Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and US President Barack Obama. AP FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines–Forbes has named Russia’s President Vladimir Putin as most powerful person in the world followed by US President Barack Obama.
For the second year in a row, the popular business magazine chose the “omnipotent head of a feisty former superpower” over the “handcuffed head of the most dominant country in the world.”
It said that power isn’t “pretty” and that Putin is not considered a “good guy.”
“But as the undisputed, unpredictable and unaccountable head of an energy-rich, nuclear-tipped state, no one would ever call him weak,” Forbes said.
It pointed out that while their choice of Putin last year became controversial, it made even more sense after Russia annexed Crimea and “staged a proxy war in Ukraine” while inking a $70 billion gas pipeline deal with China. Putin pursues his and Russia’s goals without worrying what the other nations think, Forbes said.
On the other hand, it said Obama has the power but was too cautious to use it. Recently, he has also faced a couple of challenges, including the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and the infamous ISIS, which “threaten to undo all the gains of a nine-year war in Iraq that cost the lives of 4,500 Americans.”
The “World’s 72 Most Powerful People” was chosen and voted for by Forbes editors, based on a number of variables, including financial resources, use and impact of their power.
“It is an evaluation of hard power,” it said, describing the list as that of people who are able to shape the world and move both markets and people.
It is not surprising that the top three is composed of Putin, Obama and China’s “paramount leader” Xi Jinping who is said to be the most powerful Chinese ruler sinze Mao Zedong.
Other political leaders who made it to the top 10 are Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany at number 4 and Mario Draghi president of the European Central Bank at 8th place.
Leaders from other sectors including religion, finance and technology composed the other half of the top 10.
Pope Francis, who holds influence over one-sixth or 1.2 billion of the world’s population, placed fourth while US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen came in sixth.
The rest are tech giants: former Microsoft chief executive Bill Gates (7th place), and Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page (tied at 9th place).
The youngest members of the list are Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg, 30, at 22nd place and North Korea’s supreme leader Kim Jong-Un, 31, at 49th place.
Below is the complete list:
The World’s Most Powerful People. Screengrab from https://www.forbes.com
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