If your name was Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, then you woke up yesterday to the news that you were the most powerful person in the world. At least according to the folks at Forbes magazine.
According to Forbes, Mr. Putin had to shove US President Barack Hussein Obama off the top spot. We would question that assumption as the clown of diplomacy, the laughingstock in the White House, the man who knows nothing about anything in his administration, just ask him, simply could not have been the most powerful person in the world last year. Impossible.
For sake of argument we don’t find Forbes that reliable on such judgments and frankly, when you look around the room at a G8 or G20 Summit, the obvious choice is the man who owns America’s soul (insert a name here for whoever happens to be the Chinese head of state at the time), for it will be that person who will someday come to collect on US debts. That would be a frightening thought if Americans had the ability to think. No worries, given their collective character he will catch them by surprise.
Chinese head of State Xi Jinping with Vladimir Putin.
One could argue that given Russia’s cautious friendship with China and with the Russian accomplishments on world diplomacy that it is understandable that Forbes named Mr. Putin. We live in a time of “highlight reel” reality. We celebrate the latest highlight reel, never considering what it took to get there, and instead we focus on whoever can send a thrill up our leg at the time (thank you Chris Matthews).
In this highlight reel world one can see how Mr. Putin and his almost too easy manipulation of the “red line” drawn by the clown of the Potomac might lead some to believe the Russian President to perhaps deserve such a title. But the Syria game isn’t over and neither is Iran so unless the Forbes editors wish to careen down the same reckless path as the now worthless Nobel Committee, naming someone before they’re accomplished something really is a thing to be avoided.
Mr. Putin is powerful to be certain, but no, Vladimir Putin is not the most powerful man in the world. He is a lot smarter than the pathetic pretender Forbes had chosen last year, but if Forbes can’t get this right, then maybe we at the Mendeleyev Journal will be forced to take over naming who is qualified for such designations.
