More Plagiarism

Looks like we have another instance of plagiarism on our hands, and this time it isn't some right wing blogger nobody ever heard of. Russian President Vladimir Putin plagiarized his doctoral thesis from a study written in the 1970's at the University of Pittsburgh. From News.com.au:

According to Clifford G. Gaddy, a senior fellow at Brookings, 16 of the 20 pages that open a key section of Mr Putin's work were copied either word for word or with minute alterations from a management study, Strategic Planning and Policy, by US professors William King and David Cleland. The study was translated into Russian by a KGB-related institute in the early 1990s.

The Washington Times reported that six diagrams and tables from the 218-page thesis also appeared to "mimic" similar charts in the US work.

The newspaper quoted Mr Gaddy as saying: "There's no question in my mind that this would be plagiarism."

It's been a bad week for Putin, who is now thought to have given the Iraqis a copy of the United States' invasion plan.