Never trust a former totalitarian state to reform itself: Freedom House, the most authoritative independent arbiter of human liberty around the globe, has downgraded Russia from the category of "Partly Free" to "Not Free."

Says Freedom House, "Russia's retreat from freedom marks a low point not registered since 1989, when the country was part of the Soviet Union."

There's much more in an annual report, including an encouraging list of good news. And this:

Freedom House survey data also shed some light on the debate about the relationship between the lack of political rights and civil liberties and the growing threat of international terrorism. According to a Freedom House analysis of global terrorist attacks of a five year period from 1999-2003, 70 percent of all attributable deaths by terrorism were perpetrated by terrorists and terrorist movements originating in Not Free countries. By contrast, only 8 percent of global fatalities from terrorism were perpetrated by terrorists and groupings with origins in the free world. "This suggests that the expansion of democracy and freedom is an important component in the international effort to rid the world of the terrorist scourge," said Adrian Karatnycky, principal analyst of Freedom in the World.

The absence of freedom is a foothold for evil. (More on the danger of partial individual liberties here.)