Forbes has released its seventh annual ranking of the world’s most powerful people, the class of elites who run the world, on Wednesday and has declared U.S. President Barack Obama as the third most powerful leader of the world.
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U.S. President Barack Obama fell one spot on this year’s list to #3.
It is the first time a sitting US President has not made one of the top 2 spots.
British prime minister David Cameron squeezes into the top ten at number eight on the list, but is below Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Pope Francis.
They are whether the candidate has power over lots of people, financial resources controlled by each person, whether the candidate is powerful in multiple spheres and whether the candidates actively used their power.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, described by Forbes as the “self-proclaimed Caliph, Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, was perhaps the most controversial inclusion at 57, with gaff-prone USA presidential hopeful Donald Trump at 72. He barked back before the United Nations this September: ‘Many of the countries represented here… evidently don’t understand that ISIS and Hamas are branches of the same poisonous tree'”.
Through all of this, Putin’s approval ratings skyrocketed to an all-time high of 89%, spawning a cult of personality.
In 2014, Obama was in second place and Forbes editors said the US President’s slip shouldn’t come as a surprise.
The likes of disgraced Federation Internationale de Football Association President and former CEO of Volkswagen, Martin Winterkorn have dropped out of this year’s last after placing on the previous iteration.
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German chancellor Merkel jumped up three places to shunt Obama out of second spot. Merkel, the “backbone” of the European Union, was hailed for her efforts in handling the Syrian refugee issue and the Greek debt crisis. And internationally, he was outshined by Mrs Merkel in Europe, and outmanoeuvered by Mr Putin in the Middle East.
