Why are these people so glum?

For Independence Day, Foreign Policy has published a rogue's gallery of the 21 least free places on earth, with the unhappy people of North Korea in the unenviable first place. The excellent series is based on the rankings by Freedom House.

The 21 are concentrated, no surprise, in Africa, Asia, and the former Soviet Union. China is included but not Russia--why is that? (Perhaps Freedom House is a lagging indicator?) However, all or part of five of the former Soviet 'republics' are there, as are Tibet and Cuba, just in case we should think that the awfulness of Marxism has been bleached away since 1991. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford