#Winners and #Losers: Lazarus Rising

The Week in Plot Twists

Winner: Italy—the Italian president’s refusal to accept M5S-Lega’s original choice for finance minister (an avowed euroskeptic with ideas on how Italy could leave the Euro) earlier in the week caused mayhem in markets as the country looked ready to return to elections after having stoked the flames of political extremism. Then the anti-establishment coalition decided suddenly on Thursday to nominate a more moderate figure to the finance ministry post; the new government was sworn in Friday. Out of nowhere, Rome managed to kick the can down the road; for Italy, that counts as a win. #ForEuropeToo

Loser: Ukraine’s Security Service—it’s not every day that a murdered journalist walks into a press conference. Andrei Babchenko, a fierce Kremlin critic, worked with Ukrainian authorities to stage his own murder to ensnare the perpetrators, believed to be acting on Russia’s orders. Russia quickly seized on the story as proof of anti-Russia propaganda, allowing Vladimir Putin to muddy the waters even further. #DownToHisLevel

The Week in (Predictable) Plot Twists

Winner: Donald Trump—allows the steel and aluminum tariff exemptions for US allies Canada, Mexico and the EU to lapse this week… but the US economy keeps roaring. That makes him a winner. #ForNowAnyways

Loser: Roseanne—Roseanne courts controversy. It’s her thing. But she went too far this week on Twitter, then tried to blame her racist misstep on the drug Ambien. Sanofi, the pharmaceutical company that makes Ambien, was having none of it: "While all pharmaceutical treatments have side effects, racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication." When a comedian gets owned by a pharmaceutical company, it’s time for a nice long hiatus. #DontSleepOnAmbien

The Week in Reining in Social Media

Winner: Papua New Guinea—the country’s communication minister revealed this week that the small island nation was planning to ban Facebook for a month to root out fake profiles and identify potential sources of fake news. There are plenty of ways this could end up going sideways, but a one-month detox from the social networking giant sounds like something we could all use. #NoRestForTheConnected

Loser: Uganda—the country’s parliament passed a “gossip tax” this week for people using Facebook, WhatsApp, Viber and Twitter, charging them a $0.05 a day fee to use those services, an amount that’s not nothing in a poor country. The country’s president says they encourage gossip. That’s true. It’s also true that they help spread vital information, even if not always 100% accurate. They kind of reflect humanity in that way. #OneMansGossipIsAnothersNews

The Week in Helping People Who Need Help

Winner: Mali’s “Spider-Man”—Mamoudou Gassama saw a baby dangling from a fourth story balcony and swung into action; he was rewarded with a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, French citizenship, and an offer to join Paris’ fire brigade. It’s the feel-good story of the year… as long as you don’t focus too hard on the fact that today’s migrants must perform feats like this just to lead ordinary lives. #KeepClimbing

Loser: Hungary—a law was introduced in Hungary’s parliament this week that would make it a criminal offense to help undocumented migrants stay in the country, part of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s “Stop Soros” bill. The government says these migrants pose a threat to the country’s Christian culture and undermine Europe’s stability. You know what else undermines Europe’s stability? Countries that don’t follow EU rules on things like migrant quotas. #WWJD   

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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.