#Winners and #Losers: Bye Bye Bibi
The Week in Memoir Debuts
Winner: David Cameron—the former British prime minister published his much-anticipated memoir this week, and apologized repeatedly in his press tour for all the Brexit chaos that followed his decision to hold the 2016 referendum. An effort to rewrite some of his political legacy, yes, but still nice to see. #BregretsHesHadAFew
Loser: Edward Snowden—the NSA whistleblower also published his personal memoirs this week. Unfortunately for him, the US Justice Department is suing him (and his publisher) to prevent him from getting any of the proceeds from the book, arguing that he violated his non-disclosure agreement. #FreedomIsntFree
The Week in Going Back to the Polls
Winner: Israelis tired of Bibi Netanyahu—it took 5 months and two elections, but its now clear that the man hailed as “King Bibi” has lost his stranglehold on Israeli politics after more than 13 years in power. His Likud party still came in second in a fractured political field, but the days of Netanyahu calling the political shots in the country are over. #ByeByeBibi
Loser: Spain—announces this week that the country will head back to the polls after failing to cobble together a coalition. It will be Spain’s fourth election in four years, and there’s no reason to to think that the fourth round of voting will yield much different results. #DiaDeLaMarmota
The Week in Buying Loyalties
Winner: China—successfully got two more countries (the Solomon Islands and Kiribati) to revoke their diplomatic recognition of Taiwan this week, bringing the total number of countries down to 15. #FeelingTheSqueeze
Loser: Saudi Arabia—reports surfaced this week that the Kingdom was “bullying” wealthy Saudis into investing into Saudi Aramco IPO in order to ensure it hits its $2 trillion dollar valuation. WeWork wishes it could do the same. #NotHowMarketsWork
The Week in Politicians Misspeaking
Winner: Jacinda Adern—the New Zealand prime minister got off a plane in Tokyo and proclaimed that it was “an incredibly exciting time for New Zealand in its relationship with China” before quickly correcting herself and blaming the goof on jetlag. Bad? Yes. But she’s the winner by default because at least she didn’t… #WaitForIt
Loser: Rodrigo Duterte— …admit to ordering an attempted hit on a rival politician during a public speech. Addressing the intended target, the president of the Philippines exclaimed “you son of a bitch. I ambushed you, you animal, and you still survived.” His spokesperson later clarified that Duterte meant to say “you were ambushed”, not “I ambushed you.” #ProblemSolvedThen
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Ian Bremmer is president of Eurasia Group, foreign affairs columnist at TIME and Global Research Professor at New York University. You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
Vivre ensemble entre les croyants de toutes confessions et les non-croyants
5 年Le monde entier n oublie jamais le génocide Palestinien? Old world Never forget the Palestinian genocid ??
ESG Analyst, Risk Forensics and Global Risk Mitigation Specialist
5 年Compliments of the Lawfare blog.
ESG Analyst, Risk Forensics and Global Risk Mitigation Specialist
5 年Ian, could you please post a comment on the impact of the Arab vote that was thrown behind Ganz yesterday, depriving Bibi of any hope of leading a coalition government? We'd like you view - or that of an informed guest commentator - on what lies ahead for Israel in this change in political direction.