Russia’s Putin most powerful man in the world: Forbes

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been chosen as the world’s most powerful person for the third time in a row by Forbes magazine.

Putin bested US President Barack Obama, who came in third place after German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the most powerful woman in the world, said the American magazine’s seventh annual list of the world’s most powerful people published on Wednesday.  

“Putin continues to prove he’s one of the few men in the world powerful enough to do what he wants,” the magazine said.

 According to the article, Putin’s domestic approval rating rose to 89 percent, the highest level over the last six years.

Obama became the first incumbent US president not listed in the top two rankings. “As Obama enters the final year of his presidency, it’s clear his influence is shrinking, and it’s a bigger struggle than ever to get things done,” Forbes said.

The Telegraph pointed out that Vladimir Putin has been named the world’s most powerful person for the second year running by Forbes magazine. Of the 73 listed, 28 are billionaires. Thirty of the individuals are Americans. And only nine are women – the same number as last year.

The 63-year-old Russian president has, unsurprisingly, retained his position at the top of the Forbes ranking of the world’s most powerful people.

Forbes says the decision is made on the amount of money they control; the number of people they impact; their total spheres of influence; and how actively they wield their power. And in all areas Mr Putin has triumphed; he dominates one of the world’s largest countries, and his actions in Ukraine and Syria are changing the course of history.

According to the Russian Sputnik, for the third year in a row, Forbes has ranked the Russian President as the most powerful person in the world, putting Vladimir Putin above Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Barack Obama.

“Putin continues to prove he’s one of the few men in the world powerful enough to do what he wants,” the magazine said.

Putin’s ratings haven’t suffered a bit – even after sanctions imposed by the Western countries and Russia’s deepening recession. On the contrary, his approval ratings in Russia have rocketed up to almost 90 percent.

Russia’s ongoing anti-terror operation in Syria, in which targeted airstrikes have already killed hundreds of militants, destroyed tons of terrorist hardware and much of their infrastructure, as well as Putin’s face-to-face meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad have contributed to “making the US and NATO look weak in the region, and helping rebuild Russian influence abroad,” Forbes noted.

Angela Merkel, the most powerful woman in the world according to Forbes, has risen from fifth place last year to second place in 2015. Her strong stances when dealing with the influx of Syrian refugees and the Greek financial crisis brought her up to the new level.

Barack Obama wasn’t so lucky this year, giving way to both Putin and Merkel and coming in third. In the closing stages of his second term in office, Obama is losing influence and power. However, Forbes still lauds the United States as “the world’s greatest economic, cultural, diplomatic, technological and military power.”

 “The men and women who are featured on Forbes’ annual ranking of the World’s Most Powerful People are the 0.00000001% – the global elite whose actions move the planet. These heads of state, financiers, philanthropists and entrepreneurs truly run the world,” the magazine says in describing its list.

Forbes considers hundreds of candidates from various spheres and bases its decision on four criteria.

The first is whether the person has influence over lots of other people. A good example here is Pope Francis, who is regarded as a spiritual leader by more than a billion people, and thus came in forth.

The second criterion is the financial condition of a candidate. Heads of the states were compared according to their countries’ GDPs, and CEOs by their companies’ revenues. Personal financial assets were also taken into consideration, which obviously helped Bill Gates secure sixth place.

Meantime, the Sputnik quoted geopolitical analyst and former World Bank economist Peter Koenig as saying that the Western political establishment should give up its vain attempts to intimidate Russia: Russia will not give up, let alone surrender.

The Vienna Peace Conference over Syria, Erdogan’s political victory in Turkey, the Airbus A321 passenger jet tragedy and the NATO Live Exercise — all these events have happened nearly simultaneously, geopolitical analyst and former World Bank economist Peter Koenig emphasizes.

“It could also be many tentacles of the world dictator put in action at once,” Koenig hinted.

“Let’s be sure that we understand one point clearly: As long as Washington is alive, meaning economically still ticking, heavily breathing, but still ticking — as long as this is the case, the command center of corporate and military operations, Washington-Pentagon, will not let go of Syria, Iran, Iraq — and the rest of the larger Middle East and North Africa — in short the MENA — area,” the analyst stressed in his latest article for Global Research.

It seems as though US Secretary of State John Kerry has made every effort to pull off a new round of “Syria Peace Talks” in Vienna purportedly to stop the bloodshed in Syria.

But there is something fishy about the conference, Koenig remarked: Syria itself was absent.

“Amazingly, though, the country whose future was supposedly discussed, Syria, was absent. Not invited. — How can that be? How can an international conference discuss the fate of a country which is not even invited to participate?” the analyst asked.

However, the parties involved in the negotiations have seemingly reached an agreement. It was believed that the talks would be continued this coming Friday. Unexpectedly, “the opposition found some objections which put the next peace meeting in Geneva on hold,” the analyst underscored.

“Why this farce at all?” he remarked.

The truth of the matter is that Washington hopes to implement a ceasefire as an interim solution. If the Russian Air Force stopped fighting terrorists, NATO and its puppet terrorists in the region would “regroup and think up new strategies,” while Islamic State would be resupplied, Koenig suggested.

“The ‘Peace Talks’ may drag on for years, as they did with Iran for the nuclear talks — on a make-believe nuclear threat that never was,” he remarked.

However, according to the analyst, Russia will not buy it.

Russia’s objectives in Syria are absolutely clear and transparent: the Russian Air Force is busy with eradicating terrorism in the region.

At the same time Washington’s plans are more complicated: the US financial and political elite seek to put “the entire MENA region into disarray, Syria next, to resemble Libya and Iraq — all with oil and gas riches.”

“The crux of the matter is not dominance of the region solely for oil’s or dominance’s sake — but for economic reasons. Syria is a crucial link for pipelines to supply Europe and southern Asia with energy from Iran — and with energy that is not to be billed in US dollars but in euros, rubles, yuan — or any other currency the participating trading partners may wish to use. Trillions of dollars now in need and in circulation will become superfluous,” Koenig explained.

“Losing the MENA battle would mean an even faster decline of the US hegemony into oblivion. It’s not just oil, gas and dominance — “it’s the economy, stupid!” — As in Bill Clinton’s 1992 successful campaign strategy,” the analyst emphasized.

Alas, you can’t win them all.

It seems that neither Russia, nor Syria is going to indulge Washington’s warmongering projects. The future of Syria, after all, should be and will be defined by its nation. “There is much [in Syria] at stake for Russia too,” the analyst underscored.

“Russia’s leader is a first-class statesman, diplomat — and an excellent chess player,” Keonig reminded.

Compiled by Dr. Mohammad Abdo Al-Ibrahim

alibrahim56@hotmail.com