The former American magazine-U.S. News and World Reports, now purely an internet publication, has promoted Israel as the fourth most-powerful military force on earth after Russia, China and the United States, the group of three states once regularly called the three superpowers. The former magazine publishes a list annually of what it calls the best countries, based on an algorithm developed in concert with academics.
“The study and model used to score and rank countries were developed by BAV Group–a unit of global marketing communications company WPP–and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, specifically professor David Reibstein, in consultation with U.S. News & World Report,” the internet publication states.
In the category of “military strength” Israel placed fourth on the magazine’s list this year, with Russia ranked first, followed by the U.S. and then China in third place. Confusingly, the magazine placed Israel in tenth place under the category of “most powerful countries” where it placed the U.S. first, followed by China and Russia.
While the definition of “superpower” was always subjective, the United States tried to claim to be the only superpower left standing after the Soviet Union dissolved, ignoring the superpower status it previously recognized for China. The traditional meaning of superpower was based on military might, but in the attenuated version promoted near the end of and after the Cold War by American and Western boosters claimed superpower status was a complex mix of diplomatic, economic and military power. Plain old pluck and chutzpah has always been a major factor in what is really the self-designation of superpower status.
The bare minimum for superpower status has always been possession of a nuclear arsenal. U.S. News thus has elevated Israel above the two so-called great powers, France and Great Britain, and above other members of the “nuclear club” Pakistan and India, and recently North Korea..