Time magazine has named Russian President Vladimir Putin its Person of the Year for 2007.

Good choice, indeed.

Like Professor Samuel Huntington, we believe without order there can be no civil society.

After the chaos of the Gorbachev and Yeltsin eras, Putin has ushered in order, stability and prosperity (helped by high oil prices) for his people.

Explaining their decision, Time’s editors said:

At significant cost to the principles and ideas that free nations prize, he [Putin] 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.

Other contenders for the Time Person of the Year included former U.S. VP and recent Nobel winner Al Gore, author J.K.Rowling and China’s strongman Hu Jintao.

If the rip-off prices of inkjet printer cartridges come down in the U.S, you’ll have to thank a desi guy in California - Ranjit Bedi.

On Monday, Ranjit Bedi filed an antitrust lawsuit against HP and office supplies store chain Staples in the U.S.District Court in Boston charging the two companies with illegally colluding to stop competing in HP-compatible printer cartridges.

Bedi alleges in his complaint that HP paid Staples over $100 million in “marketing incentives” to stop selling competing HP-compatible cartridges and sell only HP-branded HP-compatible cartridges.

In his nine-page complaint, Bedi alleges:

The HP-Staples Agreement is an illegal agreement between competitors to stop competing, allocate to HP the market of Staples customers purchasing HP-Compatible Cartridges and increase, stabilize, fix and/or maintain the price of HP-branded HP-Compatible Cartridges sold by Staples and HP.

The HP-Staples Agreement is a naked restaint of trade that prevents Staples customers from purchasing lower-priced and/or higher-quality Competing HP-Compatible Cartridges, and that increases the price of HP-branded HP-Compatible Cartridges sold by Staples and HP.

HP is the dominant player in the printer business, which is a very profitable segment for the company.

HP reported an operating profit of $4.3 billion on revenues of $28.5 billion in its Imaging & Printing Group in fiscal year 2007. The company claims a market share of about 45% in the inkjet printer segment.

U.S. consumers frustrated with the extortionist prices of Continue Reading…