No. 3 Vladimir Putin

Pick a story - any story - from 2008, and there's a good chance that Vladimir Putin's Russia was somehow involved. Whether it's the global financial crisis, sanctions against Iran or the daily fluctuations of oil and gas prices, it's very likely that Prime Minister Putin's fingerprints were all over it. Time's 2007 Person of the Year managed to entrench his own political security at home in 2008, while exerting his regime's own regional hegemony in Europe, Asia and the Caucasus.

This newfound resolve was put on display over the summer, when Russia engaged in a 10-day war with the Republic of Georgia. Putin's military dispute with the ex-Soviet state over breakaway regions South Ossetia and Abkhazia blindsided a world community consumed by American fronts in Asia and the Middle East. The conflict put other states formerly under Moscow's umbrella on notice, as Russia reminded the world that the 'Near Abroad' remains firmly within her domain.

And there's seemingly little the west can do about it. As the world's largest exporter of natural gas, and the second largest exporter of crude oil, much of the western world finds itself beholden to the strategic whims of Vladimir Putin. He has shown a willingness to buck the rest of the Security Council's conventional wisdom, and has even made overtures to hostile regimes in America's own sphere of influence (clearly stating that two can play at that game).

So secure does Putin feel about his position in the world, he and his cohorts have decided to drop any pretense of process or parity in Moscow's halls of governance. Currently the prime minister, the former Russian president has quietly guided legislation through parliament that will extend the limits of service for the office of president; thus creating an opportunity for Putin to reassume the seat he once held.

The reigning Russian premier belongs on every shortlist for 2008, and he will stay there in subsequent years unless the west can learn how to engage a newly assertive and confident Russian leadership.