberg  Vladimir Putin has had some great publicity
lately. Time magazine recently dubbed him the Person of the
Year. What that says about "You" - the previous recipient of the
P.O.Y. designation - I don't know. Time gave Putin that title
because he represents a mounting preference for authoritarianism
over the chaos of democracy and the uncertainty of the free
market. 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," the editors
declare.  While Time saw fit to linger on "the Russian
president's pale blue eyes," it left out a fascinating rationale
for Putin's power grab. For much of the last year, the Russian
government has been lionizing an American president who roughly
seized the reins of power, dealt briskly with civil liberties,
had a harsh view of constitutional niceties and crafted a media
strategy, which critics derided as "propaganda," that went "over
the heads" of the Washingt