these conclusions seem to depend almost entirely on the freedom house scale -- who can explain more about what that is? it seems to be a ranking, so is it objec

these conclusions seem to depend almost entirely on the freedom house scale -- who can explain more about what that is? it seems to be a ranking, so is it objective and robust enough to fit this analysis, espscially over time? a cursory look at wikipedia makes it look like an arms length extension of the CIA...