André Glucksmann, the French philosopher and author of (among others) The Master Thinkers, has written a brief but forceful critique of TIME Magazine's powder-puff "Man of the Year" article on Vladimir Putin. For instance, though TIME hints at possible faults in the fellow's leadership of Mother Russia, the magazine never gets round to telling its readers what they are.Glucksmann remedies that.
He reminds us of the vast violence Putin has used against the Chechnyans, the growing government repressions of speech and religion, and corruption occurring on the grandest scales.
But Glucksmann has even more:
Finally, one must lack both heart and mind to coronate as the guarantor of world security an autocrat whose profession of faith is “once a Chekist, always a Chekist,” and whose historical intelligence assaults us with the notion that “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century is”—guess what: the two world wars? Auschwitz? the gulag? wrong!—“the dissolution of the Soviet Union.” True, one must credit Putin with sincerity for daring to make such a public declaration in April 2005; but Time, detecting in it a promise of stability, deserves credit only for absurdity.
In justifying its choice for Putin’s pseudo-stability, Time falls for the Kremlin’s propaganda: all is in order in the Potemkin village. Upon learning of the assassination of Paul Klebnikov, editor-in-chief of Forbes Russia, Anna Politkovskaï¡ wrote: “It is undeniable that stability has returned to Russia—a monstrous stability, such that no one demands justice . . . such that only a fool would still dare to claim the protection of the forces of a regime riddled with corruption. ‘An eye for an eye’ has replaced the rule of law in people’s minds, as in their acts. The president himself provides the example.” Anna is unable to appreciate Time’s choice; she was assassinated on November 7, 2006....
Here's the short essay in its entirety.
