DUSHANBE, May 3, 2013, Asia-Plus – An American magazine, Foreign Policy (FP), has published the list of the most 500 most powerful people on the Planet in 2013.  

FP notes that it has put on its list the people who control the commanding heights of the industries that run the world, from politics to high finance, media to energy, warfare to religion.

According to information posted on the magazine’s website, where possible, they took a "list of lists" approach, consulting the authoritative rankings for a given industry and substituting judgment where quantitative assessments do not exist.

Among FP’s sources: Box Office Mojo Yearly Box Office, Citypopulation.de by Thomas Brinkoff, Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women, Forbes World''s Most Powerful People, Global Finance World''s 50 Biggest Banks, Fortune Global 500, Global Journal Top 100 NGOs, Institute of Media and Communications Policy International Media Corporations, Pensions & Investments/Towers Watson World 500, PFC Energy 50, SIPRI Military Expenditure Database and SIPRI Top 100 companies, Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute Fund Rankings, Times Higher Education World University Rankings by Thomson Reuters, Vanity Fair New Establishment List, Wall Street Journal MarketWatch World''s Largest Mutual Funds.

The majority of persons put on the list are US nationals – 144 people led by President Barack Obama Americans.  Besides, there are 30 nationals of China, 29 nationals of the United Kingdom and 25 nationals of France on the list. The Russian Federation is represented by 23 persons on the list, including President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.  

The top ten persons on the list are Mahmoud Abbas, President, Palestine Authority (West Bank), Tony Abbot, Liberal Party leader (Australia), Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan, Jill Abramson, New York Times executive editor (USA), Sheldon Adeloson, Las Vegas Sands CEO and chair (USA), Aga Khan IV, Imam (spiritual leader) of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims, Daniel Akerson, General Motors CEO and chair (USA), Rinat Akhmetov, System Capital Management owner (Ukraine), Karl Albrecht, Aldi Sud owner (Germany), and Vagit Alekperov, Lukoil president (Russia).

Foreign Policy is a bimonthly American magazine founded in 1970 by Samuel P. Huntington and Warren Demian Manshel.  The magazine publishes the annual Globalization Index, and Failed State Index. Its report, Inside the Ivory Tower, provides an annual comprehensive ranking of professional schools in international relations.  The magazine has a Think Again section where it publishes pieces explaining/debunking (current) foreign policy misconceptions.