Forbes magazine has presented its newest list of the most powerful people in the world 2010 and it is quite interesting that the Chinese president Hu Jintao (67) wins over 2009 winner Barak Obama (49). The decision was being made as Hu Jintao is the “paramount political leader of more people than anyone else on the planet” (Hu leads over 1.3 billion people) and due to the fact that “Hu can divert rivers, build cities, jail dissidents and censor internet without meddling from pesky bureaucrats, courts.”. Obama, after the setback of his mid-term elections of Tuesday, was ousted from the #1 spot with the explanation that “[…] after enacting widespread reforms in his first two years in office will be hard-pressed to implement his agenda in the next two.”
Who is Hu Jintao?
Hu Jintao, born in 1942, was the son of a tea merchant, his mother died when he was at the age of seven. Hu is nowadays the president of the People’s Republic of China and also chairman of the military commission of the Chinese army. Hu Jintao is establishing good relations with Europe, amongst others such as Nicolas Sarkozy (President of France, who ranks at #19 in the Forbes list) that he is going to visit in the upcoming days to sign agreements in different areas, such as aviation, environment and nuclear energy.
The new Forbes list anticipates the new trend of the growing importance of China as an economic power, whose economy is not struggling with an economic crisis, such as the American economy or many European economies, but is steadily growing on and on.
The most powerful person that is not a president of a specific country is the German Pope Benedict XVI, who ranks on #5 followed by Ben Bernanke (ranks #8, chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank) and Bill Gates (ranked on #10).
The most powerful women are Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany, who ranks on spot #6 and Sonia Gandhi, President of the Indian National Congress on #9. Merkel and Gandhi are the only women on the top 10 of the Most Powerful People in 2010.
Here is the top 10:
- Hu Jintao, President of China
- Barack Obama, President USA
- Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, King of Saudi Arabia
- Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of Russia
- Pope Benedict, Roman Catholic Church
- Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany
- David Cameron, Prime Minister U.K.
- Ben Bernanke, Chairman Federal Reserve
- Sonia Gandhi, President Indian National Congress
- Bill Gates, Co-Chair of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Photo: Public Domain
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