Angela Merkel is Once Again Forbes' Most Powerful Woman in the World

To top Forbes magazine’s list of the most powerful women in the world twice in two years, you must be one tough, smart, pragmatic pfeffernusse. You must be German Chancellor and Eurozone dominatrix Angela Merkel.

Merkel is 58 and married to her second husband. She’s never had any children, unless you count Greece, Spain and Italy. In 2005 she became Germany’s first woman chancellor, and her most recent approval ratings are close to 70 percent - not bad for the daughter of a Lutheran pastor, an East German country lass whom mentor and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl nicknamed “The Girl.”

She was a wiz at math, science and languages, but she got into politics at 36 to work for democracy. Unfortunately, when the Berlin Wall actually came down she was a bit late, delayed by her long-standing weekly sauna appointment. Last fall she launched her own YouTube channel, on which she answered citizens’ questions.

But she’s probably most wishing to hear from Dustin Hoffman – for whom the most powerful woman in the world has … a thing.