This Week's #Winners and #Losers

Back with my winners and losers for the week.

Apple vs. the Federal Government
Winner: FBI—manages to unlock the iPhone of the San Bernardino shooter with the help of an unidentified 3rd party. Celebrates by offering to help an Arkansas prosecutor unlock a murder suspect’s iPhone. #SoItBegins

Loser: Apple—no longer the posterchild for the personal privacy fight against the government, and it turns out the iPhone’s security system isn’t quite that unhackable. #ThinkDifferent, Apple.

EgyptAir Flight Hijacking
Winner: EgyptAir passengers—an Egyptian man with a fake suicide belt hijacks a domestic EgyptAir flight, forces it to land in Cyprus and demands to see his ex-wife. When you hear a plane is hijacked nowadays, you don’t expect there to be zero casualties. Also made for a great photo op:

Loser: The lovesick hijacker—The Egyptian foreign ministry spokesperson sought to clarify: “He’s not a terrorist, he’s an idiot.” A distinction with a difference.

Loyalty, by Trump
Winner: Trump’s campaign manager—turned himself in to authorities after he was charged with misdemeanor battery of a Breitbart reporter. Still has his job. Any other candidate would have fired him.

Loser: Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus—Trump reneges on a campaign pledge to support the eventual Republican nominee, and Priebus now officially has the worst job in America. Who will pay for cleanup after the coming food-fight in Cleveland?

Erdogan Critics
Winner: German comedians—a German broadcaster posted a music video on YouTube mocking Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. An incensed Erdogan summoned the German ambassador to complain. As of this morning, the video had more than 5 million views on Youtube. #NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity

Loser: Turkish journalists—Erdogan arrived in Washington for the Nuclear Security Summit this week. Speaking at the Brookings Institution, he described his recent crackdown on Turkish journalists as a crackdown on terrorism and vowed to continue to prosecute anyone who insults him. Outside the event, journalists were among those reportedly roughed up by Erdogan’s security detail. The Turkish president was then rewarded with a meeting with Obama on the sidelines of the Nuclear Summit. 

State Department Warnings
Winner: Americans on Spring Break—the State Department tweeted out the following warning: “Not a ‘10’ in the US? Then not a 10 overseas. Beware of being lured into buying expensive drinks or worse—being robbed. #springbreakingbadly” Critics were quick to charge sexism, but the State Department hit the biggest youth audience it will ever reach with a single tweet.

Loser: Families of US personnel in southeast Turkey—the State Department this week ordered the families of US personnel stationed in southeast Turkey to leave the country over “security threats.” Given recent attacks in that country, that’s no joke.

Ian Bremmer is president of Eurasia Group, foreign affairs columnist at TIME and Global Research Professor at New York University. Register here for his upcoming course on Global Political Risk at NYU Stern.  You can also follow him on Twitter and Facebook.