ACCORDING TO FOREIGN POLICY MAGAZINE, THERE ARE 32 OF THEM AMONG THE MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE IN THE WORLD

P. V. GUSTERIN

Russian Institute for Strategic Studies

Foreign Policy magazine Keywords: Tol-500, leaders of the Arab world

The American magazine Foreign Policy published a list of 500 names in its May-June issue, which included "people who control the commanding heights of world-leading industries - from politics to big finance,from media to energy, from military affairs to religion." ¹

The list also includes 32 Arabs (see table) from 13 States (22 Arab States in total). They made up 6.4% of the full list, i.e. approximately every 16th is a representative of the Arab East. Their distribution by country allows us, in our opinion, to judge the leadership in the modern Arab world: Saudi Arabia - 10 names, Egypt-6, the Emirates-3, Algeria-2, Qatar-2, Palestine-2, Jordan-1, Iraq-1, Yemen-1, Kuwait-1, Lebanon - 1, Syria-1, Sudan-1. For comparison, there are 23 Russians on the list.

Indeed, as a result of the Arab Spring, which significantly weakened Egypt, Saudi Arabia has taken over its regional leadership. Nevertheless, Egypt continues to retain considerable potential.

Another three member States of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Persian Gulf ( GCC) - the Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait-are represented by a total of 6 personalities.

Thus, a total of 16 names belong to the GCC countries, i.e. half of all the Arabs on the list. This makes it possible to speak of the GCC as the dominant political force in the Arab East, which is probably true.

The following representatives of the Arab world, who, in our opinion, deserve special attention, were not included in the list:

Rashid Ghanoushi is the leader of the Tunisian Ennahda party, who, like Yusuf al-Qaradawi, was named Scholar of the Year by the website in 2012. OnIslam.net;

Abdullah II-King of Jordan;

Mohammed VI-King of Morocco;

Nouri al-Maliki - Prime Minister of Iraq;

Khalifa bin Salman Aal Khalifa - Prime Minister of Bahrain (GCC member State);

Ismail Haniyeh - one of the leaders of Hamas;

Waddah Khanfar is the CEO of Qatar's Al Jazeera international satellite TV channel.

It is interesting to note that five of the Arab personalities included in the list are heads of State, and four are related to international terrorism. The remaining nominees either hold key government positions, including heads of intelligence agencies, or are influential theologians.

It is noteworthy that Palestine is referred to in the list as "West Bank", that is, "West Bank", which obviously expresses the attitude of the named magazine to the status of this territory, which in accordance with the resolution of the UN General Assembly on November 29, 2012 received the status of a UN ^observer State2.

¹ http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/ 2013/04/29/the_500_most_powerful__people in theworld

² http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/ UN-DOC/GEN/N12/479/76/PDF/N1247976.pdf ?OpenElement

Table

Arab representation in the Top 500*

* Names are listed in the order suggested by the electronic version of the publication.

** Head of the Palestinian National Authority, PNA (approx. author's note).

*** Real name-Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Ali Al-Badri.

**** Removed from power on July 3, 2013.

***** Al-Azhar is the largest Islamic university.

****** On June 25, this year, he officially announced his abdication and transfer of power to his son, Crown Prince Tamim bin Hamad.

******* The Maghreb is a historical and geographical region that includes Mauritania, Western Sahara, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya.

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