Putin's dissertation plagiarized my advisor Dr. King's book! From Washington Times: ============================ Researchers peg Putin as a plagiarist over thesis By David R. Sands THE WASHINGTON TIMES March 25, 2006 Vladimir Putin -- KGB spy, politician, Russian Federation president, 2006 host of the Group of Eight international summit -- can add a new line to his resume: plagiarist. Large chunks of Mr. Putin's mid-1990s economics dissertation on planning in the natural resources sector were lifted straight out of a management text published by two University of Pittsburgh academics nearly 20 years earlier, Washington researchers insisted yesterday. Six diagrams and tables from the 218-page dissertation mimic in form and content similar charts in the Russian translation of the Americans' work as well, according to Brookings Institution senior fellow Clifford G. Gaddy. "It all boils down to plagiarism," he said. "Whether you're talking about a college-level term paper, not to mention a formal dissertation, there's no question in my mind that this would be plagiarism." The dissertation, which Putin scholars have tried in vain for years to examine, is one of a number of mysteries surrounding the enigmatic Russian leader's academic career. The official Kremlin biography asserts Mr. Putin obtained a "Ph.D. in economics" in 1997 from the St. Petersburg Mining Institute, but his thesis was for a "candidate of sciences" degree that is considered at least an academic class below a formal doctoral degree. In a semiautobiographical series of interviews published just after he was named president of Russia in 2000, Mr. Putin does not even mention the thesis, referring only to preliminary work he did on another dissertation on international law at the then-Leningrad State University in 1990 while still formally an employee of the KGB. It is not even clear when Mr. Putin wrote the thesis, formally titled "The Strategic Planning of Regional Resources Under the Formation of Market Relations," although it is known he returned from Moscow to St. Petersburg in 1997 to defend his work. What is clear, according to Mr. Gaddy and fellow Brookings researcher Igor Danchenko, is that large sections of the dissertation's central argument were taken almost word-for-word from the 1978 management text "Strategic Planning and Policy," by University of Pittsburgh professors William R. King and David I. Cleland. Mr. Gaddy said that in the 20 pages that open the dissertation's key second section, 16 pages are taken either verbatim or with minute alterations from the American work. The book had been translated into Russian by a KGB-related institute in the early 1990s. The thesis writer does cite the King-Cleland work as one of his 47 sources, but gives no indication that paragraphs and pages are being taken unchanged from the earlier work. "Somebody was cutting corners," said Mr. Gaddy, "whether it was Mr. Putin or whoever cut-and-pasted the work for him." Western researchers have reported continual frustration since Mr. Putin took power in obtaining a copy of the dissertation. Mr. Danchenko said the Brookings researchers learned that a Moscow technical library had a text of the work in its electronic files. A friend signed up as a subscriber to the library and was able to obtain a copy, he said. Although it may fall short of Western scholarly conventions, Mr. Putin's effort should be seen in a Russian, post-Soviet context, some scholars said. E. Wayne Merry, senior associate at the American Foreign Policy Council, said dubious academic credential building was common in Eastern Europe and especially the old East Germany, where Mr. Putin served as a KGB agent in the dying years of the Soviet Union. "It was really quite common for an up-and-coming apparatchik to get a ghostwritten work done to obtain a degree," he said. "It's probably an open question whether Putin even read his dissertation until s

Asadullah (right) pins up a map during a working group meeting in Afghanistan. UNHCR photo / February 2010 DAFI helps refugee agronomist contribute to growth of Afghanistan ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, February 26 (UNHCR) – Asadullah Salarzai thought his chances of becoming a qualified agronomist were over when his brother was killed in southern Afghanistan five years ago. His sibling, aid worker Hayatullah, was the family breadwinner when he was shot dead in the city of Kandahar. At the time, Asadullah and most of his family were living in Toor refugee camp in northern Pakistan. His parents had fled to Pakistan in the early 1980s during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and ensuing civil war. The 24-year-old was born in the camp and studied at a local school. By the time he reached his late teens, he knew that he wanted to study agriculture at university and then go to Afghanistan to help in the reconstruction of the conflict-battered country. Then the family tragedy struck. The brother had regularly remitted money to the family in Pakistan, and some of this was used to fund Asadullah's education. "My dream of studying agriculture seemed to be over," he recalled. But then he thought about the Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee Initiative, or DAFI, under which thousands of refugees – including his slain brother – have pursued a higher education. Funded by the German government and run by UNHCR, the programme aims to promote self-sufficiency among refugees and boost their chances of finding a durable solution. Asadullah applied in 2006 and was given a grant to study for a bachelor's degree in agricultural entomology at universities in Faisalabad and Peshawar. He graduated three years later and now works in Afghanistan as a natural resources management officer for the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. He visits villages in five northern provinces – Kabul, Kunduz, Badakhshan, Baghlan and Mazar-e-Sharif – and advises the farmers on the best agricultural techniques, particularly for pest control and cultivation of almonds, walnuts and pistachio trees. "I am really enjoying working for my own people and sharing my experience with them and giving them advice on how to better manage their crops," said Asadallah, who talked to UNHCR during a recent trip to Peshawar to visit his family. Asadullah is one of more than 650 Afghan refugees in Pakistan who have benefitted from DAFI since the programme was set up in 1992. They were awarded scholarships to study a wide range of subjects for terms ranging from one to four years. Afghan refugees in Iran have also won DAFI scholarships. And as Nasir Sahibzada, a UNHCR programme assistant in Peshawar, pointed out, "Some of the DAFI-assisted students are now serving in Afghanistan in key positions." He noted that DAFI students serve as a role model in the Afghan refugee community. "DAFI is a window of hope and a tool for change, peace and reconstruction," Sahibzada said. Meanwhile, a grateful Asadullah is trying to give something back. Aware of how important the DAFI scholarship was in helping him achieve his goal of becoming an agricultural expert, Asadullah is paying to provide an education for two Afghan orphans living in Toor camp. One is studying for an economics degree at the University of Peshawar and the other is at a school near the camp. There are more than 1.7 million registered Afghans still living in Pakistan. Some 3.5 million have returned home with UNHCR help since 2002. Asadullah hopes to one day take his own family back to their native village in Kunduz, but Pakistan – the place where he was born and bred – will always have a special place in his heart. By Rabia Ali in Peshawar, Pakistan