#Winners and #Losers: Leadership Moves

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    The Week in Overkill

    Winner: Ahmet Altan—Turkish writer Ahmet Altan, already jailed for life for involvement in the failed coup against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the summer of 2016, got another six-year prison sentence (along with a publicity boost) this week for contributing to an op-ed entitled “I will never see the world again.” That takes courage. #WhenTheFallsAllThatsLeft

    Loser: Chinese Censors—following President Xi Jinping’s decision to abolish term limits this week, Chinese censors cracked down on social media, scrubbing any reference to Winnie the Pooh (a commonly used euphemism for Xi) and even the letter “n.” A tad much. #JustSayO

    The Week in Made Up Stuff

    Winner: Norway—Norway’s police are investigating two fake Nobel Peace Prize nominations for one Donald J. Trump. Because this is what Norway’s police department spends its time on. Let me give them a hint: it’s probably someone who really loves Norway, and is really envious of Barack Obama… #TwoGuessesButOnlyNeedOne

    Loser: Pakistan—Fake news duped a Pakistani TV station into reporting that Chinese had been declared an official language of the country, which was then picked up by Indian outlets who pointed to it as proof that its arch-nemesis was cozying up to Beijing. #DoubleSecretFakeNews

    The Week in Better Late Than Never

    Winner: Kosovo—Kosovo just recently received its first country code (383)… ten years after becoming a country. #DialOForOverdue

    Loser: Exxon—Exxon abandons some projects with Russian state-oil giant Rosneft… citing 2014 sanctions. And to think, all it took was a Donald Trump election victory, a Russia hacking scandal, a Mueller investigation… #ThouDostProtestNotEnough 

    The Week in Cabinet Reshuffles

    Winner: South Africa—Newly-installed president Cyril Ramaphosa hit the ground running, appointing a competent cabinet filled with familiar faces that is sure to boost domestic and investor confidence. The bar may have been set low, but Ramaphosa cleared it with room to spare. #TheyNeededThis 

    Loser: The Trump administration: Hope Hicks quits. McMaster might get pushed out. Sessions might have to go. Kelly wants to be rid of Jared Kushner. In TrumpWorld, the cards are continually shuffled, and not always in the most coordinated way. 

    Originally published on Linkedin Pulse

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  • IanBremmer

    About IanBremmer

    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.

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