Originally published by Ian Bremmer on LinkedIn: This Week's #Winners and #Losers
My weekly look back at who won and lost around the world.
The Brexit Blame Game
Winner: UK Independence Party Leader Nigel Farage—now-former leader of the UK Independence Party, Farage helped convince Britons to vote themselves out of the EU, and by withdrawing from politics he can now leave others to accept responsibility for the fallout. Cowardly? Absolutely. But for Farage it's mission accomplished. #NoNeedForAnEncore
Loser: Justice Minister Michael Gove—actually managed to make Boris Johnson look noble. If you’re going to backstab someone for political reasons, make sure you’ve guaranteed your rise to power. Otherwise, you just torched your political reputation to come in third in a two-person race to become prime minister. #MaybeJoinUKIP
Wars Gone But Not Forgotten
Winner: The Iraq War—the Chilcot Report took seven years and 2.6 million words to say what we all know—the Iraq War was a clusterf@*!, and the legal grounds for launching it were murky at best. Still, it’s good to have it recorded for history. In related news, keep an eye out for the Brexit Report, due out in about 2029. #WaitForThePaperback
Loser: American Troops in Afghanistan—US President Barack Obama decides to keep 8,400 American troops in Afghanistan for the remainder of his term. #KickTheCan
Devastating Scandals in Any Other Year
Winner: Hillary Clinton—“Only Extremely Careless” is the most punchy campaign slogan she’s had to date. Better late than never. She also avoided being charged for mishandling classified information while serving as Secretary of State. #HoudiniWasAnAmateur
Loser: Donald Trump—if there was ever a week for Trump to hammer Clinton, this was it. Instead, he ends up having to field questions on whether he’s an anti-Semite. #UnforcedErrorNo87
The Week in Futbol
Winner: Silvio Berlusconi—the former Italian Prime Minister is about to sell his AC Milan football club to a Chinese consortium for $442 million, which is pretty impressive when you consider that the club posted a loss of $104 million last year. I think maybe he dyes his hair though. #JustForMen
Loser: Lionel Messi—the Argentine great was sentenced to 21 months in prison after being found guilty on three counts of tax fraud. He’s unlikely to serve jail time, but this forever tarnishes his image. Which is ironic, because the tax loophole he used was—wait for it—designed to protect rights to his international image. #BigRedCard
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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 also follow him on Twitter and Facebook.