Don’t talk if you won’t act in Syria
Daily Star (Lebanon)
Daylight massacre Events in Syria have become a tug of war between the country’s regime and the international community. The Syrian regime is winning, but it is not the international community that is losing. Instead it is the thousands of Syrians who have been killed, wounded or arrested.
Fourteen months of unceasing violence have produced little more than standard condemnations from governments, NGOs and the United Nations.
If you put all these statements on top of each other, you would reach the moon, without having changed one iota of the regime’s desire to quell the protests in its country by force. The only thing that has changed is an increase in the levels of violence being used by the regime, as seen in the massacre in Houla.
Unfortunately there is no light at the end of this tunnel of regime violence and world power play. The destruction across Syria has set the country back decades, politically, socially and economically. As this goes on, the West continues in its insistence that it will not arm the opposition out of fear that this will cause civil war.
This is a pointless line of argument, counterproductive to even their narrow interests. Civil war has started and is creating a fire that is going to burn not only Syria but also the region, taking with it the interests of these powers.
If regional and world powers have any sense of ethics or humanity, the least they could do is keep quiet and desist from issuing statements which are fooling nobody anymore.
Instead, they lay bare their ulterior motives and their blatant disregard for the sanctity of life when their own interests are at stake.
At this point what is needed is a call to the humanity of ordinary people to put pressure on their governments to act as the face of responsible citizens of the world, and for these people to show that they are unwilling to accept the behaviour of their governments.
Belfast Telegraph
Helping bring our young people hope It is not difficult to feel sorry for what is being termed the lost generation of young people in Northern Ireland — those aged 16-24 who are unable to find a job. Around one in five in this age bracket are unemployed and many graduates — a degree was once almost a guarantee of employment — are out of work.
Our young people were not responsible for the economic crisis facing the country, but they are suffering disproportionately because of the mistakes of the adult generation.
There is nothing worse than not being given the chance in life. Some may squander their opportunities but many others will seize them with both hands.
That is what this newspaper’s latest campaign is all about — giving young people some hope. We want employers in the province to help us create 100 apprenticeships in 100 days.
Already some of the best known businesses here are fully behind the campaign but we want more to follow our lead and take on a young person.
Of course many companies are struggling in these recessionary times and we understand their difficulties. But others can join the campaign which is supported by the Department for Employment and Learning.
We, as a newspaper rooted in Northern Ireland, feel it is our duty to make a difference to the lives of our readers, young and old. We are not simply railing against the recession but taking a practical approach to helping those most affected.
The Age (Melbourne, Australia)
Foreign worker row obscures skills debate The real lesson in the burgeoning row over the granting of temporary visas to 1,700 foreign workers for employment at Roy Hill iron ore mine is Australia’s lamentable unwillingness to deal with its chronic skills shortages. But that lesson, unfortunately, looks likely to be ignored yet again as the government, employers and unions become locked in dispute over whether the decision will undermine Australian working conditions.
As The Age noted when the government convened its unnecessary and unilluminating jobs summit last year, the greatest employment issue in Australia is a long-term one: the failure to invest in education, training and technology. But the mining boom has created pockets of need, especially during the construction phase of new projects, and the continuing failure to raise the productivity of Australia’s workforce has too often left those needs unmet.
Hence the government’s announcement in last year’s budget that enterprise migration agreements will allow temporary visas to be issued to foreign workers who possess skills in short supply.
The Roy Hill mine is expected to be the first of dozens of projects for which enterprise migration agreements are approved. That visas will be issued to 1,700 foreign workers out of a total workforce for the mine of 8,000 should not have come as a surprise for unions, in part because of the budget announcement and in part because prominent unionists were members of the task force that recommended the foreign-worker program.