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.
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Question: From Panama to Ferguson: Countering the devaluation of black lives. Twenty five years ago on December 20, 1989, El Chorrillo, an Afro-Panamanian neighbourhood in the centre of Panama city was the scene of a criminal assault by the military forces of the United States government . A vigorous assault from the most powerful military body on the planet was unleashed by President George H W Bush to execute an arrest warrant issued by a US court on General Manuel Antonio Noriega, the de facto head of the sovereign state of Panama, and up until that time an obedient servant of US interests in the region . Significant elements of the outgunned Panamanian defence forces had barracks in the El Chorrillo community and as a consequence it was turned into a free fire zone by the invading forces, despite the fact that the invaders knew that thousands of civilians also lived in the densely populated community . As Marta Sanchez and others who experienced the assault remembered, the people of El Chorrillo, whose descendants came from the Caribbean to Panama as cheap labour to build the canal, never knew what hit them when they awoke to the sounds of machine gun fire from the 82nd Airborne division . When the firing stopped and the smoke from the fires finally subsided, thousands were dead and the neighbourhood largely destroyed . "Black Lives Matter" is a refrain whose importance is reflective of the value that black people place on our lives , yet we must disabuse ourselves of the illusion that black lives or any other lives matter when they stand in the way of the political and capital interests of US elites and that it is not limited to black communities in the US . As human rights strategist Ajamu Baraka points out:"The black lives taken by the murderous assault on Panama 25 years ago should be a sober reminder that US state violence is not confined to ghettoes and barrios of the US but is a central component of the racist, colonial, capitalist project that is the US. We cannot pretend that police brutality in the US and the devaluation of black life that it represents is restricted just to the black experience in the heart of the US empire." The attack on Panama and the massive loss of life and destruction was a harbinger of the lawlessness and aggression that would characterise US policies in the unipolar world of the late 20th and early 21st century . When President Noriega failed to support US efforts to destabilise Nicaragua and had the audacity to publicly defy the US state with his defiant rhetoric, Bush had a perfect opportunity to establish the terms for what he referred to as a new world order of unchecked US power . Panama became a demonstration project to communicate to the nations of the global south that resistance to US hegemony would be met with ferocious violence . The fact that scores of black lives would be lost as part of the demonstration was of no consequence to the policymakers of hegemony . The structures and relations of repression are linked from the centre of the empire to its periphery states . US police forces train police departments throughout the world through programmes such as the International Taskforce Agent Training, (conducted by US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations) including police officers that work in communities like El Chorrillo . The US police forces bring with them their military, interrogation, intimidation and racially biased tactics which involve use of excessive force on civilians . It is also internationally known that police are quicker to use force, shoot and kill black people, the same way that the US is quick to invade smaller countries with less power , because in the scope of the political reality, they matter less . Violence is integral to the project of western colonial capitalist domination from Palestine to Ferguson . "On this 25th anniversary of the US invasion of Panama, we need to remember that the struggle for black liberation is ongoing. US authorities must be made to understand that the value of black life is not determined by the borders that those black bodies find themselves. The destruction in Panama is a reminder to my generation that our demand is not new," says Alicia Garza, National Domestic Workers Special Projects director and cofounder of #BlackLivesMatter . While we remember the victims of the US invasion of Panama, the families of the thousands of victims of US criminality in Panama are still demanding justice and accountability 25 years later . Like the families of Eric Garner and Mike Brown and the victims of police violence in the US, they are part of the long line of victims of US criminality globally . These crimes will continue until the people - black people in particular - are able to build the power necessary to ensure that black lives really matter in the US and across the globe .

Answer: "Black Lives Matter" is a refrain whose importance is reflective of the value that black people place on our lives


Question: The Iranian opportunity. The instability and chaos sweeping across the Arab world today represents both a threat and an opportunity for Iran . Instability in Yemen, Libya, Syria and Iraq are case-in-point examples that Iran can realise its short and long-term objectives to become the region's main hegemon . Surrounded by countries with significant Shia minorities, Iran seeks to cultivate the image of "protector state" for these populations . And eventually, Iran could become the "core country" in this hotly contested region . Toward this end, Iran has stirred Shia-Sunni divisions, creating sectarian identities for the various clashing groups . In the case of Yemen, this was done within the borders of one country where Iran contrived to create a distinct Shia identity for the Houthis who ended up taking control over the course of the past few months . The Iranian strategy is focused on building a new political model in the region - one that relies on Iran's "centrality" through which it can exercise power and influence both on the regional and international levels . Especially after the election of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Iran has been keen to develop working relations with the West and the US (particularly with regard to "fighting terrorism" - as it had done before in Afghanistan) . It is also eager to play a similar role in Iraq . This Iranian eagerness, however, cannot be isolated from the larger vision . This vision sees such cooperation as advancing the Iranian model of emphasising its geopolitical centrality for Shiism, as well as its hegemonic desires over the region, including the Arab Sunni states . To become the centre of gravity of the Middle East, Iran needs to amplify its role as both a protector and hegemon for its much weaker and unstable Arab neighbours . These neighbours would be relegated within the Iranian model to the status of periphery states . To do that, Iran uses its old revolutionary rhetoric and slogans to describe its brand of Islam as "authentic and original" while describing pro-West Sunni Arab states as having an "American-Islam" , which it presents as an illegitimate form of Islam . In his Washington Post op-ed last September, "Time to Engage", Rouhani outlined the Iranian objectives and the key areas in which Iran can cooperate with the US and the West . Although Rouhani laid out the Iranian strategic perspective and the parameters through which Iran can work and cooperate with the West , there was an important point, which he left unsaid . He was essentially saying that the US must recognise the failure of its old policies, especially in the region, and at the same time tacitly acknowledged that Iran had made mistakes in dealing with the US during the past eight years . Nevertheless ,  he opened the door for US-Iranian cooperation on combating terrorism and emphasised the Iranian role in solving the region's thorniest problems, such as the Palestinian cause and the conflict with Israel . View of superiority . Current Iranian discourse - political and cultural - revolves around advancing the view of superiority of the Iranian race, Shia Islam, and Iranian culture . Such discourse focuses on the uniqueness of the Iranian race as one that is steeped in civilisation, juxtaposed with the Arabs who represent, according to this view, the "other", i.e  less civilised . In realpolitik terms, amid the instability and chaos plaguing Arab states, Iran presents itself as the alternative power to fill the vacuum in the region . From the Iranian perspective, the US has failed to solve many of the international crises and in some cases, it has created them . Iran, in this respect, is positioning itself as a rising power that will replace the US as the dominant power in the region . Echoing such discourse, Kazem Sajjadpour, an advisor on Strategic Affairs to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran said, in Persian, during his participation in the roundtable discussion on the website Shia News Association, that while the Arab world suffers from fragmentation and strategic paralysis - while under the influence of western powers- Iran enjoys territorial integrity and cohesiveness, and is endowed with strategic resources . All of these are factors that could make Iran the new rising power in the region . Indeed ,  Iran is making the case that the entire Arab world revolves around it - and cannot survive without it .

Answer: The Iranian strategy is focused on building a new political model in the region - one that relies on Iran's "centrality" through which it can exercise power and influence both on the regional and international levels To become the centre of gravity of the Middle East, Iran needs to amplify its role as both a protector and hegemon for its much weaker and unstable Arab neighbours


Question: Could Indiana Gov  Mike Pence be our next president? INDIANAPOLIS  - If success at the state level were enough to recommend someone for president of the United States , Gov  Mike Pence of Indiana would be among the frontrunners for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination . According to the governor's office, Pence has "signed into law $643 million in annual tax relief : That includes: $313 million for hardworking Hoosiers, thanks to last year's 5 percent income tax reduction, the largest state tax cut in Indiana history." In addition ,  the state corporate tax rate was reduced from 6.5 percent to 4.9 percent, making it the third lowest in the country and contributing to Indiana's increase in the labor force , which, Pence's office says, has grown by more than 51,000 over the past year, five times the national growth rate . It helps to have large majorities of one's party in the legislature , but Pence consults and has good relationships with Democrats , who frequently vote with the Republican majority because his programs work . Sitting with the governor in his high-ceiling office beneath portraits of two Indiana governors who became presidents of the United States-- William Henry Harrison and Benjamin Harrison  -- Pence tells me he is focused on the upcoming legislative session, which is expected to last four months, and won't think seriously about running for president until the session ends . Then , he says,"We'll probably take some time as a family to reflect and pray and make decisions about our future." In his mind, Pence may have already crafted a winning scenario . He may be focused on his state , but he thinks a lot about the country , which he served for 10 years as a congressman . A former Democrat (like his ideological mentor Ronald Reagan), Pence sees a need to transform his party's image : "The Republican Party has become just the other party to Washington solutions . We have to get back to advancing state- based solutions and reforms . We must be relentlessly optimistic." He paraphrases a Reagan line:"' Why shouldn't we dream great dreams, after all we're Americans .' There was a confidence and optimism I think our party would do well to repair to . ... There' s a lot wrong with our national government , but we've got to stop confusing our national government with our nation." That's a good line for a stump speech . Pence wants to move from opposing bad ideas in Washington, to focusing on the success records in many states . For example , Pence's education agenda includes a goal of taking children in underperforming schools and putting them in good schools : "By the year 2020, I want 100,000 more Indiana students in high- quality schools than we have today . Today, we have 105,000 kids who are in underperforming or failing schools." He wants to fix traditional schools, pay good teachers more, giving bonuses to the best, and expand vocational education to every high school in the state . "We have the largest education voucher program in America . I want to expand that by lifting the cap and encouraging more private investment." Indiana also has 75 charter schools . Pence declines an invitation to comment on former Gov  Jeb Bush's recent remarks about having to lose the primary in order to win the general election , which many conservatives view as an attack on the party's base . If Hillary Clinton becomes the Democratic Party's presidential nominee , I asked, is she beatable? Pence answers indirectly, saying he thinks 2016 will be the first foreign policy election since 1980 and that as a former secretary of state, Clinton will have some advantages . That's why he thinks the eventual GOP nominee should do as George W  Bush did in 2000 : name a group of advisers with strong foreign policy credentials to advise him during a campaign and , if he is successful , some might serve in his administration . Mike Pence is a model of humility and restraint . While some characterize Obama as a failed president , Pence will only label his tenure "disappointing." That in itself is in sharp contrast to the hubris, narcissism and self-awareness of Obama . Humility, coupled with a proven track record of success and more confidence in the states and the people, is what's needed at the national level . Mike Pence could be the one to bring it .

Answer:
Pence tells me he is focused on the upcoming legislative session, which is expected to last four months, and won't think seriously about running for president until the session ends he says,"We'll probably take some time as a family to reflect and pray and make decisions about our future."