Headlines:

• Syria and Chemical Weapons
• China’s Dragon Lacks Fire
• Egyptians Disappearing

Syria and Chemical Weapons

Syrian government forces have been caught dropping barrel bombs containing chlorine from helicopters on a suburb of Aleppo, injuring 80 people. Volunteer emergency workers say people suffered breathing difficulties after an attack on the Sukari area. Ibrahem Alhaj, a Syrian Civil Defence rescue worker, said he had reached the scene of the attack shortly after a helicopter dropped barrels containing what he said were four chlorine cylinders. Syrian Civil Defence, a volunteer emergency response team that operates in opposition-held areas, posted video on its Facebook page showing distressed children using oxygen masks to breathe. Chlorine is a common industrial chemical, but its use in weapons is banned by the Chemical Weapons Convention.

China’s Dragon Lacks Fire

This week, China is hosting the G20 Summit Hangzhou and has the world’s attention as world leaders gather to discuss the shared challenges of spurring economic growth and avoiding the spectre of protectionist moves that stifle global trade. The summit provides China with another high-profile venue – following up on its hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in 2014 – to enhance its international status as a global leader in shaping economic discussions. Whilst China continues to boost its economic ties and prowess, it is yet to find any form of political dominance in the world, in fact one of China’s key priorities during the summit is to discuss the reform of global governance bodies that appear to be ill-equipped to deal with the barrage of shocks to the world economy, in other words, how can the summit benefit China’s customers and in return China? Whilst most analysts believe China will dominate these discussions, it must be recalled that these discussions are purely economic. If China wants to dominate the world it must also lead and dominate all political discussions, which is sorely missing.

Egyptians Disappearing

On Monday 6th September, the Egyptian Commission of Human Rights launched a mobile phone app to combat forced disappearances of the citizens of Egypt. An increasing number of young males have been reported to have disappeared or in other words, taken in by the security agency and never returned. This includes young people as young as the age of 14 who have displayed signs of “political dissent” which can be as subtle as not having the picture of the current president Abdel-Fattah al Sisi on their wall. A report by Amnesty International in 2015 estimated 4 people were disappearing a day in Egypt. The reality of Egypt returning back to the Mubarak days has arrived and while the West continue to overlook and support the regime despite such occurrences, the Egyptian people continue to suffer.