World Leader Power Rankings: Year in Review

 Below are the power rankings for world leaders for the overall year. Some explanation of the chart is probably necessary. In this the third year of the World Leader Power Rankings, there were five top ten lists. 24 world leaders from 24 countries made the list at some point this year. Coronavirus changed the landscape somewhat paving the way for new faces

The "Score" is based on the leaders' ranking on those lists- 10 points for a 1st place finish on a list and so on, then the total score divided by 9. "On List" is the number of times a leader made the top ten list. "High" is the leader's highest rank on any one list and "low" is the lowest rank. Leaders who didn't make the list at least once will have a dash by Low.

Rank	Leader	Country	Score	On List	High	Low
1	Xi Jiangping	China	9	5	1	3
2	Jacinda Ardern	New Zealand	9	5	1	6
3	Lee Hsien Loong	Singapore	5.8	4	2	-
4	Katrin Jakobsdottir	Iceland	5	4	3	-
5	Moon Jae-in	South Korea	5	4	3	-
6	Nguyen Phu Trong	Vietnam	3.8	4	4	-
7	Angela Merkel	Germany	3	2	2	-
8	Vladimir Putin	Russia	2.4	2	4	-
9	Tsai Ing-wen	Taiwan	2.4	2	4	-
10	Kim Jong-un	North Korea	1.6	2	5	-
11	Shinzo Abe	Japan	1.4	3	7	-
12	Mette Frederiksen	Denmark	1	1	6	-
13	Abiy Ahmed	Ethiopia	0.8	1	7	-
14	Tamim bin Hamad al Thani	Qatar	0.8	1	7	-
15	Paul Kagame	Rwanda	0.6	1	8	-
16	Silveria Jacobs	St. Maarten	0.6	1	8	-
17	Haitham bin Tariq	Oman	0.6	1	8	-
18	Khaltmaagiin Battulga	Mongolia	0.6	1	8	-
19	Boris Johnson	United Kingdom	0.4	1	9	-
20	Hun Sen	Cambodia	0.4	1	9	-
21	Narendra Modi	India	0.2	1	10	-
22	Giorgi Gakharim	Georgia	0.2	1	10	-
23	Ilham Aliyev	Armenia	0.2	1	10	-
24	Prayut Chan-o-cha	Thailand	0.2	3	10	-

1. Xi fell back to the pack this year, finishing in a tie with Ardern of New Zealand. Xi bungled the initial response to the virus, stonewalling the U.S. and unleashing the virus on the world. But China eventually and apparently handled the virus well.

2. Ardern was a star in handling the virus yet maintaining a free democracy.

3. Singapore has also done well with the virus although with less of that free and democratic stuff.

4. Iceland is a small geographically isolated country, but Katrin did well with the virus from early on.

5. South Korea has many more people than Iceland, but has done well compared to other high population countries. They have done it by efficient testing and mask wearing.

6. Vietnam joins some other Asian countries on the list in preventing more deaths from the virus.

7. Merkel looked like she had Germany going in the right direction at one point, but that changed during the winter.

8. The virus didn't take over Russia until a little later than other countries, so Putin made the list earlier in the pandemic, but he has been thoroughly off the list since.

9. I made Taiwan eligible for the last two lists and Tsai made both of them. Taiwan has been a model of how to tackle the virus.

10. Kim Jong-un claims the virus hasn't come to North Korea, but who knows. The virus made Kim mostly irrelevant this year. It absolutely crippled his old lover, U.S. President Donald Trump, who didn't make the list even once because of the way he bungled the virus.

11. Japan had some success in spots with the virus. Abe retired this year.

12. Fredericksen's Denmark also had a brief moment of success with the virus, but Europe has not done well on the whole..

13. Abiy Ahmed was looking good when the year started . He looked like he would change Ethiopia for the better and he won the Nobel Peace Prize. But the situation in Ethiopia has become much more violent of late.

14. Middle East countries such as Qatar have handled the virus better than the Americans have.

15. The virus was slow to spread in Africa, so it looked like Kagame had saved Rwanda until it didn't.

16. Jacobs was an early star as St. Maarten wasn't hit hard right away.

17. Haitham of Oman was another Middle Eastern ruler who did relatively better with the virus for a moment.

18. On the doorstep of China, Mongolia had managed to slow the spread of the virus until things changed lately.

19. In a disastrous year for Britain, they at least rolled out a vaccine just before a new strain hit. Other normal world powers have also handled hte virus very poorly and didn't even make the list this year.

20. Despite Hun Sen's autocratic ways, Cambodia is another Asian country that seems to be doing better with the virus.

21. The virus hit India a little later, but once it did, it ravaged Modi's country.

22. Georgia is another country in which things looked like they were better for a brief moment.

23. Armenia had a pretty terrible year, but- though they lost the war with Azerbaijan- they're winning the coronavirus battle.

24. Thailand is another Asian country that seems to be doing better with coronavirus than most.

World Leader Power Rankings

  Here's the new power rankings of world leaders. The last one was posted on December 10.

Rank	Leader	Country	Previous Rank
1	Jacinda Ardern	New Zealand	1
2	Xi Jianping	China	2
3	Katrin Jakobsdottir	Iceland	3
4	Tsai Ing-wen	Taiwan	6
5	Lee Hsien Loong	Singapore	5
6	Nguyen Phu Trong	Vietnam	4
7	Moon Jae-in	South Korea	Not Ranked
8	Khaltmaagiin Battulga	Mongolia	Not Ranked
9	Hun Sen	Cambodia	Not Ranked
10	Prayut Chan-o-cha	Thailand	Not Ranked

1. While New Zealand has had a tiny spike in covid cases recently, Ardern is still the epitome of how to handle a crisis whether its covid or gad violence.

2. Despite handling the virus badly in the initial stages and the horrible treatment of Uyghurs and Tibetans, Xi's China is the only superpower not getting crushed by covid right now.

3. Iceland continues to do well under Jakobsdottir. No other European country comes close.

4. Tsai and Taiwan continue to be the gold standard in dealing with the virus. And this despite its proximity to China.

5. Singapore might be an autocratic system, but even as a major travel hub, they've controlled the virus.

6. Nguyen's Vietnam has also done very well throughout.

7. South Korea under Moon's leadership has done relatively well. They haven't had to resort to lockdowns.

8. Mongolia is actually experiencing their first spike now, but think about that. On the doorstep of China, they haven't had any issue with the virus until now. Battulga deserves some credit.

9. Hun Sen runs an authoritarian system, but right now the virus is most important and Cambodia has done well.

10. Thailand is another country that isn't the freest, but they're handling the virus better than most.

World Leaders Power Ranking

 Here's the new power rankings of world leaders. The last one was posted on June 23.

Rank	Leader	Country	Previous Rank
1	Jacinda Ardern	New Zealand	1
2	Xi Jianping	China	3
3	Katrin Jakobsdottir	Iceland	5
4	Nguyen Phu Trong	Vietnam	7
5	Lee Hsien Loong	Singapore	Not Ranked
6	Tsai Ing-wen	Taiwan	Not Ranked
7	Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani	Qatar	Not Ranked
8	Haitham bin Tariq	Oman	Not Ranked
9	Boris Johnson	United Kingdom	Not Ranked
10	Ilham Aliyev	Armenia	Not Ranked

1. New Zealand, led by Ardern continues to be the class in dealing with the coronavirus among other issues.

2. Xi's horrible handling of the virus has put virtually the entire world in this mess, but the Chinese seem to have gotten a handle on it within their country, which is not something other powers can say.

3. Iceland, a hot tourist attraction, has also done a phenomenal job combatting the virus throughout.

4. Vietnam is another country that continues to do well against the virus.

5. Singpaore got credit at the outset, suffered some setbacks, but has has corrected course.

6. In a reversal of previous policy, Taiwan will be included on this list if for no other reason than to rankle and roil China. Taiwan had done better fighting the virus than has China.

7. Qatar has done a better job fighting the virus than some regional rivals such as UAE.

8. Haitham bin Tariq took over in January, so his time as emir has been consumed by coronavirus and Oman has done better than most.

9. The UK has not done a good job thus far, but they seem to be first to distribute a vaccine, so that counts for something.

10. Aliyev seems like a curious choice, because his country hasn't fought the virus or Azerbaijan very well. Despite losing the battle to Azerbaijan, though, Armenia is winning the covid war. Azerbaijan has seen a huge spike in cases since the war while daily cases are declining in Armenia. A silver lining for Armenia.

World Leader Power Rankings

Here's the new power rankings of world leaders. The last one was posted on April 25.

Rank	Leader	Country	Previous Rank
1	Jacida Ardern	New Zealand	1
2	Angela Merkel	Germany	5
3	Xi Jianping	China	2
4	Moon Jae-in	South Korea	4
5	Katrin Jakobsdottir	Iceland	8
6	Mette Frederiksen	Denmark	Not Ranked
7	Nguyen Phu Trong	Vietnam	9
8	Silveria Jacobs	St. Maarten	Not Ranked
9	Kim Jung-un	North Korea	Not Ranked
10	Shinzo Abe	Japan	7

1. Coronavirus continues to be the dominant issue int he world and Ardern has handled it best. She hasn't needed to be autocratic to do it either.

2. Merkel has risen from the political dead and handled the virus well thanks to her scientific background and her constant communication with her citizens.

3. Xi's fortunes have gone down after lying to the world about coronavirus and because of those concentration camps int he west aimed at Uyghurs.

4. South Korea continues to do well with battling coronavirus although tensions with North Korea are increasing.

5. Iceland has succeeded in the fight against coronavirus. Katrin doesn't get more credit because she runs an island nation with a small population.

6. Frederiksen has been another effective leader in containing coronavirus.

7. Vietnam is a surprising and resounding success in the fight against coronavirus and is a socialist state.

8. Silveria Jacobs has been given credit for keeping the virus from infecting her population too rapidly.

9. Kim has defeated coronavirus, allowing zero reported cases in North Korea. All hail Dear Leader! The crucial word is "reported." When your system of government is "cult of personality" it's easy to just lie. Tension with the South have increased. But Kim is alive, so he's back in the top ten.

10. Japan continues to fight effectively against the virus. Postponing the Olympics was a good decision.

World Leader Power Rankings

Here's the new power rankings of world leaders. The last one was posted on March 22.

Rank	Leader	Country	Previous Rank
1	Jacida Ardern	New Zealand	6
2	Xi Jingping	China	1
3	Lee Hsien Loong	Singapore	2
4	Moon Jae-in	South Korea	3
5	Angela Merkel	Germany	Not Ranked
6	Vladimir Putin	Russia	4
7	Shinzo Abe	Japan	9
8	Katrin Jakobsdottir	Iceland	Not Ranked
9	Nguyen Phu Trong	Vietnam	Not Ranked
10	Giorgi Gakharim	Georgia	Not Ranked

1. As coronavirs-19 continues to stay in the forefront of everything, Ardern has again succeeded. All the more impressive is that her country is doing so well as a democracy. She nipped it int he bud and didn't need to use the heavy-handed tactics of Xi in China.

2. For the first time since this list began, Xi has slipped out of the top spot. It seemed like only a new American president would be able to accomplish the feat, but Xi's covering up of the severity of the virus has been devastating to the world. It's hard to justify keeping him number one. Plus his buddy Kim Jong-un seems to be on death's door.

3. Lee has needed the tactics of an autocrat to battle the virus, but by most accounts, the country is fighting it effectively.

4. South Korea has been at the forefront of testing for the virus. Moon's country even sold the U.S. state of Maryland tests when the American federal government turned the state away.

5. Merkel has come a long way back up this list. Her scientific background and honest statements about what she knows and doesn't know has given her rave reviews.

6. While Putin has tried to extend his rule for life, the coronavirus may have other plans. Putin can control the media, but not the virus.

7. Abe hasn't been perfect and Japanese society tends to be disciplined and good at disasters, but the country has to be dealing with the virus well.

8. Iceland doesn't have too many people, but they're taken an active role in trying to help understand the virus. Katrin's country has also done well to staunch the spread of the virus.

9. Trong's Vietnam has also done well to combat the virus. Restrictions were eased without a single virus-related death.

10. Even the country of Georgeia has done better than some so-called developed nations.

World Leader Power Rankings

Here's the new power rankings of world leaders. The last one was posted on December 20.

Rank	Leader	Country	Previous Rank
1	Xi Jiangping	China	1
2	Lee Hsien Loong	Singapore	Not Ranked
3	Moon Jae-in	South Korea	Not Ranked
4	Vladimir Putin	Russia	2
5	Kim Jong-un	North Korea	4
6	Jacinda Ardern	New Zealand	5
7	Abiy Ahmed	Ethiopia	6
8	Paul Kagame	Rwanda	Not Ranked
9	Shinzo Abe	Japan	Not Ranked
10	Narendra Modi	India	Not Ranked

1. Coronavirus-2019 has been declared a global pandemic and has preoccupied much fo the world's attention. Xi was slipping due to his treatment of the Uyghurs and for his failure to nip this virus int he bud, but his draconian lockdown has helped stop the spread of the virus in China, which is a very good thing.

2. Lee has order a two-week quarantine of Singapore. It helps to be able to make orders and lead a rich country during a crisis.

3. Moon;'s South Korea has taken an innovative approach to testing for the coronavirus, which has helped the country.

4. Putin is another autocrat who has taken swift action to try to stop the spread of the virus.

5. U.S. President Donald Trump has bungled his response to the coronovirus so badly, he's asking Kim for help.

6. Just as she's done with pretty much everything else, Ardern has done well thus far handling the virus.

7. Ahmed, who wont he Nobel Peace Prize despite some rising unpopularity at home, has led the effort to distribute coronavirus material gifted to the continent by Jack Ma.

8. Kagame has taken the virus seriously and encouraged handwashing. he also has shutdown some key areas to help stop the spread of the virus.

9. Abe oversees a country that is also doing their part to try to slow the spread of the virus.

10. Amazingly, India has yet to be overrun by the disease. If it happens, it will be disastrous.

World Leader Power Rankings: Year in Review

Below are the power rankings for world leaders for the overall year. Some explanation of the chart is probably necessary. In this the second year of the World Leader Power Rankings, there were nine top ten lists. 31 world leaders from 30 countries made the list at some point this year. Xi Jianping swept the top spot again.

The "Score" is based on the leaders' ranking on those lists- 10 points for a 1st place finish on a list and so on, then the total score divided by 9. "on List" is the number of times a leader made the top ten list. "High" is the leader's highest rank on any one list and "low" is the lowest rank. Leaders who didn't make the list at least once will have a dash by Low.

Rank	Leader	Country	Score	On List	High	Low
1	Xi Jiangping	China	10	9	1	1
2	Vladimir Putin	Russia	8.4	9	2	3
3	Kim Jong-un	North Korea	7.7	9	2	7
4	Jacinda Ardern	New Zealand	6.3	9	3	8
5	Abiy Ahmed	Ethiopia	5	9	5	8
6	Recep Erdogan	Turkey	2.6	3	4	-
7	Volodymyr Zelensky	Ukraine	1.9	4	5	-
8	Ali Khamenei	Iran	1.6	3	4	-
9	Emmanuel Macron	France	1.1	2	4	-
10	Boris Johnson	United Kingdom	0.9	1	3	-
11	Narendra Modi	India	0.8	2	6	-
12	Lars Løkke Rasmussen	Denmark	0.8	2	7	-
13	Shinzo Abe	Japan	0.7	3	8	-
14	Nana Akufo-Addo	Ghana	0.7	2	7	-
15	Leo Varadkar	Ireland	0.7	1	5	-
16	Benjamin Netanyahu	Israel	0.7	1	5	-
17	Justin Trudeau	Canada	0.6	2	7	-
18	Mokgweetsi Masisi	Botswana	0.6	2	8	-
19	Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador	Mexico	0.6	2	8	-
20	Ivan Duque Marquez	Colombia	0.6	1	6	-
21	Sauli Niinisto	Finland	0.4	1	7	-
22	Abdel al-Burhan	Sudan	0.4	1	7	-
23	Carlos Alvarado	Costa Rica	0.4	1	7	-
24	Donald Trump	United States	0.3	3	10	-
25	Lenin Moreno	Ecuador	0.3	1	8	-
26	Nayib Bukele	El Salvador	0.3	1	8	-
27	King Mohammad VI	Morocco	0.2	1	9	-
28	Theresa May	United Kingdom	0.2	1	9	-
29	Peter Pelligrini	Slovakia	0.1	1	10	-
30	Sultan Qaboos	Oman	0.1	1	10	-
31	Joao Lourenco	Angola	0.1	1	10	-

1. Xi dominated this year with the fading of the U.S. and the EU. But Xi's terrible treatment of the Uyghurs has brought China back to the back a bit.

2. Putin's man in the White House has been impeached and now there is heightened focus on Russia's actions in Ukraine. Yet, Putin's war in Ukraine even allowed Trump to try to bully Zelensky.

3. Kim started the year as a boogeyman who outwitted Trump. But he was quieter by the end of the year.

4. Ardern had a big year as a champion for liberal values and gun reform.

5. Ahmed won the Nobel Peace Prize attempting to reform his country.

6. Erdogan had an up-and-down year. He got back to the spotlight when the U.S. pulled out of Syrian and left the Kurds to fend for themselves.

7. Zelensky won the Ukraine presidency and then vaulted into the world spotlight and was indirectly responsible for the impeachment of a U.S. president.

8. Khamenei had brief pockets of notoriety on the world scene, but the Iranian economy isn't doing so well.

9. Macron had some moments of sticking up for liberal values this year.

10. Boris Johnson rallied at the end of the year with an unlikely landslide victory and a chance to get Brexit done.

11. Modi would be higher on the list if his administration wasn't so anti-Muslim.

12. Rasmussen made the list thanks to the good governance and freedom indexes his country enjoys.

13. Abe did well to make a trade deal witht eh EU since the U.S. seems to be anti-free trade. But Kim made him look like a bit of a fool.

14. Nana made the list because his country is relatively free and encourages female entrepreneurship.

15. Varadkar stuck it to U.S. Vice President Mike Pence during a meeting.

16. Netanyahu looked poised to form a government in the spring. Whoops. He didn't have a good year otherwise.

17. Trudeau got bad press for his scandal and his black face, but he won an election bigly regardless.

18. Masisi feuded with his predecessor, who happens to be the son of the Father of Botswana, an indication of the health of his country's democracy.

19. AMLO assumed the presidency of Mexico and had a promising, if not transformative year.

20. Marquez briefly helped the Venezuelan crisis.

21. Niinisto oversaw the happiest country in the world. The people in Finland didn't agree with the designation, but then, they don't realize how miserable the rest of us are.

22. Burhan isn't Omar al-Bashir, which was good enough to make the list.

23.Alvarado rules the most prosperous country in Central America.

24. Trump did not have a good year and managed to weaken the U.S. greatly on the world stage. Then he got impeached.

25. Moreno made the list when he booted out Julian Assange out of his embassy in London and then insulted him.

26. Bukele had a good interview on 60 Minutes. Who am I going to pick instead, that murderer Rodrigo Duterte?

27. The King met Harry and Meghan. That murderer Duterte didn't meet them.

28. Theresa May kept getting extensions on Brexit, but eventually not on her position as Prime Minister.

29. Pelligrini's government paid rent in Trump's buildings which means Pelligrini had sway over the impeached president.

30. Sultan Qaboos decreased corruption. Of course, he was the reason it was so high to begin with.

31. Lourenco could be worse. He could be that murderer Duterte.

World Leaders Power Rankings

Here's the new power rankings of world leaders. The last one was posted on December 4.

Rank	Leader	Country	Previous Rank
1	Xi Jiangping	China	1
2	Vladimir Putin	Russia	2
3	Boris Johnson	United Kingdom	Not Ranked
4	Kim Jong-un	North Korea	3
5	Jacinda Ardern	Ukraine	6
6	Abiy Ahmed	Ethiopia	7
7	Nana Akufo-Addo	Ghana	Not Ranked
8	Nayib Bukele	El Salvador	Not Ranked
9	Volodymyr Zelensky	Mexico	5
10	Donald Trump	United States	Not Ranked

1. Xi worked to pass a trade deal with the U.S., but the situation with the Uighurs is deplorable. Xi was in danger of falling for the first time since he took over the top spot when American leadership flew out the door, things aren't going well for the other top contenders either.

2. Putin's man in DC has been impeached and there's an increased spotlight on Putin's war in Ukraine, so those aren't great developments for the autocrat.

3. Johnson did have a big week. His party won a big majority in the recent snap election and his Brexit plan looks to be going forward. This is an unexpectedly high moment for Johnson. We'll check back after Brexit has had time to affect the British economy.

4. Kim has been quiet recently, but he maintains his lofty position because he played U.S. president Donald Trump like a teenage boy plays with his...

5. Ardern hasn't made news in the last couple of weeks, but she had a good year standing up to racists and reforming her government.

6/. Ahmed won a Nobel Peace Prize and continues to risk his life to reform Ethiopia.

7. Nana runs a country that is one of the best in the world for female entrepreneurship, a word that I had to try to spell three times before Google could guess what I meant.

8. Bukele had a nice profile on 60 Minutes. He came across as competent and self-aware, which is not always true of presidents on the show.

9. Zelensky may inadvertently take down a U.S.-president, which gives him some inadvertent clout on the world stage. Not bad for a comedian.

10. Trump hasn't made the list in a while, because, well, things have not gone well this year for him. His foreign policy is in tatters, the Mueller Report was damning (although too few people read it for it to register as it should have), then he bullied Ukraine into trying to get dirt on a potential political opponent and got caught. And now he has been impeached. However, Trump's stock increased int he last day because of his team's proposed strategy to deal with Trump's impeachment. They are going to claim that Trump hasn't been impeached. So far, the strategy of making up they're own reality has worked pretty well, so why not try it one last time?

World Leaders Power Rankings

Here's the new power rankings of world leaders. The last one was posted on November 19.

Rank	Leader	Country	Previous Rank
1	Xi Jiangping	China	1
2	Vladimir Putin	Russia	2
3	Kim Jong-un	North Korea	6
4	Recep Tayyip Erdogan	Turkey	4
5	Volodymyr Zelensky	Ukraine	Not Ranked
6	Jacinda Ardern	New Zealand	3
7	Abiy Ahmed	Ethiopia	5
8	Emmanuel Macron	France	Not Ranked
9	Andrés Manuel López Obrador	Mexico	Not Ranked
10	Justin Trudeau	Canada	7

1. Xi is falling closer to Putin for two reasons. The horrible actions against the Uighurs is a terrible stain on Xi's legacy. And Putin is rising.

2. U.S. president Trump is able to try to extort Zelensky because of Putin's continuing war in Ukraine. Putin's preferred U.S. president is in hot water with impeachment and a contentious election coming up, but otherwise things are going well for the Russian autocrat. Russia amazingly still has Crimea.

3. Kim has threatened the U.S. with an unpleasant Christmas surprise if they don't bend to his demands. And he's threatening Japan with another test launch. He's back baby!

4. With Trump absconding from Syria, Erdogan is the man in the Middle East.

5. As the latest global scandal unfolds, it's clear that Zelensky was bullied, but that now puts him in a position of power. He can exonerate Trump or not. He recently said he trusts no one- a very good answer.

6. Ardern continues to make the list ont he power of her strong year, but she's fallen out of the news cycle.

7. The Nobel Peace Prize winner is continuing his reforms in Ethiopia. He has a long way to go.

8. Macron took Trump right where to stick it with his ISIS comments and exposes Trump's lack of leadership on the world stage.

9. AMLO had a good first year. He's viewed as a man of the people although he hasn't been able to curb the violence in Mexico.

10. Justin Trudeau was heard mocking Trump at NATO. Trump fired back, but only one of them won reelection this year. The other is facing an impeachment inquiry.

World Leader Power Rankings

Here's the new power rankings of world leaders. The last one was posted on November 6.

Rank	Leader	Country	Previous Rank
1	Xi Jiangping	China	1
2	Vladimir Putin	Russia	2
3	Jacinda Ardern	New Zealand	3
4	Recep Tayyip Erdogan	Turkey	9
5	Abiy Ahmed	Ethiopia	5
6	Kim Jong-un	North Korea	7
7	Justin Trudeau	Canada	Not Ranked
8	Mokgweetsi Masisi	Botswana	Not Ranked
9	Nana Akufo-Addo	Ghana	Not Ranked
10	Joao Lourenco	Angola	Not Ranked

1. China's main problem has been the trade war with the U.S., which has hurt the U.S> much harder. But tensions seem to have eased a bit, helping Xi, the president for life, a bit more comfortable.

2. The person who stood to gain the most from U.S. President Donald Trump's intimidation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is Putin. Now if Trump is kicked out of office, that won't be so great for the Russian autocrat. It's better to have a Russian puppet/asset in the White House if you ask Putin.

3. Ardern wowed on Colbert after showing what good governance is.

4. The U.S.'s confused policy in Syria has helped Erdogan take a bit more control in the region, especially against the Turks' old enemy, the Kurds.

5. Ahmed, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, continues to try to reform Ethiopia despite assassination attempts, the entrenched establishment, and a far distance to go for Ethiopia to be considered free.

6. With Trump becoming less relevant, Kim doesn't have his dance partner. He hasn't made much big news on the world scene lately. But he's just one nuclear threat away from "shooting" up the top ten list.

7. Trudeau won another election recently despite the discovery that he dressed up as the cast of Birth of a Nation. No truth to the rumor he gave his latest inauguration in hammer pants and a face-full of a mascara.

8. Masisi leads a free prosperous nation in Sub-Saharan Africa. He even been a critique his predecessor, who happens to be the son of the Father of the Nation.

9.  Akufo-Addo beat the incumbent in 2017 and also leads a free African country. He certainly has received criticism for undermining the Constitution, but it's nothing like ripping it up and installing himself as president for life.

10. Joao Lourenco is the autocratic leader of Angola, but he's less autocratic than his extremely autocratic predecessor, which is a step int he right direction.

World Leader Power Rankings.

Here's the new power rankings of world leaders. The last one was posted on July 8.

Rank	Leader	Country	Previous Rank
1	Xi Jiangping	China	1
2	Vladimir Putin	Russia	3
3	Jacinda Ardern	New Zealand	5
4	Emmanuel Macron	France	Not Ranked
5	Abiy Ahmed	Ethiopia	6
6	Volodymyr Zelensky	Ukraine	8
7	Kim Jong-un	North Korea	2
8	Shinzo Abe	Japan	10
9	Recep Tayyip Erdogan	Turkey	Not Ranked
10	Ali Khamenei	Iran	4

1. Xi and China seem to be winning the trade war against the U.S. China is winning the race to 5G and will take over the lead in AI. China continues to slide into the empty spaces lefts by the U.S.'s abdication of global responsibility. And no one seems to care about China's decimation of the Uyghurs.

2. The U.S.'s pressure on Ukraine helps one leader more than any other: Vladimir Putin. The Trump presidency has been a gift sent from a Russian social media bot and it keeps on giving.

3. Ardern is the prime example of an effective democratic leader who has shown toughness when need be and compassion when it's called for.

4. Macron makes the list for getting into a public feud with the callous president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro. Macron took the high road after Bolsonaro's childish insult of Macron's wife. Macron won't go low, but I will. First of all, Macron's wife is a total MILF while Bolsonaro looks like an evil villain from a 1980s action movie who gained 100 pounds and then died a week ago.

5. Despite facing protests, Ahmed continues to reform Ethiopia. He also won the Nobel Peace Prize this year.

6. Zelensky was shaken down by U.S. President Trump, who wanted the comedian-president to investigate Trump's political opponent. But, as long as Trump is out of the White House, the next president is damn sure going to have Zelnsky's back.

7. Kim and his murderous dictatorship has been out of the world news for a while, so he plummets down the list.

8. Abe has done a good job domestically and in this new global reality. With the U.S. exiting the stage, Abe has planned well for the future.

9. Erdogan managed to convince Trump to allow him to slaughter the Kurds, Turkey's long-time enemy, and the U.S.'s long-time ally. The sad part is Erdogan has always used the Kurds for political gain.

10. The U.S.'s exit of Syria has also greatly helped Iranian hardliners. Trump has done his best to help the hardliners over the more moderate president and foreign minister.

World Leader Power Rankings

Here's the new power rankings of world leaders. The last one was posted on May 29.

Rank	Leader	Country	Previous Rank
1	Xi Jiangping	China	1
2	Kim Jong-un	North Korea	2
3	Vladimir Putin	Russia	3
4	Ali Khamenei	Iran	5
5	Jacinda Ardern	New Zealand	4
6	Abiy Ahmed	Ethiopia	8
7	Volodymyr Zelensky	Ukraine	Not Ranked
8	Andrés Manuel López Obrador	Mexico	Not Ranked
9	Narendra Modi	India	6
10	Shinzo Abe	Japan	9

1. Despite the protests in Hong Kong, Xi is leading the race to 5G. He's also taking U.S. President Donald Trump behind the woodshed in the trade war.

2. Kim managed to dupe Trump into becoming the first U.S. president to step foot on North Korean soil and the maniacal dictator din't even have to give anything up. Instead, Trump has nothing but praise for Kim, even at the expense of a respected U.S. citizen Trump doesn't believe Kim has continued his nuclear ambitions even though his own intelligence community says otherwise.

3. Putin is such an autocrat that you're in trouble if you criticize him in a different country as a Georgian tv broadcaster recently found out. And yet, Trump has nothing but good things to say about his Russian overlord.

4. Khameni's power would be neutralized if only Trump could force Iran to sign an agreement limited their nuclear capabilities and opening up their program. It would mean more if they got the other major players around the world to join in for this "deal." Or Trump could talk a big game, but ultimately back down and leave Khamenei and his hardliners in a much better position than when Trump entered office. Trump opted for the latter.

5. New Zealand was determined to be the second most peaceful country in addition to one of the least corrupt. Arden was very effective in passing gun reform after  the terrible massacre. And she got a very weird shout out at the Democratic debate in the U.S.

6. Ahmed has really put his life on the line to reform his country. His release of political prisoners nearly led to a coup last month, but that is the price of a better Ethiopia and Abiy is willing to pay it.

7. Zelensky wont he Ukrainian election even though his only political experience came on a television show in which he played a comedian that became president of Ukraine. Art imitated life. But Zelensky is tackling the big issues, starting with Russia's persistence presence in Eastern Ukraine.

8. AMLO went into negotiations with Trump about border security and beat him like a drum. AMLO gave up nothing and Trump tried to play it off as a victory even though he received nothing new.

9. Modi won reelection by a wider margin than he won his first election. He ran on a policy of Hindu nationalism and hope for economic prosperity, a promise he made the first time around.

10. Abe's trade deal with the EU shows that the rest of the world can marginalize the U.S. if Trump wants to reign in isolation.

World Leader Power Rankings

Here's the new power rankings of world leaders. The last one was posted on April 30.

Rank	Leader	Country	Previous Rank
1	Xi Jiangping	China	1
2	Kim Jong-un	North Korea	2
3	Vladimir Putin	Russia	3
4	Jacinda Ardern	New Zealand	4
5	Ali Khamenei	Iran	Not Ranked
6	Narendra Modi	India	Not Ranked
7	Carlos Alvarado	Costa Rica	Not Ranked
8	Abiy Ahmed	Ethiopia	6
9	Shinzo Abe	Japan	Not Ranked
10	Peter Pellegrini	Slovakia	Not Ranked

1. In the latest trade battle, Hu and China dominated the U.S. America is about to discover the economic pain of tariffs, which China didn't get to watch the series finale of Game of Thrones. I've never watched the show, but I understand fans were disappointed with the ending. China is racing to 5G while America's president doesn't even know what 5G is.

2. U.S. President Donald Trump sided with Kim Jong-un in a dispute with former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. Somehow Kim has manipulated a U.S. president to express more loyalty to Kim than his own country. That's impressive considering Trump isn't planning on building a hotel in Pyongyang any time soon.

3. The Mueller Report was great for Putin. The U.S. President tried to make it all about him, but really it was about the underhandedness of Russia. yet, the story has been swept under the rug. Putin has been able to manipulate world affairs, such as occupying Crimea, Brexit and Trump's election with little consequence.

4. Ardern has been the pillar of positive leadership in the world. Real change was affected after the horrible tragedy at Christchurch. Her country is one of the least corrupt. She's becoming a real world star in an era dominated by strongmen.

5. The U.S.'s ill-advised provocations in Iran simply embolden Khamenei and the hardliners. Sympathy towards the Iranian regime increases as the U.S. continues to pick a fight. U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton has always wanted to invade Iran, so don't be fooled by his claims that Iran has done something more malevolent recently. If anything, this is a time to help the moderates as a successor for ageing Khamenei may be needed soon.

6. Riding the ideology of Hindu nationalism, Modi's party did better than in the last election despite India's disappointing growth under his tenure. While the marginalization of Muslims may hurt the country in the long run, in the short term, Modi is riding high.

7. Costa Rica has made a goal to become carbon neutral by 2021. Spending political capital on big ideas and future goals- that's the sign of a thriving country.

8. Ahmed continues to reform Ethiopia, one of the true reformers going right now.

9. Abe tried to play nice with Trump and continues to do so while he prepares Japan for a post-American world. He made a huge trade deal with the European Union as Trump throws up tariffs.

10. It was reported that Slovakia was one of the foreign governments leasing space in Trump Tower. That's a shrewd way to bump up the clout fo the central European country.

World Leader Power Rankings

Here's the new power rankings of world leaders. The last one was posted on March 27.

Rank	Leader	Country	Previous Rank
1	Xi Jiangping	China	1
2	Kim Jong-un	North Korea	2
3	Vladimir Putin	Russia	3
4	Jacinda Ardern	New Zealand	4
5	Benjamin Netanyahu	Israel	Not Ranked
6	Abiy Ahmed	Ethiopia	6
7	Abdel Burhan	Sudan	Not Ranked
8	Lenin Moreno	Ecuador	Not Ranked
9	Theresa May	United Kingdom	Not Ranked
10	Donald Trump	United States	10

1. China's Belt Road initiative continues to open up markets and China has increased its influence in the world since U.S. President Donald Trump pulled back on America's clout.

2. In negotiations with the U.S. Kim has been masterful, making Trump look like the ridiculous tyrant while a man who has no problem executing his uncle and torturing his citizens comes across as the reasonable one.

3. The Mueller Report was good news for Putin. He also has a team of cyber criminals at the ready to do his bidding and the U.S. is woefully under-prepared to counter it, largely because the U.S. president doesn't think there's a problem. He thinks this way because Putin told him and Putin wouldn't lie, would he?

4. Ardern not only runs one of the least corrupt countries, showed great empathy and leadership in the wake of the horrific attacks on mosques in her country, but she also spearheaded gun reform after the tragedy.

5. It doesn't matter how corrupt or how insane the people he cozies up to are, Netanyahu  can't be beaten. He just won another election against all odds. Either he is a political survivor or the Israeli electorate needs to take a look in the mirror.

6. Things are better for the Ethiopian media since Abiy took over leadership, but not perfect. He has played a real role in turning the country's fortunes around. But he is amassing enemies as a result.

7. Abdel Burhan is head aof a transitional authority that took over after Omar Al-Bashir was overthrown in a coup. Omar al-Bashir was one of the most despicable leaders of all time, orchestrating the Darfur genocide. He was the champion of the Evil Leaders League, a forerunner of sorts to this list. Anyone who overthrows him is doing something right.

8. Moreno finally got fed up with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange's bad manner and bad hygiene and kicked him out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Assange was immediately arrested. No one really likes Assange. I'm all for government transparency, but he's personally distasteful and Moreno made the rare move that brings most people together.

9. Theresa May's time as Prime Minister has been an unmitigated disaster. But she makes the list because she is like that one student in your college lasses who kept getting extensions for some inexplicable reason. She has asserted that she will resign as soon as Brexit, which will be disastrous for the UK, goes through. So it was pretty smart to buy herself another seven months to hold onto power and maybe just maybe come up with something in the meantime.

10. The Mueller Report didn't quite exonerate Donald Trump as he would have you believe. But it could've been much worse. For now he's still one of the weakest presidents of the most powerful country.

World Leader Power Rankings

Here's the new power rankings of world leaders. The last one was posted on March 3.

Rank	Leader	Country	Previous Rank
1	Xi Jiangping	China	1
2	Kim Jong-un	North Korea	2
3	Vladimir Putin	Russia	3
4	Jacinda Ardern	New Zealand	8
5	Leo Varadkar	Ireland	Not Ranked
6	Abiy Ahmed	Ethiopia	5
7	Sauli Niinisto	Finland	Not Ranked
8	Lars Lokke Rasmussen	Denmark	7
9	Mokgweetsi Masisi	Botswana	Not Ranked
10	Donald Trump	United States	Not Ranked

1. Xi and China continue to replace American influence as the latter's foreign policy becomes increasingly insular and erratic.

2. In his recent summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, Kim again came away looking like the proper statesman. Trump later eased some sanctions on North Korea. It's quite the feat to make the homicidal Kim look dignified.

3. The true winner of the Mueller Report was Vladimir Putin. He influenced an American election and suffered virtually no consequences. His influence over Trump contnues to leave Americans to scratch their proverbial heads.

4. Ardern showed how a real leader is supposed to act int he face of tragedy. She stood with the victims and stood up to the murderer.

5. Varadkar didn't do what most world leaders do when in meeting with other world leader with whom they may disagree. Varadkar, who is gay, recently met with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, who is anti-gay, and delivered a pointed message about tolerance to the bigoted veep without being rude.

6. Ahmed continues to reform his country economically and politically. There is talk among pundits that Ethiopia could be Africa's new powerhouse if Abiy's reforms are allowed to take hold.

7. Niinisto heads the happiest country in the world. His citizens don't really agree, but that's only because they don't realize how depressed everyone else is.

8. Rasmussen not only leads one of the least corrupt countries in the world, but also one of the happiest. This despite depressingly cold and dark winters.

9. Masisi has broken with his mentor, Ian Khama, the son of Botswana's founding father. Masisi had been Khama's chosen successor. A little dissension within the ranks never hurt no one as long as it's int he best interest of the country.

10. Trump reenters the list because the Mueller Report turned out to be the best thing that has happened during his presidency. Not a great sign when the best part of your reign is that you didn't corrupt the the American government by conspiring to steal the presidential election with the aid of an adversary. And the report didn't draw a conclusion on the president obstructing justice. Trump's gloating shows how hard wins have come by since he took office. But it looks like he'll stay in charge longer than Theresa May in Great Britain and who would've though that a few months ago.

World Leader Power Rankings

Here's the new power rankings of world leaders. The last one was posted on December 16.

Rank	Leader	Country	Previous Rank
1	Xi Jiangping	China	1
2	Kim Jong-un	North Korea	2
3	Vladimir Putin	Russia	7
4	Recep Tayyip Erdogan	Turkey	Not Ranked
5	Abiy Ahmed	Ethiopia	5
6	Ivan Duque Marquez	Colombia	Nor Ranked
7	Lars Lokke Rsamussen	Denmark	Not Ranked
8	Jacinda Ardern	New Zealand	Not Ranked
9	King Mohammed VI	Morocco	Not Ranked
10	Sultan Qaboos	Oman	Not Ranked

1. China will determine the fate of our planet. Responsible for building Asia's and Africa's infrastructure, China will decide if climate change wipes us all out or if we can somehow stem the tide (literally). China is fast becoming the leader in electric cars as well.

2. Kim came out the winner of another summit with disgraced U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump was convinced of Kim's sincerity by a flowery letter he wrote to Trump and not by U.S. intelligence assessments of Kim's deceit in nuclear negotiations.

3. This is certainly the age of the strong man. Putin at least pretends to have elections even as he meddles in those of other countries. The U.S. stymied a Russian attempt to hack the 2018 midterm election. But Putin still has his puppet in the White House, so it's not all bad.

4. Erdogan has single-handedly managed to turn Turkey from a European-looking bastion of democracy in the Middle East to an economically-failing autocracy. But Erdogan has called out Saudi Crown prince MBS and Egyptian dictator Abdel Fattah el-Sisi recently for their human rights abuses. So there's at least something redeeming about Erdogan.

5. Ahmed continues to reform Ethiopia. Recently, he has tried to open up the economy and make it easier to run a business. Previously surviving assassination attempts, Abiy is one of the few leaders in the world putting his life on the line and making the tough choices to help his country's future.

6. President Marquez comes out looking good in the Venezuela crisis. Trying to help usher in food to their collapsing neighbor, Venezuelan (ex-?)president Nicolas Maduro shut down the border with Colombia. You have to be terrible to make Colombia look like the stable nation in the region.

7. Prime Minister Rasmussen oversees the least corrupt country in the world. Apparently it's too cold for officials to ask for bribes. They're too busy rushing inside to sip some hot cocoa by the fire under a blanket.

8. Prime Minister Ardern is a rising star on the international stage and heads the second least corrupt country in the world. Northern Europe shouldn't even count, they always dominate lists like these, so let's go ahead and say Prime Minister Ardern heads the least corrupt country in the world.

9. King Mohammed VI met with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle recently and Markle curtsied appropriately. I can't believe I even know anything about this shit. It just goes to show you how big these reality show characters are. And the king gets a boost by proxy.

10. Sultan Qaboos led Oman to the biggest increase in decreasing corruption from 2017 to 2018 if that makes any sense. My mom once sailed on his yacht. He was not aboard, so the sultan better not leave any mama jokes in the comments section.

World Leader Power Rankings: Year in Review

Below are the power rankings for world leaders for the overall year. Some explanation of the chart is probably necessary. In this the first year of the World Leader Power Rankings, there were ten top ten lists. 28 world leaders from 27 countries made the list at some point this year. Xi Jianping swept the top spot; Asia countries in general were well-represented.

The "Score" is based on the leaders' ranking on those lists- 10 points for a 1st place finish on a list and so on, then the total score divided by 10. "on List" is the number of times a leader made the top ten list. Only Xi, Kim, and Putin made the top ten list each time. "High" is the leader's highest rank on any one list and "low" is the lowest rank. Since only three leaders made the list each time, the other leaders' low was off the list indicated by a dash.

Rank	Leader	Country	Score	On List	High	Low
1	Xi Jiangping	China	10	10	1	1
2	Kim Jong-un	North Korea	8.1	10	2	6
3	Vladimir Putin	Russia	6.1	10	2	10
4	Moon Jae-in	South Korea	4.8	8	3	-
5	Ali Khamenei	Iran	4.7	7	3	-
6	Emmanuel Macron	France	3.7	6	3	-
7	Mohammed bin Salman	Saudi Arabia	3	7	4	-
8	Donald Trump	United States	2.7	9	6	-
9	Abiy Ahmed	Ethiopia	1.9	4	5	-
10	Theresa May	United Kingdom	1.4	2	2	-
11	Narendra Modi	India	1.3	3	5	-
12	Benjamin Netanyahu	Israel	1	2	4	-
13	Abdul el-Sisi	Egypt	0.8	2	7	-
14	Angela Merkel	Germany	0.7	2	7	-
15	Lee Hsien Loong	Singapore	0.7	1	4	-
16	Shinzo Abe	Japan	0.6	1	5	-
17	Paul Kagame	Rwanda	0.6	2	6	-
18	Recep Erdogan	Turkey	0.6	2	8	-
19	Sauli Niinisto	Finland	0.4	2	9	-
20	Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic	Croatia	0.4	1	7	-
21	Mahathir Mohamad	Malaysia	0.3	2	9	-
22	Carlos Alvarado	Costa Rica	0.3	1	8	-
23	Justin Trudeau	Canada	0.2	1	9	-
24	Abdullah II	Jordan	0.2	1	9	-
25	Hassan Rouhani	Iran	0.2	1	9	-
26	Pedro Sanchez	Spain	0.1	1	10	-
27	Imran Khan	Pakistan	0.1	1	10	-
28	Muhammadu Bahari	Nigeria	0.1	1	10	-

1. China was indisputably the most influential country in 2018 as the United States looked inward. Many countries jumped at the chance to do business with China, and Xi consolidated his power within his party this year.

2. Kim transformed his international image from crazy despot to a shrewd and legitimate leader on the world stage. For some reason, the hundreds of thousands of people in concentration camps and the rampant starvation inside North Korea didn't matter as much in 2018.

3. Putin oversees an autocratic kleptocracy in Russia. But he won an election convincingly in 2018 and had the President of the United States eating out of his hand.

4. Though his popularity in South Korea started to turn downward a bit, Moon's relentless efforts toward peace ont he Korean peninsula were tremendously admirable/

5. Aytollah Khamenei and the hardliners inside Iran were emboldened when the United States pulled out of the JCPoA rendering the moderates' attempts at rapprochement with the West a waste of time.

6. Macron did his damnedest to uphold the liberal order and seemed to be succeeding early in 2018. But by the end, Macron was forced to concede on some of his domestic principles as protesters filled the streets. His efforts to keep the United States in the JCPoA and the Paris Climate Accords failed.

7. MBS was initially touted as a reformer inside of Saudi Arabia and a player on the international stage. The U.S. turned even more pro-Saudi and anti-Iran in 2018. But by the end of the year, MBS's reformer image largely dissipated, his war in Yemen was an utter disgrace, and he became a pariah after ordering the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

8. Despite leading the most power country in the world, Trump has done everything in his power to erode the United States's credibility and prestige on the world stage. His foreign policy is a mishmash of ideas from whomever was the last person he talked to on a given day. he seems to have committed crimes as a presidential candidate and many of his advisers have pleaded guilty during the ongoing Mueller investigation. According to the country's preeminent journalist and an anonymous senior adviser, his advisers within the administration actively work to thwart his most dangerous impulses. Now part of the American government is shutdown because Congress won't fund a wall on the border with Mexico that he promised Mexico would pay for.

9. Ahmed has begun to transform Ethiopia into a more liberal and democratic country. He's faced assassination attempts in doing so, so you know he's on the right track. Ahmed's leadership has been a rare bit of good news in 2018.

10. Theresa May managed to crack the top ten despite having an even worse year than Donald Trump. He had a good week when she stood up to Putin after it was determined the Russians poisoned people on British soil. But Brexit has been a disaster and she nearly was outed from office over her proposed deal. Britain continues to make themselves less relevant under May's watch.

11. Modi oversees an improving economy in India, but he couldn't seem to stay on the top ten list consistently because of his Hindu nationalist ideology. India has the second largest Muslim population in the world, and Modi's record with Muslims has been poor.

12. Netanyahu briefly entered the top ten when Trump backed out of the Iran nuclear deal. It was a win for Netanyahu, but a loss for Israel as it made an Iranian nuclear bomb an inevitable reality. he also managed to convince Trump to shift the embassy to Jerusalem in order to stir the pot a bit.

13. Sisi's main highlight from 2018 were that goofy orb picture with MBS and Trump, winning an election with 105% of the vote (+/- 8%), and according to a report, overseeing a  populace that actually believes the government has the best interest of the people at heart.

14. Merkel didn't have a good year. Her battle in favor of immigrants finally seemed to sap her political capital. She announced that this would be her last term as German chancellor.

15. Lee's moment in the sun came when Trump and Kim met face to face in Singapore.

16. Trump still believes it's the 1980s and is taking out his anti-Japanese fervor on Abe. But Abe managed to forge a major trade deal with the EU int he summer.

17. Kagame is a technocratic autocrat. Rwanda has one of the highest female representation in parliament in the world. You don't want to get on his bad side, but he won't drop you into a tank of man-eating sharks or anything.

18. Erdogan has become more dictatorial as the Turkish economy plummets. But he's trying to help refugees and stood up to MBS during the Khashoggi murder.

19. Niinisto made the list twice. he hosted the summit between Trump and Putin and then later denied that Finland prevents forest fires with rakes.

20. Grabar-Kitarovic entered the global stage during the World Cup. She came across has a humble and passionate advocate for Croatia.

21. Mahathir became the oldest leader in the world this year, he also tried to stamp out corruption in Malaysia.

22. Alvarado became president of Costa Rica this year and is hoping to push through tax reforms.

23. Trudeau seemed posed to take command of the liberal order, but a couple of minor gaffes hurt his standing. he stood up to Saudi Arabia briefly putting him in the top ten.

24. Abdullah II was honored as an advocate for inter-religious harmony and peace.

25. Rouhani and the Iranian moderates managed to improbably find some common ground between the United States and the Persian nation. But Rouhani was neutered when Trump tore up the JCPoA and emboldened the Revolutionary guard and its allies.

26. Sanchez allowed a ship filled with refugees into Spain, which gave some hope that he would take over the pro-immigrant lead in Europe.

27. Imran Khan completed his unlikely journey from cricketer to Pakistan's prime minister in 2018. As with every Pakistani prime minister, he came in with high hopes behind him which were quickly dashed.

28. Many people in Nigeria believed President Buhari had died and was replaced be a look alike. Turns out he's alive.

Power Rankings of World Leaders

Here's the new power rankings of world leaders. The last one was posted on November 19.

Rank	Leader	Country	Previous Rank
1	Xi Jiangping	China	1
2	Kim Jong-un	North Korea	6
3	Moon Jae-in	South Korea	7
4	Ali Khamenei	Iran	4
5	Abiy Ahmed	Ethiopia	5
6	Paul Kagame	Rwanda	Nor Ranked
7	Vladimir Putin	Russia	2
8	Carlos Alvarado	Costa Rica	Not Ranked
9	King Abdullah	Jordan	Not Ranked
10	Muhammadu Buhari	Nigeria	Not Ranked

There are some new names on the list as some familiar faces have had their share of trouble lately.

1. While Britain's Theresa May barely clings to power for now as Brexit plans become a horrific disaster, and Emmanuel Macron's principles and policies crumble in the face of protests, and there are increasing calls for Angela Merkel to leave power in Germany, and Saudi Arabia's MBS has turned himself into an international pariah, and it appears Donald Trump won't be President of the United States much longer, Xi Jianping maintains his firm grip on power even increasing China's influence in Latin America right under Trump's nose.

2. Despite being a brutal autocrat, Kim's international profile has transformed into that of a shrewd reformer... because this is the world we now live in.

3. Moon's popularity within South Korea has decreased somewhat lately due to a slight economic downturn, but his continued determination to thaw relations with his neighbor to the north fosters hope for a more peaceful world.

4. The Ayatollah remains relevant because of warmongers in Washington DC and Riyadh. Those same warmongers are on sinking ships in their own lands and are hoping to instigate Iran in order to save themselves. All they're doing is helping to prop up a stale regime by granting it viable scapegoats.

5. The Prime Minister of Ethiopia is attempting to institute political and economic reforms in transitioning the country into a liberal democracy. He's already survived an assassination attempt doing so.

6. Kagame is an autocrat who won nearly 100% of the vote in his third presidential election victory. But the courts recently dropped charges against a political opponent of Kagame's. He has turned Rwanda into a bastion of economic growth since the genocide and, despite the off-putting name, won a couple of "African of the Year" awards from different organizations.

7. Putin greeted MBS, fresh of his killing of Washington Post reporter Jamel Khashoggi, like they were old bros at the recent G20 summit. Putin can relate to murderers of journalists. Vlad exposed himself as a clown in the greeting. His country's economy is crumbling as he and his minions plunder his nation's wealth. But, he is the overlord of the United States, the wealthiest country in the world, so that should count for something.

8. Alvarado runs a democracy in Central America and is currently trying to push through tax legislation. Whether he succeeds or not, it's just nice to write something fairly normal about a president's agenda. As far as I know, Alvarado didn't pay off porn stars to keep quiet ahead of his election victory and didn't collaborate with the Russians to achieve said victory.

9. King Abdullah of Jordan recently won the Templeton Prize for his efforts to foster religious harmony. UN Secretary General Andres Guterres called Abdullah a messenger for peace and an outstanding statesmen. President Trump's own lawyers have called Trump a crook and "a fucking liar." So score one for Abdullah.

10. For the first time since World War II, a U.S. president has failed to crack the top ten on this list (Ok, so the list only started this year, but if I had been doing this list since World War II, then my statement would be true. Even during Watergate, Nixon probably would've been no lower than 5.)

Nigeria's Muhammadu Buhari makes the list for the first time because he's not dead. There were rumors that Buhari had died and was replaced by a lookalike, but it turns out he just needed to travel to Europe for medical treatment. He hasn't lived up to expectations battling corruption or Boko Haram, but he's alive and, well, that's something.

Power Ranking of World Leaders

Here's the new power rankings of world leaders. The last one was posted on August 21.

Rank	Leader	Country	Previous Rank
1	Xi Jiangping	China	1
2	Vladimir Putin	Russia	2
3	Emmanuel Macron	France	Not Ranked
4	Ali Khamenei	Iran	4
5	Abiy Ahmed	Ethiopia	7
6	Kim Jong-un	North Korea	3
7	Moon Jae-in	South Korea	5
8	Recep Erdogan	Turkey	Not Ranked
9	Sauli Niinisto	Finland	Not Ranked
10	Donald Trump	United States	8

1. Xi's China continues to fill the void left by an American foreign policy in shambles while consolidating his power.

2. Putin is the strongman of Russia. Former high up American officials believe the President of the United States has been acting like a controlled asset of Russia.

3. During the commemoration of the end of World War I, Macron laid out his vision of the world. It was a powerful vision that rejected the nationalism of the strongman and the President of the United States. He called for increased military ties for Europe.

4. Iran isn't exactly a rich and powerful nation, but you wouldn't know that based on the actions of the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Israel.

5. Ahmed has been lauded for being a reformer in repressive Ethiopia. Half of his cabinet are women.

6. Kim has received glowing praise from the President of the United States, despite the horrors he has inflicted on his people and the threats he casts on the world. But a defector recently announced that much of the younger generation don't feel loyalty to him, which knocks him down a few spots.

7. Moon's efforts at trying to create peace worth North Korea are laudable. He had a meeting in with Kim in September. Optimism still persists.

8. Turkey's strongman cracks the top ten for being an unwavering voice for justice in the Jamal Khashoggi case, the case that has significantly dimmed the star of Saudi Arabia's crown prince MbS. This despite the erosion of democracy Erdogan has instigated and the collapse of the economy.

9. Niinisto surfaces again int he top 10 because he made worldwide news by saying Finland doesn't prevent forest fires with rakes. It's always a good week when he can look intelligent by asserting rake don't prevent forest fires. Smokey the Rake says, "only you can prevent forest fires.

10. Donald Trump;s presidency of the most powerful nation in the world is an unmitigated disaster. In September, his competency to lead was seriously questioned by a member of the administration and the most respected journalist in the country. He has waffled on the Khashoggi case, bowing down to MbS one minute and using harsh words the next, and then saying MbS probably didn't now what happened after the CIA announced that he ordered the killing. But Trump is still POTUS, so I guess he should be in the top ten.

Power Rankings of World Leaders

Here's the new power rankings of world leaders. The last one was posted on July 24.

Rank	Leader	Country	Previous Rank
1	Xi Jiangping	China	1
2	Vladimir Putin	Russia	2
3	Kim Jong-un	North Korea	3
4	Ali Khamenei	Iran	4
5	Moon Jae-in	South Korea	Not Ranked
6	Mohammad bin Salman	Saudi Arabia	Not Ranked
7	Abiy Ahmed	Ethiopia	8
8	Donald Trump	United States	10
9	Justin Trudeau	Canada	Not Ranked
10	Imran Khan	Pakistan	Not Ranked

1. The escalating trade war with the U.S. isn't helping too many people, but between the Belt and Road Initiative and the U.S.'s withdrawal from a position of dominance on the global stage, Xi has China in position of preeminent influence.

2. After making Donald Trump look like a Kremlin stooge in last month's U.S.-Russia summit, the Russian dictator had Trump inviting him to the White House. Even the American Director of National Intelligence was flabbergasted by that invitation.

3. Kim has been one step ahead of the U.S. since Trump took office. He dictates the game. He continues to send overtures of peace to South Korea, but only on his terms.

4. The Trump administration's hardline policy on Iran has served two purposes for Ayatollah Khamenei. It marginalizes moderates such as President Hassan Rouhani and provides a foil in the U.S. as anti-government protests persist.

5. The scene of long-separated Korean families reuniting, even if just for a few hours, was moving. President Moon helped to make that happen and he just might usher in an era of peace on the Korean peninsula. His legacy depends on it.

6. MbS has now picked a fight with Canada after the country's government called out his arrests of women activists. The Saudis tweeted out a 9-11 type threat against Canada on top of other symbolic gestures. It's like if Pharma Bro was the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. MbS runs his foreign policy like Trump if Trump had no checks or balances and was the least bit competent.

7. Besides finding peace with Eritrea and overseeing one of the fastest growing economies in the world, Ahmed is opening up space towards a free media.

8. Trump is reimagining American foreign policy as he cozies up to strongmen and distances his country from its traditional alliances. He's asked some interesting questions about America's involvement in far off civil wars and the cost of maintaining a military presence in over half of the world's countries. But those moments of lucidity seem accidental. For the most part, Trump has dealt with each foreign policy issue as if it were in a vacuum. It doesn't help his standing that his former campaign manager was convicted of fraud and his former attorney signed a plea agreement today.

9. Trudeau was in a spat with MbS and came out looking good by standing up for human rights. After a stunning rise onto the global stage, Trudeau has had his setbacks. This bizarre kerfuffle is the first start to redemption for Trudeau.

10. No one really knows where Iran Khan stands. The Aaron Burr of Pakistan has promised to root out corruption and set out a vision for peace with India. Whether the new prime minister can follow through on these promises is another thing. But, for now, the charismatic leader is saying the right things. And, perhaps more importantly, he's someone new.