INTERNATIONAL TERRORIST MOVEMENTS, ALTHOUGH SEEMINGLY DIVERSIFIED IN POLITICAL IDEOLOGY, OR CONTINGENT UPON DIFFERENT LOCAL SITUATIONS, ARE SHOWING INCREASING SIGNS OF UNIFICATION WORLDWIDE WITH THE CAPABILITY OF WAGING 'SUBSTITUTE WARS' AND ORCHESTRATING 'SIMULTANEOUS REVOLUTIONS' AGAINST DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENTS EVERYWHERE, ESPECIALLY AGAINST WESTERN EUROPEAN DEMOCRACIES. DEMOCRACIES ARE HANDICAPPED IN FIGHTING TERRORISM, BECAUSE THEIR POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES FAVOR FREEDOM OF IDEAS, INCLUDING REVOLUTIONARY PROPAGANDA WHICH CAN BE SPREAD BY MASS MEDIA OR BY LOCAL AND OUTSIDE AGITATORS. TOTALITARIAN COUNTRIES ARE PRACTICALLY INVULNERABLE TO TERRORISM AND SABOTAGE, BECAUSE THEY CONTROL THE MASS MEDIA AND THE MOVEMENTS OF THEIR CITIZENS AND FOREIGNERS ALIKE. AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR WAR, TERRORISM IS ESPECIALLY EFFECTIVE BECAUSE CONVENTIONAL WARFARE CAN ESCALATE INTO NUCLEAR WAR BY DRAWING IN THE SUPERPOWERS, THE COSTS OF WAR ARE PROHIBITIVE, ADVERSE WORLD OPINION CAN FORCE CESSATION OF HOSTILITIES, AND DISSENT AT HOME CAN SABOTAGE THE WAR EFFORT. ON THE OTHER HAND, TERRORISM CAN BE AN EFFECTIVE SUBSTITUTE FOR WAR, BECAUSE IT COSTS VERY LITTLE, IT CAN PROVOKE INTERNATIONAL INCIDENTS, IT CAN FRIGHTEN A COUNTRY INTO DIVERTING ITS PRECIOUS NATIONAL RESOURCES TO PROTECT ITSELF AGAINST TERRORISM, AND IT CAN FATALLY UNDERMINE THE CONFIDENCE OF THE PEOPLE IN THEIR DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENTS. TERRORISM CAN START 'SIMULTANEOUS REVOLUTIONS' BECAUSE OF THE LINKS AMONG TERRORIST GROUPS, SUCH AS THE PLO, THE JAPANESE RED BRIGADES, AND SOUTH AMERICAN URBAN GUERRILLA AND TERRORIST GROUPS, WHICH CAN CARRY OUT ALMOST SIMULTANEOUS STRIKES AGAINST DIFFERENT DEMOCRATIC COUNTRIES, AS WAS PROVED IN 1977, WHEN TERRORISTS STRUCK AT THE SAME TIME IN LIBYA AND IN GERMANY TO PROTEST THE SUICIDE IN JAIL OF THREE MEMBERS OF THE BAADER-MEINHOF GANG. NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION AND THE INCREASING SOPHISTICATION AND DESTRUCTIVENESS OF MODERN WEAPONS INCREASE THE POLITICAL BLACKMAIL CAPABILITIES OF TERRORISTS DAILY, AND THE TIME FOR CONCERTED, INTERNATIONAL ANTITERRORIST MEASURES IS NOW. --IN ITALIAN.