This year alone, Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula, many argue it's funded and supported the

separatists in the conflict in Ukraine and it struck a deal with China to build a massive gas pipeline.
As Putin's Forbes profile page notes, "Russia looks more and more like an energy-rich, nuclear-tipped
rogue state with an undisputed, unpredictable and unaccountable head unconstrained by world opinion in
pursuit of its goals."
The rest of the top five past Putin and Obama rounds out with #3 Chinese President Xi Jinping, #4 Pope
Francis and #5 German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
This year alone, Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula, many argue it's funded and supported the
separatists in the conflict in Ukraine and it struck a deal with China to build a massive gas pipeline.
As Putin's Forbes profile page notes, "Russia looks more and more like an energy-rich, nuclear-tipped
rogue state with an undisputed, unpredictable and unaccountable head unconstrained by world opinion in
pursuit of its goals."
The rest of the top five past Putin and Obama rounds out with #3 Chinese President Xi Jinping, #4 Pope
Francis and #5 German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Forbes published its list of the 72 most powerful people in the world, complete with GIF of the list's #2
President Obama awkwardly looking over at #1 Russian President Vladimir Putin.
It's the second straight year Putin took down the Forbes most powerful title.
Peter Lavelle, RT host asked, "Regularly demonized in the West, he scores high marks among the
Russians and other people around the world. What is it about Putin that generates so much interest?"
Granted, that's state-run network RT, but "Putin Phenomenon" isn't much of a stretch.
The man has developed something of a cult status over the years, and it's remarkable that status
currently has little to do with being the leader of a country that hosted the Olympics only 10 months ago ...
or getting his head put on Hercules paintings.
This year alone, Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula, many argue it's funded and supported the
separatists in the conflict in Ukraine and it struck a deal with China to build a massive gas pipeline.
As Putin's Forbes profile page notes, "Russia looks more and more like an energy-rich, nuclear-tipped
rogue state with an undisputed, unpredictable and unaccountable head unconstrained by world opinion in
pursuit of its goals."
The rest of the top five past Putin and Obama rounds out with #3 Chinese President Xi Jinping, #4 Pope
Francis and #5 German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Fed chair Janet Yellen followed Merkel marking the first time since Forbes started the list in 2009 that two
women made its Top 10.
CBS This Morning's anchor's couldn't help notice a man much further down Forbes' list, the Sunni militant
leader who's caused widespread devastation and massacres in northern Iraq and Syria: "ISIS leader Abu
Bakr al-Baghdadi is perhaps the most notable of the 12 newcomers on the list. He ranks at #54."
Forbes says it bases its rankings on financial resources, the person's scope of power, how they use that
power and the number of people they can impact with their decisions.
Check out the Top 25:
1. Vladimir Putin

2. Barack Obama
3. Xi Jinping
4. Pope Francis
5. Angela Merkel
6. Janet Yellen
7. Bill Gates
8. Mario Draghi
9. Sergey Brin and Larry Page
10. David Cameron
11. Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud
12. Warren Buffett
13. Li Keqiang
14. Carlos Slim & family
15. Narendra Modi
16. Jeff Bezos
17. Francois Hollande
18. Jamie Dimon
19. Ali Hoseini-Khamenei
20. Rex Tillerson
21. Jeffrey Immelt
22. Mark Zuckerberg
23. Michael Bloomberg
24. Charles Koch and David Koch
25. Timothy Cook
For the full list, visit Forbes.com.
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Representative Paul D. Ryan and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch joined Wisconsin Gov.
Scott Walker for a tour of a steel plant in West Salem that was making the beams for the

roof of the new Vikings stadium in Minnesota.Credit Peter Thomson/La Crosse Tribune,
via Associated Press
Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, locked in a tight race for reelection, may have just scored a few points with voters by
ratcheting up the rivalry between his states Green Bay
Packers and their arch rivals, the Minnesota Vikings.
After spotting a fan in a Packers shirt at an event in
Schofield, Wisc., on Friday, Mr. Walker took a break from
his standard stump speech to tell a story.
Mr. Walker said he was touring a steel plant in West Salem
with Lieutenant Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and Representative
Paul D. Ryan. Turns out, the plant was making the beams for
the roof of the new Vikings stadium in Minneapolis.
Its being made by cheeseheads, how do ya like that? Mr.
Walker quipped, referring to the common cheese-wedge
headgear of Packer fans.
So me and Rebecca, we went up on that top beam and we
wrote Go Packers on it, Mr. Walker said, to a chorus of
laughter and brief applause.
And while the governor may have done it all in good fun
he says he teases former Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota
regularly about the Vikings lack of championships sports
teams dont always take kindly to defacing a new stadium
with a rivals imprint.
The New York Yankees, for example, used a jackhammer to
extract a David Ortiz jersey that a Red Sox fan had
buried under two feet of concrete at the site of the new
Yankee Stadium. Or the overheated reaction in Dallas to the
Giants quarterback Eli Mannings signature on the Cowboys
locker-room wall after the Giants won the first game played
in the new $1.2 billion stadium.
The Vikings stadium isnt set to open until July 2016, so the
Vikings still have time to find the graffiti and make sure it
doesnt get into the roofing, if they so choose.
But Mr. Walker didnt stop at the beam boasting, getting in
one more shot at the stadium, joking that they saved $1
million dollars because they decided they didnt need a
trophy room.