Your task is to extract the thesis of an opinionated news article by selecting some of its text segments. The thesis is a summarization of what the author wants to persuade the reader of. Your answer should consist of segments of the given text. Note that you are not allowed to combine different sentences.

Ex Input:
Stalin, Muhammad and Obama. Pundits agonize over President Obama's resistance to calling Islamist terror "Islamist terror." How can he not see the obvious? How can he ignore the overwhelming and ever-increasing evidence? How can he insist that his subordinates continue their buffoonish insistence that Islamist terror has nothing to do with Islam and that they--secularized Christians and non- observant Jews--know Islam's character better than Muslims themselves? It's easy . President Obama and his commissars fit the longstanding pattern of behavior (insistence, denial, castigation) that the hard left has embraced for generations . In the mid-20th century, leftists, bereft of God and desperate for a new faith, insisted for decade after decade that Comrade Stalin was a paragon of political virtues and that the Soviet Union was Utopia . All reports of purges, terror, man-made famines and the Gulag were fabrications of capitalists and their servants . Even after Premier Khrushchev revealed Stalin's crimes to the world, hardcore leftists excused or ignored the truth, insisting still that Red terror wasn't terror and that Communism was a movement (religion?) of peace and progress, that humankind's hope still waited in the east . Only the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Soviet collapse briefly sobered a few on the extreme left--the milieu in which our president spent his youth and pre-presidency adulthood . But leftists need a utopia, a fantasy heaven on earth, to comfort them and to give their lives purpose . Robbed of the Soviet dream, the forlorn left was in need of a new redeemer . Welcome, Comrade Usama! The left--and young Barack Obama -- already saw Islam as an oppressed religion, the noble faith of the wretched of the earth , while casting Christianity and Judaism in the role once occupied by capitalist imperialists: that of oppressors . Bin Laden gave the left a new torch to carry . While it remained necessary to condemn terrorism in public , the left simultaneously justified it in a globalized version of the Marxist construct of a class struggle . Really, didn't American deserve 9/11? Islamism fit the left like a tailored glove . Just as Western Reds didn't need to endure life in the Soviet Union ("Pass the foie gras, Comrade!") . , so today's leftwing cadres need not actually live in the Middle East or North Africa . From the comfort of Cambridge or the splendor of California's coast, they can rationalize radical Islam, a creed that would, if imported here, exterminate them as surely as Comrade Stalin would have purged the old American left . The staff of Charlie Hebdo? Stalin would have killed those pranksters, too . The only difference is that "Uncle Joe" would have gotten them all . When you take the long view, it's disheartening(to put it mildly) that the Western left simply cannot live without dreaming of an impossible utopia to be imposed by one ideology or another on the rest of us . Radical Islam? It's a "religion of peace." Just as Soviet Communism was an ideology of peace, justice and brotherhood . So President Obama's just playing by the time-honored rules, substituting Muhammad for Josef Stalin or Mao: Never criticize the Party . Ignore the facts . If the facts can't be ignored , deny or twist them . No matter what, stick to the script (let them laugh for now, they'll see soon enough ...). And anyone who strays one inch must be neutralized , whether as a Trotskyist yesteryear or slandered as an Islamophobe today . The left's existential bleakness and its resultant need to embrace horrid schemes for man-made heavens on earth form a peerless argument for humankind's need for religion . In the absence of belief there is only a desert of the soul . And Red terror gives way to Islamist terror . The Communist International cedes pride of place to the global caliphate . Comrade Stalin fades into Comrade Muhammad . Truth is malleable . Facts are nuisances to be exterminated, along with troublesome people . Middle-class notions of freedom must be shouted down . The rule of the intellectuals must be imposed . Never, ever criticize the cause . Deny everything . Never forget that Islam's a religion of peace . The future is ours, Comrades .

Ex Output:
Pundits agonize over President Obama's resistance to calling Islamist terror "Islamist terror."


Ex Input:
Palestine's wasted time at the UN. Even by the standards of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the Palestinian Authority's just-thwarted attempt at a UN Security Council resolution was a spectacular waste of time, and needlessly handed Israel a symbolic diplomatic victory . The draft - which called for peace with Israel within a year, and an end to the occupation by 2017- fell one yes vote short of the minimum nine required in the 15-member Council . Five countries abstained , and two - the US and Australia - voted no . Draft resolutions are usually preceded by consultations with Council members, so whoever submits them knows, beforehand, which way the vote will go . This draft was no different . In fact ,  insufficient support among Council members was the initial reason given months ago by the PA for a delay in the vote . As such, it must have known prior to presenting the draft that it would fail , so why go through with it? In fact ,  why did the PA try to push through a resolution in the first place? Even if it mustered the minimum votes , the US would have used its veto , and the PA knew it . Not only have the Americans consistently scuppered any resolution that places even the slightest criticism or pressure on Israel , but Washington had been explicit about its intention to use its veto this time round if necessary . As such, it is puzzling that Jordan's UN Ambassador Dina Kawar, whose country submitted the draft with the backing of the PA and the Arab League, said she thought Council members should have had more time to discuss the proposal . What would be the point in the face of an assured American veto? The only way Washington would acquiesce was if the resolution called for an end to the Palestinian occupation of Israel . This makes PA President Mahmoud Abbas's recent statement that he had repeatedly postponed the resolution due to US pressure equally puzzling . Did he actually think anything he could say or do would lead to the US dropping such pressure, or that it would accept the draft that was presented? In any case, months of consultations and various reasons for delays only resulted in the continued watering down of the text . This led to widespread Palestinian condemnation, from the public and from every faction . Among the most prominent critics is the widely popular senior Fatah figure Marwan Barghouti , whose party dominates the PA and includes Abbas . Barghouti described the text as an "unjustified fallback which will adversely affect the Palestinian position" . Moreover ,  the draft was not put forward as a Chapter VII resolution , which would entail punitive measures for lack of compliance . As such , even if it was passed , Israel - which flatly condemned the PA's push from the outset- would be free to ignore it without consequence , as it has done with all the numerous Security Council resolutions over the decades . Indeed ,  the draft did not contain any wording that would cause Israel to worry . Given that the US veto shields Israel , and that existing resolutions are ignored with impunity , it is astounding that the PA had any faith left in the Council to attempt its latest futile exercise at statehood . Even the response of its UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour was telling in this regard ; "The Security Council has once again failed to uphold its charter duties to address this crises and to meaningfully contribute to a lasting solution in accordance with its own resolutions." It has long been clear that the UN is a highly unlikely place for Palestinians to seek justice , as the consistent wishes and support of the international community for their cause is held hostage by just one country . The very notion of Security Council vetoes makes the UN an inherently and woefully undemocratic institution . The irony is that in the case of Palestine, a democracy is to blame . The US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, had the gall to say the resolution undermined efforts to "achieve two states for two people" . The entire point of the resolution was to create a state that the existing state is determined to deny . As such, one wonders if she even read the draft . It seems the mere mention of Israel automatically triggers an American veto . This whole months-long affair was an obvious exercise in futility , during which time Israel has further entrenched its occupation and colonisation of Palestine . The day after the resolution failed , Abbas signed a document requesting membership of the International Criminal Court . Given numerous previous threats to join the ICC, this is a welcome development . However ,  he should have done this the moment Palestine's upgraded status at the UN allowed it do so more than two years ago . Amid Israel's relentless colonisation and occupation, and after more than 20 years of fruitless negotiations, the Palestinians do not have the luxury of waiting indefinitely for statehood . As such, the PA must act with the necessary urgency and focus .

Ex Output:
Even by the standards of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the Palestinian Authority's just-thwarted attempt at a UN Security Council resolution was a spectacular waste of time, and needlessly handed Israel a symbolic diplomatic victory The draft - which called for peace with Israel within a year, and an end to the occupation by 2017- fell one yes vote short of the minimum nine required in the 15-member Council


Ex Input:
Russia is part of the solution and the problem. When it comes to Russia, I must admit, I have my biases . Political and economic developments in Russia have a direct impact on the Caucasus and particularly my own country, Armenia . The heightened tension between Russia and the West limits Armenia's ability to balance between two friendly sides while Russia's economic reversals impact Armenia's fragile economy . Not to mention what another Cold War might do to Armenia, to the region and the world . My enquiry generated a commotion in the hall and the Finnish representative, pre-empting the speaker, challenged my premise arguing that Finland's choice was of its own volition , which is not the case in Ukraine . Schussel concurred . Fair point . But in international relations, a state's "volition" is so often shaped and determined by perceived threats . It's called diplomacy and it requires reconciling the pursuit of national interests with regional and global peace . Finland's President Sauli Niinisto himself, in a recent interview with the Washington Post, predicted that Finland joining NATO would negatively affect relations with Russia . "It is very obvious that if Finland joins NATO, that would undoubtedly harm our relations with Russia . You have to keep in mind that 1,300km is a long border, and you just don't keep it closed . On the contrary, it's a living border," Niinisto said . It's time Ukraine does the same . The world is inching towards a new Cold War and at the heart of it is Ukraine . When and what will be the last straw is hard to tell . But then it will be too late to reverse things from a point of no return . Russia today faces serious geopolitical and economic challenges . It is in direct confrontation with the West on a vision about the world order, on Ukraine, on Syria and on a great many other large and not-so-large issues . Economically, Russia is beginning to feel the aggregate impact of the West's economic sanctions , falling oil prices, the devaluation of the ruble, capital outflow and a decline in direct foreign investment . But to think that these pressures will force the Kremlin into even partial submission and to change its posture on global issues and weaken its grip on its immediate neighbourhood would be to misjudge President Vladimir Putin . It could have the exact opposite effect , as Russia's president perhaps walks his way out of this through consolidation at home and further assertiveness and intransigence abroad . In his annual State of the Nation address to parliament on December 4, Putin evoked exactly that . He called for the public's resilience in the face of hardship, and promised to continue his foreign policy in the belief in the justness of Russia's cause and greatness . Russia's(or Putin's) convictions are anchored on several real or perceived premises . Russian influence . First ,  Russia believes that the US never stopped containing Russia . Since the collapse of the Berlin wall, NATO's and the EU's borders have moved east . Russia fears that Ukraine's and Georgia's expressed desire to join both organisations, risks bringing those organisations to Russia's most vulnerable borders - to the east and the south . In his address condemning the "pure cynicism" of the West, he accused western governments of seeking to raise a new "iron curtain" around Russia and suggested that even if Crimea had not been annexed, the West would have come up with a different pretext to impose sanctions to contain Russia's resurgence . Second ,  Russia firmly believes that Americans are interventionists and falsely moralistic in their discourse . They are heavily involved in using soft power to manipulate and shape the will of the people while advocating the independence and sovereignty of states and respect of the will of those same people to determine their own future . In the same speech, Putin accused the West of meddling in Russia's internal affairs, claiming that sanctions were merely an excuse to weaken Russia . Last month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov charged the West with seeking regime change in Moscow . Russia has always blamed the West for its policies of interference in other countries' internal affairs, but had never before implied that it had worries of its own . As we are faced with the possibility of another Cold War and are challenged to look for ways to avoid it , it is worth looking into history's verdict on the original one . Facing a Cold War . First there are the traditionalists of the 1960s who argued that the Cold War was the direct result of Stalin's aggressive Soviet expansionism . Later on, particularly during the Vietnam War, the revisionists (William Appleman Williams) challenged that view blaming the US for the Cold War, arguing that:"America's chief aim in the years after the war was to make sure that there was an 'open door' for American trade, and that this led the American government to try to make sure that countries remained capitalist like the United States." Then there were the post-revisionists (John Lewis Gaddis) in the 1970s who believed that:"America and Russia wanted to keep the peace after the war but that conflict was caused by mutual misunderstanding, reactivity, and above all the American inability to understand Stalin's fears and need to defend himself after the war." The latter is the closest guide to today's problems . One of the specificities of the current period is that the West considers Russia to be both part of the solution but part of the problem as well . Indeed ,  Russia supports the separatists in Ukraine and is the only power that can influence decisions there and make the rebels listen . In Iran, Russia built the heavy water Arak nuclear power station which was perceived to be a huge problem , even as it offers to supply enriched uranium or host Iran's centrifuges as part of a solution . In Syria, Russia backs the Assad regime while it remains engaged in the political process and under certain circumstances can influence Assad's decisions . The list grows even longer if one considers the conflicts in other parts of Russia's neighbourhood . From the Moldovan to the Georgian and the Armenian- Azerbaijani conflicts, Russia has a major influence and say in the final outcomes . As a result of this duality, the line is blurred between engagement and confrontation, creating misunderstandings and uncertainties, but also opportunities for both Russia and the US . This was not the case in the East- West standoff during the Cold War . These beliefs and perceptions are both strengths and weaknesses for one side or the other . Taken together, they nullify each other . In the bigger picture, in the face of enormous global disturbances causing untold carnage and loss of life, they seem trivial . It is time that the major players look beyond history and personalities and transcend the zero-sum thinking of the past .

Ex Output:

When it comes to Russia, I must admit, I have my biases Political and economic developments in Russia have a direct impact on the Caucasus and particularly my own country, Armenia