A simple way to determine whether the right to dissent in a particular society is being upheld is to apply the town square test: Can a person walk into the middle of the town square and express his or her views without fear of arrest, imprisonment, or physical harm? If he can, then that person is living in a free society. If not, it's a fear society.

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

When did America forget that it's America?

Bush explained his fundamental concept to me, that freedom is not an American invention, but rather a gift from God to all people.

This scepticism is the same scepticism I heard a generation ago in the USSR when few thought that a democratic transformation behind the iron curtain was possible.

Imagine if the United States, in its war against Hitler, had said to Stalin: we don't want your support until you make your country democratic.

Unfortunately, little attention was paid to how Arafat ruled. In fact, some saw the harsh and repressive nature of Arafat's regime as actually bolstering the prospects for peace.