Forbes Magazine released yesterday their list of this year's Most Powerful People in the World. 67 made the list mainly Heads of State, businessmen, religious figures, media heads and one drug trafficker. They ranked the individuals who made it into this year's list based on influence over lots of other people, financial resources controlled by these individuals, whether they are powerful in multiple spheres, and if the individuals actively use their power.
I am not surprised to see US President Barack Obama to be at the top. After all he's commander-in-chief of the world's premier military superpower and world's largest economy. Oh yes, he won the Nobel Peace Prize! Age 48. A Democrat Leader with great support of party mates who are the majorities in both the US Senate and House . Do you think former President George W. Bush will top the list if Forbes did the list last year or 5 years ago?
Leading about 1.3 Billion Chinese, China's President Hu Jintao is undoubtedly the formidable contender to top the list. World's current population is approximately 6.7 billion, so China represents a full 20% of the world's population so one in every five people on the planet is a resident of China. I guess China will become the biggest economy within the next 5 to 10 years! Anyway, the Russians would be contented to see their Prime Minister Vladimir Putin 3rd on the list.
Roman Catholic's Pope Benedict XVI, ranked 11th on the list and perhaps the 1,121,516,000 billions RCs around the world are not impressed. Tibet's Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso is at No. 39, an indication that millions of people around the world are looking for religious alternatives.
Saudi-born terrorist Osama Bin Laden is on the 37th spot and is no match to his title as the top terrorist in the world. Joining him on the criminal list at No. 41 is Mexico's most wanted man Joaquin Guzman, leader of the Sinaloa Cartel drug traffickers.
Celebrity host Oprah Winfrey is at No. 45.
Complete List:
1. Barack Obama 2. Hu Jintao
3. Vladimir Putin
4. Ben S. Bernanke
5. Sergey Brin and Larry Page
6. Carlos Slim Helu
7. Rupert Murdoch
8. Michael T. Duke
9. Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud
10. William Gates III
11. Pope Benedict XVI
12. Silvio Berlusconi
13. Jeffrey R. Immelt
14. Warren Buffett
15. Angela Merkel
16. Laurence D. Fink
17. Hillary Clinton
18. Lloyd C. Blankfein
19. Li Changchun
20. Michael Bloomberg
21.Timothy Geithner
22.Rex W. Tillerson
23. Li Ka-shing
24. Kim Jong Il
25. Jean-Claude Trichet
26. Masaaki Shirakawa
27. Sheikh Ahmed bin Zayed al Nahyan
28. Akio Toyoda
29. Gordon Brown
30. James S. Dimon
31. Bill Clinton
32. William H. Gross
33. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
34. Lou Jiwei
35. Yukio Hatoyama
36. Manmohan Singh
37. Osama bin Laden
38. Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani
39. Tenzin Gyatso
40. Ali Hoseini-Khamenei
41. Joaquin Guzman
42. Igor Sechin
43. Dmitry Medvedev
44. Mukesh Ambani
45. Oprah Winfrey
46. Benjamin Netanyahu
47. Dominique Strauss-Kahn
48. Zhou Xiaochuan
49. John Roberts Jr.
50. Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar
51. William Keller
52. Bernard Arnault
53. Joseph S. Blatter
54. Wadah Khanfar
55. Lakshmi Mittal
56. Nicolas Sarkozy
57. Steve Jobs
58. Fujio Mitarai
59. Ratan Tata
60. Jacques Rogge
61. Li Rongrong
62. Blairo Maggi
63. Robert B. Zoellick
64. Antonio Guterres
65. Mark John Thompson
66. Klaus Schwab
67. Hugo Chavez
Above photo and complete list source:
http://www.forbes.com/2009/11/11/worlds-most-powerful-leadership-power-09-people_land.html
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