Few people speak with as much passion and authority as Natan Sharansky about the irresistible power of freedom to transform oppressed populations. Ever the optimist, however, Sharansky believes that democracy is a distinct possibility among Arab states and in a future Palestinian state. There is no choice, he says: “In an age of weapons of mass destruction and global terrorism, the dangers of ignoring the absence of democracy in any part of the world have increased dramatically.” "You, Mr. President, are a dissident among the leaders of the free world.”