Thanks to both of you for appearing before the committee.
I'll start with you, Mr. Charap. You talked about the stalemate of “post-Soviet pathologies”. I want to ask you some questions about what you mean by the stalemate.
We're studying these last 25 years after the Cold War in eastern Europe and central Asia, and I feel that sometimes we lose focus, in that there's a deep history that goes far beyond the last 25 years. There are historical grievances and economic ties, but also some historical ties between countries, and a certain affinity that some populations have towards either being recognized as more western.... I have a bias here. I'm Polish. I was born in Poland. My family fled here in 1985, so I obviously have a bias, but the Poland I remember is a footnote in history. Many people who come to Canada from that area of eastern Europe don't identify the same way that I do in what I believe is the historical context of today.
Can you talk more about these stalemates? What do you mean by stalemates and these post-Soviet pathologies? I have a pathology, obviously, and it is more, I'll say, anti-Soviet Union, but it has a deep influence on what's going on today, so I want to know more about which countries you are speaking of and what systems. Are they economic, social, or cultural? Are these organizations that were created right after the Soviet Union's collapse that were meant to integrate economies better into the west and are not working today? Could you expand on that?