According to some outside observers, it is intended to prevent internal dissident and military uprisings.

That's the question that the artist-team Komar and Melamid, internal dissidents turned American residents, began asking themselves when the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991.

Crisis mongering would become an increasingly prominent part of their public profile and internal and external dissidents were dealt with harshly.

Nobody can argue with the president's depiction of the Castro regime as an anachronistic Communist dictatorship, nor with his praise for Cuba's internal dissidents.

But proposed legislation in Congress that for the first time would provide direct financial support to internal Cuban dissidents would be likely to do more harm than good.

Neighbouring states, observing these forces as a potential threat to themselves as well as to the internal dissidents, will hesitate before dismantling their own forces.

The peace prize has often been used to send messages - but they are usually directed at totalitarian states, and are most often sent through internal dissidents.

More likely, Iranian secret police, looking for internal dissidents, or spies, or saboteurs.

Another reason is to combat a negative image produced by other nations or internal dissidents, or insurgents.

The reason for this is that the individuals may legitimately share the cause of the internal subversive dissidents and have legitimately volunteered.