Foreign Affairs committee  We don't really know what the new administration's policy is on anything so far. It's important to emphasize that. Not only do we not have clear statements of policy, but we don't even have key personnel in positions who would be able to either formulate or implement it. That is

Foreign Affairs committee  Absolutely. It's the average of the eight post-Communist countries that joined the EU in 2004, so their scores are average.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, I think Georgia does represent a partial exception to the region's governance pathologies, and to a certain extent, that is a credit to the early years of the Saakashvili government when a lot of the functions of the state were dramatically improved. You see that in the regu

Foreign Affairs committee  It's a shame that the chart's not in front of you. I was making a comparison between what we call in the book the six “in-between” countries—Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, those six states, or what the EU calls the “Eastern Partnership” countries—on

Foreign Affairs committee  I wanted to address one of the questions you put to us today, specifically the question about the way in which the relations between Russia and the west impact development in the region we're talking about. This is partly adapted from a recent book I co-authored with Timothy Colt

Foreign Affairs committee  I can hear you.

Foreign Affairs committee  I'll try my best.