The shift in Forbes' rankings seems to come from a perceived increase in Putin's use of his power on the world stage; offering a home to NSA leaker Edward Snowden, for example, or his hard line approach to Syria talks.
The Medes (/miËdz/, Old Persian MÄda-, Ancient Greek: Î¼á¿Î´Î¿Î¹, Hebrew: ×Ö¸×Ö·×â) were an ancient Iranian people who lived in an area known as Media (northwestern Iran) and who spoke the Median language.
Seres (Ïá¿ÏÎµÏ) was the ancient Greek and Roman name for the northwestern part of China and its inhabitants. It meant of silk, or land where silk comes from.. The name is thought to derive from the Chinese word for silk,  sÄ«  (çµ²/ä¸). It is itself at the origin of the Latin for silk,  serica .