Forbes has ranked a list of political, religious and business leaders in order of their, uh, power, and guess what? Barack Obama, commander in chief of the largest military force in the history of the world, is only in second place.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, “The Man Without a Face,” is, in Forbes’ estimation, the most powerful person on Earth. He won the “chess match over Syria and NSA leaks” and he’s a tiger wrestler. Also he’s managed to crush the civil rights of feminist punk rockers and gay people with convincing ferocity.

Obama came in second, followed by Chinese President Xi Jinping. Pope Francis in fourth place breaks up the political crowd.

Two titans of industry fill in the sixth and 10th spots, Bill Gates of Microsoft and the Gates Foundation and Michael Duke, CEO of Walmart.

Weirdly enough, two financial regulators made the top 10. Forbes ranked U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke the seventh most powerful person in the world and named the closest thing to his European counterpart, Mario Draghi, No. 9.

The only woman in the top 10 is German Chancellor Angela Merkel, at No. 5.

— Posted by Peter Z. Scheer

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In this Article:
#angela merkel#barack obama#catholic church#catholicism#china#forbes#germany#military#pope francis#religion#russia#united states#vladimir putin