The White House should be cancelling its subscription to
Forbes right about now.
The magazine name Russian President Vladimir Putin as theworld’ most powerful person on Wednesday — displacing the previous top dog,
President Obama who came in second.
Forbes gave Putin an edge based on his role in getting Syria
to surrender its chemical weapons and the diplomatic blow suffered by Obama
when Russia offered asylum to NSA leaker Edward Snowden.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Pope Francis and German Chancellor
Angela Merkel followed in the third, fourth and fifth spots, respectively.
Pope Francis, spiritual leader of 1.2 billion Catholics
across the planet, was the top newcomer to Forbes’ annual list of 75 power
brokers.
Philanthropist and Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Federal
Reserve chair Ben Bernanke, Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, European
Central Bank president Mario Draghi and Wal-Mart CEO Michael Duke rounded out
the top 10.
The magazine measured the power players based on the number
of people they had authority to oversee, financial resources under their
control, influence on multiple populations and how they used this total clout
in the past year.
This year marks the first time Putin has led the Forbes
power list.
Obama had been No. 1 every year in office, except for now
and in 2010 when Chinese leader Hu Jintao was tops.
Women made steady gains in Forbes rankings, though females
still accounted for just 12 percent of the rankings. The 2011 and 2012 lists
had just six women, while there are nine this year.
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