Forbes: Putin ousts Obama as world's most powerful man
In annual list of most powerful people worldwide, Russian president jumps over US president to take first place. Forbes cites Putin's solidified control over Russia, while claiming Obama had hit 'lame duck' period. Netanyahu drops three spots to 26
Forbes list of the world's most powerful people was topped this year by Russian President Vladimir Putin,
jumping ahead of US President Barack Obama for
the first time.
This is only the second time since Obama became president that he was not chosen as the world's most powerful man.
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Recent geopolitical developments seemed to damage Obama's standing in such a way that despite his leading the world's strongest superpower, he is not longer considered the world's top honcho.
Putin, Obama at G20 (Photo: EPA)
According to Forbes, Putin was chosen at Obama's expense because "Putin has solidified his control over Russia while Obama’s lame duck period has seemingly set in earlier than usual for a two-term president."
While Obama was bogged down by the NSA surveillance scandal and kept busy dealing with the US government shutdown, Putin has managed to block every international initiative for a military intervention in Syria, most recently causing the US itself to back down from such a scenario, and brokering a deal promising the destruction of Syria's chemical stockpile.
In addition, Putin has to his credit the upcoming winter Olympics in Sochi and his somewhat tongue in cheek backing of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
Nonetheless Obama gained the respectable second place. He was followed by Xi Jinping, the general secretary of the Communist Party of China – Russia's biggest and strongest ally.
In fourth place, the world's newest international darling – Pope Francis – who has been leading the Holy See since last March and was the highest ranking newcomer on the list.
Closing the top five most powerful people in the world was German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has managed the European economy during it its most perilous of times. She was only one of nine women to make the list – a mere 12% of the world's most powerful people, despite being more than 50% of the world's entire population.
#5 German Chancellor Angela Merkel (Photo: Reuters)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dropped three places to the 26th spot. In explaining Netanyahu's ranking, Forbes wrote: "Though Netanyahu presides over just 8 million people, he leads one of the world's most religiously and geopolitically fraught nations… its Iron Dome missile defense system proved highly effective in 2012, intercepting more than 400 rockets fired from Gaza over the course of the year."
The report, which mistakenly titled Netanyahu as Israel's president and not prime minister, further noted that "Netanyahu recently butted heads with US Secretary of State John Kerry over Iran's nuclear program, criticizing a 'partial deal' that might leave Iran with some nuclear capabilities intact."
Among other interesting picks were Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, who shared the number 17 spot; and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who came in at 24, but was the youngest on the list, at whooping 28-years-old. In terms of age, he was followed by 29-year-old North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.
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