Small talk is going to be hella awkward at next week’s G20 Summit in Brisbane, and not just because Tony Abbott doesn’t want to chat about the single greatest challenge facing our species, nor because of the ESL factor, or because everyone inevitably dreads having to don a parody of Australia’s non-existent national dress to pose for a group photo at some point either.
No, conversation over watered down mocktails served in exchange for drink tickets and in accordance with RSA regulations is going to be tense A.F. because everyone else in attendance, and even some who are not, know that they’re unequivocally more powerful – and thus sexier, cooler and by extension more fun – than host delegate Tony Abbott.
That’s according to arbiters of power Forbes Magazine, who overnight published a fun, interesting listicle, the working title of which was probably ‘Which powerful world leader are you?’ The international player power ranking determined that, for the second year in a row, Russian President Vladimir Putin is more powerful than U.S. President Barack Obama, who is more powerful than China’s Xi Jinping, all of whom are more powerful than the 69 other candidates who appear on the list – one for every 100 million people on the planet.
The list comes with a neat disclaimer too. Writes Forbes:
“This is not a lineup of the most influential or an anointing of the new establishment. It is an evaluation of hard power. We insist the people on our list wield the kind of power that shapes and bends the world, and moves people, markets, armies and minds.”
So who then does just that? Seventeen heads of state, that’s who, alongside 39 CEOs and 29 billionaires. All your powerful list mainstays are there: Cool Pope Francis, Angela Merkel, Bill Gates, David Cameron and the co-founders of Google all cracked the Top 10.
Higher up, mining magnate Gina Rinehart entered at #66 as one of nine women on the list. Close by at #32, Rupert Murdoch, his dynasty and media empire enter the list as the closet possible thing to a proxy for Abbott.
In a shocking oversight, Beyoncé did not make this year’s cut.
Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
