Putin reorganized the troubled domestic situation during his first four years as Russian president. He went after corrupt governmental officials and financial oligarchies that dominated national resources. He approved a law to integrate different political parties in the Russian State Duma, and founded the Unity Party of Russia as his political base. Thus, Putin transformed the unity between the Russian presidency, government and parliament.

Russia's economy started to show recovery in 2000. Thanks to increasing international oil prices and its status as an energy giant, Russia used its position to pay off its debt, establishing a national reserve foundation to prevent the country from a possible financial crisis like that of 1998. Putin's administrative strategy has been continuously implemented since 2000, regardless of administration. Putin is popular as a tough and powerful leader among Russians, as their livelihood has been improving.

Putin has insisted on tough foreign and defense policies. He resumed Russia's strategic cruise missile program, dispatching long-range bombers to the Mediterranean area and even Venezuela in Latin America. Russia firmly opposed U.S. President George W. Bush's intention to deploy radar in the Czech Republic and Poland, threatening that Russia would deploy "Brava" missiles in Kaliningrad near Central Europe in response. The Russian president also declined Japan's territory request on the Southern Kuriles, announcing that Russia has no extra territory.

While opposing the enlargement of NATO, Russia hopes to participate in the process of the EU's economic integration by strengthening trade and economic cooperation with EU members such as Germany and France. After the 2008 U.S. financial crisis triggered an economic downturn in the EU, Russia adjusted its policies. In one way, it depends more on developing its own economy; in another, it strengthens strategic and coordinative partnerships with China and Germany, making significant progress in cooperation with the two countries especially in oil and natural gas. By launching two natural gas pipelines in November 2011 and October 2012 respectively, Russia's relations with EU countries are getting deeper and wider through energy cooperation.

Based on traditional friendship, Chinese and Russian leaders have further deepened their

bilateral strategic coordinative partnership on new terms. They came up with a goal of reaching $100 billion in bilateral trade volume by 2015. The two sides have made great achievements in terms of space, aviation, agriculture, lumber processing and cultural exchanges.

Changing global landscape

The Forbes ranking of the world's most powerful figures showed that the international situation has changed as several powers have risen under the backdrop of the international financial crisis. Influence among emerging economies is on the rise, while the United States, which has been used to its position as the only superpower in the world, is losing its traditional influence.

Washington has begun to pay for the wars it launched in past years. In 1999, the Clinton administration started the Kosovo War, separating former Yugoslavia, and the George W. Bush administration launched the Afghan War in 2002 and the Iraq War in 2003. Thousands of young American soldiers died. The U.S. Government is now shouldering a heavy fiscal burden. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Afghanis lost their lives in the conflicts. The U.S. Government's image is seriously damaged, paying a huge political price.

Obama was elected U.S. president because of his promise of change, but the situation hasn't changed much after five years. His promise of pulling out of Iraq and Afghanistan hasn't been completely fulfilled yet, and the ongoing financial crisis lingers today. The United States' action in transferring the crisis to other countries through quantitative easing policy fully exposed the limitations of liberal capitalism, causing suspicions toward the U.S. model. Although Obama won a second term in 2012, he seems to face more obstacles than in the first. His health care reform didn't go smoothly. In October 2013, the U.S. Government shut down for 16 days because the U.S. Congress didn't approve the government's financial budget. The internal fight of U.S. liberal system has once more weakened the influence of the nation as a whole.

Although Putin's domestic and foreign policies are criticized from time to time, his tough style has been supported by Russian mainstream public opinion. By contrast, Obama's ability of implementing domestic policy seems to fall short of his ambition, while his diplomatic policy has become overly cautious, especially on the Syria issue. In this sense, Forbes does have good reason to adjust its rankings.

The author is a professor with China Foreign Affairs University

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