My theory is that security - also against terror - can only be accomplished through global democratization.

My theory is that security - also against terror - can only be accomplished through global democratization.

Will dissent be permitted? The answer to that question will determine whether the society is a free society or a fear society.

Just as the 99% of Soviet citizens who supported the Soviet regime in 1985 was no indication of what the people inside the USSR really thought, the army of true believers that we think we see in the Arab world is an illusion.

As soon as people become a little less fearful, they will also begin demanding more freedom.

Can someone within that society walk into the town square and say what they want without fear of being punished for his or her views? If so, then that society is a free society. If not, it is a fear society.

People may believe that there can be a society where dissent is not permitted, but which is nonetheless not a fear society because everyone agrees with one another and therefore no one wants to dissent.