German chancellor Angela Merkel is the most powerful woman in the world in 2012, according to Forbes magazine.
It’s a bit whimsical, but that’s probably the right call, considering that no one person has more power, probably, to determine whether the eurozone sticks together or falls apart.
Also on the list are several women of important to world politics:
- U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton (#2),
- Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff (#3),
- Indian National Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi (#6),
- International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde (#8),
- Argentine president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (#16),
- Burmese National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi (#19),
- Australian prime minister Julia Gillard (#27),
- Malawi president Joyce Banda (#71),
- Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (#80),
- Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (#81), and
- UAE minister of foreign trade Shiekha Lubna Al Qasimi (#92)
Predictions, questions and thoughts:
- Where is Danish prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt? Robbed!
- And where is Icelandic prime minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, the world’s first openly lesbian head of government? Also robbed!
- Josefina never had a chance.
- Too soon for Pussy Riot, I suppose.
- Might Parti québécois leader Pauline Marois make it on next year’s list if she wins the Sept. 4 election in Québec and schedules a referendum on Québec’s independence?
- Next year, Park Geun-hye could well be South Korea’s new president, which would make her automatically top 20, I presume.
- Also next year, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Hannelore Kraft become Merkel’s chief opposition.
- If Silvio Berlusconi makes a comeback in Italy, why not his favorite MP Michaela Biancofiore and the rest of Silvio’s angels?