Putin accused of plagiarising his PhD thesis

timesonline ^ | March 26, 2006 | Tony Allen-Mills

[ncountylee]

THE career of President Vladimir Putin of Russia was built at least in part on a lie, according to US researchers. A new study of an economics thesis written by Putin in the mid-1990s has revealed that large chunks of it were copied from an American text.

Putin was labelled a plagiarist yesterday after a pair of researchers at the Brookings Institution, a Washington DC think tank, established that the Russian president’s academic credentials were based on a dissertation he had lifted in part verbatim from the Russian translation of a management study written by two professors at the University of Pittsburgh in 1978.

According to the Kremlin’s official biography, Putin, 53, obtained a PhD in economics from the St Petersburg Mining Institute in 1997. But the US researchers also established that his thesis was for a lesser degree that would not have entitled him to a full doctorate.

The embarrassing revelation that Putin, a former KGB agent, may have cheated and lied about his qualifications follows a long search by US scholars for evidence of the president’s academic prowess. A copy of the thesis was eventually located in the electronic files of a Moscow technical library.

[spanalot]

"That Putin, or anyone else graduating from a Soviet or Post-Soviet university may have cheated is not in the least surprising. It'd happen more here in the US if it was easier to get away with."

I am sick and tired of you and your ilk claiming that there is no difference between the US and Russia - I think you are a Kremlin troll and I don't believe you are retiring this month from the Army and Air Force.

[Romanov]

That's what happens to a society when they've stolen technology and reversed engineered it. They don't have a basis upon which to rely on and troubleshooting problems becomes a huge issue.

[Romanov]

I suggest you invest in some reading comprehension training. You've once again misrepresented what I said.

BTW, is it your position that cheating does not occur on university campuses? Or are all those cheating scandals fabrications?

If you think an American wouldn't cheat to get a degree you are sadly and unfortunately mistaken. There is plenty of press, data, and studies available that prove this point. Might I also remind you that there are tons of liberals attending liberal colleges and doing things that liberals are wont to do - cheating, drug taking, etc. Merely pointing this fact out does not in any way, shape, or form, infer that the U.S. is the same as Russia.

Furthermore, the ability to recognize our (American) problems does not equate to shilling for the Russians. That's what makes America great. The right to discuss our plusses and minuses openly. And the ability to solve these problem areas.

When you equate criticism of bad things that happen in the US with treason you end up using Stalinist tactics - after all, according to the Soviets there was NOTHING bad in the Soviet Union and those who claimed bad things were happening were labeled traitors.

[GarySpFc]

I wish I had the lifetime pension spanalot says you're not going to receive. :)

[Emmet Fitzhume]

"Ripping off American research is a timeless Russian tradition.."

I know.

Every single time I see a photo of the Buran, it just pisses me off BIG TIME.

But, I feel a sigh of relief when I realize that these liars, cheaters and thieves clearly did NOT win.

If Putin plagiarized, then it is merely a matter of time before he loses all credibility as a leader.

Countless Russian military atrocities in Grozny, the Beslan school massacre, nuclear sales with Iran and his Stalinesque fist toward the media are already nails in his coffin.

Hopefully this will turn out to be one more.

[vertolet]

IMO 5 pages of 218-page thesis do not make all the thesis plagiarism.

Every thesis must have science sources and basis. It's impossible to make a dissertation from zero.

[strategofr]

"The refusal to abide by the protocols of the Helsinki Accords, persecuting political dissidents and/or refuseniks like Natan Sharansky and Andrei Sakharov, artistic/literary giants like Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshnikov, etc., these were all manifestations of a condition known as Leninsim/Stalinism, which the Soviet Union never completely abandoned."

I agree and please excuse me for speaking in a narrow context. Your usage of the term is more correct than mine in terms of "general usage", which is the correct criteria for language. I should've made my point in another way.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Every single time I see a photo of the Buran, it just pisses me off BIG TIME.

You'll love the TU-4 "Bull" then.

[nativeRussian]

=the gap between the Soviet Union and the West accelerated, because the base of any scientific, intellectual progress had been effectively destroyed by five+ decades of Stalinism.=
Lenin exiled to Europa many Russian scientist's, philosophers and intellectual people (the story about two passenger-ships full with intellectual people in 1922).
New learned society was created in devastated Russia where 80% population were illiterate absolutely.
1924-1953 were years of Stalin's reign (by the way +3 decades only). It was terrible time undoubtedly, but it was time of renovation of the state include creation of "socialistic science".
All Stalin's successors only wasted up to breakdown of the state. We all hate ruthless time of Stalin's reign but let us face it and be equitable with history.

[nativeRussian]

=Every single time I see a photo of the Buran, it just pisses me off BIG TIME. =
Please, read old discussion on
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1529935/posts
and you'll see something new for yourself

[spanalot]

"=Every single time I see a photo of the Buran, it just pisses me off BIG TIME. =
Please, read old discussion on
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1529935/posts
and you'll see something new for yourself."

Wow - that is alot of blown up roof due to maintenence problems! It looks like the Russskies could not read the instructions that they stole.

[b2stealth]

Wait till you see Tu-160 a complete copy of B1-B made possible by Putin's colleagues :)

[nativeRussian]

Yes, sir!! Only Russia has such stupid government composed of former communist & comsomolets who are always ready to sell out even own state completely or to throw out results of labor thousands people like with "Buran" case.

[nativeRussian]

=Wait till you see Tu-160 a complete copy of B1-B made possible by Putin's colleagues =
Most likely it is impossible, because both aircrafts are under military secret. Let's compare Russian steam locomotives which certainly were duplicated from American.. it will flatter yours American vanity much more.

[b2stealth]

Magic of the Internet -

Tu-160

B1-B

Hm..

[spanalot]

Ahh - another Putie troll.

[nativeRussian]

=Magic of the Internet =
Yes, we can find out ALL in the Internet, for example:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2006-03-23-strategic-missile-threat_x.htm

[b2stealth]

Why do you post random articles???

[spanalot]

Its called a "Straw Dog"

[cray74]

"Wait till you see Tu-160 a complete copy of B1-B made possible by Putin's colleagues :) "

The Tu-160 definitely has a lot of resemblance to the B1-B, but there are also substantial differences. Basically, the Russians made the Tu-160 bigger and faster than the B-1B. Some points of comparison:

Engine thrust per engine: 30,000lbs (B1B) vs 55,000lbs (Tu160)

Gross takeoff weight, max: 477,000lbs (B1B) vs 600,000lbs (Tu160)

Wingspan (extended): 137ft (B1B) vs 182ft (Tu160)

Length: 146ft (B1B) vs 178ft (Tu160)

Speed: 900mph (B1B**) vs 1400mph (Tu160)

Unrefueled ranges and internal bomb loads end up being similar, though.

**The B1A had a top speed of ~1450mph at 50,000ft. This feature was removed in the B1B production model.

The Tu160 and the B1B are rather like the Buran and US shuttle: strikingly similar on the surface, but with significant differences under the hood. The Tu160 definitely isn't a rivet-for-rivet copy of American hardware like the Tu4 Bull.