Vladimir Putin World's Most Powerful Person Followed By Angela Merkel, Barack Obama: Forbes

[Purveyor]

Source: ABC Online

Posted 52 minutes ago

Russian president Vladimir Putin has been named the world's most powerful person by Forbes magazine, followed by German chancellor Angela Merkel and US president Barack Obama.

This is the third year in a row Mr Putin has taken out the top spot, and this year's results mean Mr Obama is the first sitting US president to slide out of the top two power rankings.

The magazine published its seventh annual ranking just weeks after Mr Putin opened a new front in the Syrian war by conducting air strikes, then Mr Putin hosted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in Moscow.

"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 wrote.

Read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-06/putin-named-most-powerful-by-forbes/6918126

[Demeter]

1. Powerful? Intelligent, for sure!

Putin's power comes from his people, for they support him by phenomenal amounts....85% was the last rating I heard.

Angela has put her foot in it, and she's going downhill very fast with the entire Eurozone and beyond.

And as for Obama, words cannot describe....

[840high]

4. Putin deserves it this year.

[uhnope]

8. I know, right? Fuck democracy anyway.

But still a ways to go to the North Korea's dictator's 99.9% approval rating!

[NuclearDem]

11. Check Bush's approval rating right after 9/11.

Extreme nationalism and cult of personality will do that for you.

Fuck that fascist bigot.

[LanternWaste]

24. Your post is just over' two pyramids full of grain' worth of unsupported, faith-based allegations..

Your post is just over' two pyramids full of grain' worth of unsupported, faith-based allegations... which words can indeed, describe.

[geek tragedy]

2. Putin doesn't have any meaningful domestic opposition, so that makes sense.

He's a king, not a President.

[happyslug]

12. The Communists are Putin's opposition, but being Reds that is NOT reported in the US

The Communists have been the #2 party in Russia since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Since 1993 the Communists have gone by the name "Communist Party of the Russian Federation or CPRF". If you go by Western Reports, Putin has no opposition, but Western reporters, especially American Reporters, will NOT report on how strong the Communists are in Russia. Now, American Reporters will report on any decline in the Communists, but never any increase. I remember reading a report in the late 1990s bragging about the continued decline of the Communists in the 1990s but then nothing afterward for the Communists after about 1998 started in INCREASE in size and votes (and one of the reasons Putin replaced Yeltsin was the Oligarchs feared losing the next election to the Communists unless they stole the Communist domestic agenda, Thus Putin replaced Yeltsin and the Putin adopted what the Communists had been advocating since about 1996).

The CPRF is strong in large cities and major industrial and scientific centers ("naukograds&quot , as well as in the small towns and cities around Moscow. For example, one of the few polling stations that gave a success to the CPRF during the Russian legislative election of 2007 was at Moscow State University. The CPRF is also strong in the far east of Russia, in Siberia and the Urals.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_the_Russian_Federation

Its international affiliation is with the "International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Meeting_of_Communist_and_Workers%27_Parties

The third largest party is Socialist, it is a member of the Socialist International (Which includes The Social Democratic Party of Germany, The French Socialist Party, among other parties). It is to the right of the Communists, but still considered left of center.

A Just Russia calls for a welfare state with less economic inequality, but protecting individual property rights and maintaining a market economy. Under Sergey Mironov, the party has presented itself as a socialist alternative to the Communist Party[27] and describes its ideology as "New Socialism of the 21st century", but emphasises that it does not wish to return to "Soviet bureaucratic socialism". In the party platform, New Socialism is defined as the antithesis of "barbarous, oligarchic capitalism". It represents a more individualist or libertarian socialism

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Just_Russia

More on Socialist International:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_International#Full_members

Now, the Communists and "Just Russia" parties are like the Democrats under George W. Bush, they oppose Putin on domestic matters, but support him on foreign policy issues including Crimea, Ukraine and now Syria. Thus Putin has "No opposition" just like FDR had no opposition to fighting WWII, after Pearl Harbor, or Truman, Eisenhower, JFK had no opposition to fighting the Cold War. You had opposition developed against Johnson and Nixon over Vietnam, but no real domestic opposition to continue to fight the Cold War against the Soviet Union under either President. Thus no real opposition to fighting the Cold War under Ford, Carter, Reagan or Bush. Does that lack of opposition made each of those Presidents a "King"? The answer is no, for each had domestic opposition when it came to domestic issues.

Just a comment about the opposition to Putin in Russia. American reporters refused to report on them for their employers do NOT want to hear about Communists UNLESS it is something negative (and they view "Just Russia" as another Communist Party, so it is treated the same the the Russian Communist Party when it comes to reports from Russia, i.e. ignored).



Political groups
United Russia (238) (Blue) Middle and to the right
Communist Party (92) (Bright Red) and furtherst to the left
A Just Russia (64) (Deep Red) between the Bright Red Communists and the Blue of United Russia
LDPR (56) (Yellow) and furtherst to the right

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Duma

[geek tragedy]

13. no meaningful opposition I said. The Communists are around, but irrelevant nt

[happyslug]

14. That is like saying the GOP was irrelevant during Obama's first term

Or that the Democrats are irrelevant in the House and Senate since the GOP control both. Not quite true but my point is Putin is NOT a king, he had opposition, effective opposition who could win an election if things turn bad for Putin. The problem is Putin, so far, has done nothing stupid. He did take the Crimea, but made sure the legal government of the Crimea (which had since the 1920s been an Autonomous state within First Russia and then the Ukraine) vote to succeed and rejoin Russia. Thus Putin could claim he had the legal right to take over the Crimine for the simple reason any Autonomous Republic in the old Soviet Union and in today's Russian Federation could always succeed.

Putin was also careful to make sure the rebels in the Eastern Ukraine were NOT defeated, but also kept weak enough NOT to march on Kiev. The Communists tend to support the Rebels more then Putin does (and if Donbass would join Russia, it is the type of area known to vote for the Communist opposition to Putin NOT for Putin).

http://imrussia.org/en/analysis/world/2406-does-anyone-want-ukraines-donbass

I bring this up, for Putin has to be careful, his support is NOT that thick among his own supporters and they could switch to the Communists if Putin makes a misstep. The Communist support is deeper among its voters then are the supporters for Putin, thus the Communists have a solid base that they could use to take over the Government.

Thus to say the Communists are irrelevant is like saying the Democratic Left (and even DU) is irrelevant. Like the Communists in Russian., DU has a certain amount of unity and from that unity some power. One aspect of that power is the support Bernie Sanders is getting. Yes, we have Hillary Supporters on DU, but the far left, which is DU to a degree, is a solid base to built a coalition to win the Presidency, thus DU is one of the reason Sanders is doing as well as he is. DU is part of that solid base of support you build off. The same for the Communists in Russia, the Communists have a solid base of supporters, it can build off to win the Presidency if Putin Missteps, thus Putin has to be careful for the Communists are Relevant in Russia.

[Jesus Malverde]

19. Kabuki theatre on so many levels...nt

[still_one]

3. Sorry, CNBC debate moderates are the most powerful people

[Demeter]

5. Only if measured by the unpleasant smell factor.

[still_one]

6. Well, every republican candidate is afraid of them

[Demeter]

7. I am an engineer, not a psychiatrist

(with apologies to Dr. McCoy)

[still_one]

10. beam me up scottie, he is an engineer

[uhnope]

9. but not as powerful as Stalin or Hitler yet.

[Jesus Malverde]

20. Lol

Still here? What do you even mean?



Jesus

[uhnope]

26. you want a history lesson?

Are you aware of the Russian proxy government in occupied Ukraine putting up Stalin posters around town?

And are you not aware of the parallels to Putin's invasion of Ukraine for the purpose of "New Russia" and with the excuse of rescuring "ethnic Russians"?

Or do you just hate for someone to criticize your favorite homophobic dictatorship?

[bananas]

15. "Obama is the first sitting president to slide out of the top two rankings." nt

[BlueMTexpat]

16. A recent anecdote ...

which has only the most tangential of relationships, but .... My old TV pooped out - possibly of old age, possibly as a result of a recent electrical storm.

I am currently in Switzerland and purchased a new one that was delivered this week. As usual, the User Manual was multi-lingual. But instead of all EU languages (although Switzerland is not part of the EU, it often follows EU law for products), there were only four. The first were German, Italian and French - all national languages of Switzerland. But the fourth was Russian. !!!! No English, which is usually at least the fourth and the UK at least is part of the EU (for the moment anyway). Russia is not.

Even the technician was surprised.

[Nitram]

17. More like "World's Most Dangerous Person"

If invading small countries on your borders means your powerful...

[polly7]

18. Oooooh! .... gotta rec this!

'Cause I'm a Putinistia boot-licker according to so many here.

...... Actually, screw it, I'll rec it because I want to.

[Jesus Malverde]

21. DUZY..NT

[Purveyor]

25. Thank you Polly. It's all good... eom

[uhnope]

28. you should be ashamed

What do you say to the dead and injured gays in Russia who ran afoul of Russia's homophobic laws and neo-Nazi death squads?

Why do you think it's so funny to support Putin when he's so viciously against anything progressive? Are you a homophobe or something? Or do you really just support him because he's "anti-West"?

That's sick. Sorry, it really is sick to applaud such a dictator that is stomping on our gay/progressive/freedom-loving brothers and sisters. Correct me if I'm wrong -- otherwise you should be ashamed.

[polly7]

30. You should be ashamed for such a bullshit, pathetic post.

As to you lying accusations - I've stated a dozen times here how much I hate Russia's anti-gay laws.

Call a waaaaaambulance ...... I rec'd a thread. Now, go pretend you're relevant to the rest that did so.

[Javaman]

22. invading countries = power.

gotcha.

if that's the case george w. moron* was very powerful. a powerful failure, that is...

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

23. Where's China on the list?

Making new sovereign territory by pouring concrete onto coral, then claiming the 12-mile limit around the newly cured concrete? That's a new and interesting way of invading without invading, gaining territory by making "land".

Seems like power.

[GusFring]

27. When has Obama been outshined by Merkel? LOL. Nt

[treestar]

29. Based on what?

Influence over what?