I was reading the Wikipedia article on Putin and learned that he had a PhD in Economics. (Technically he earned a Candidate of Economic Sciences but they're supposed to be equivalent.) I wanted to read his thesis, which led me to this article: https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Putin-Dissertation-Event-remarks-with-slides.pdf Apparently although people had trouble finding the thesis, it was easily accessible on an intranet in Moscow. Although it doesn't appear to be online (at least, a translated English copy), it was interesting because, as the Brookings Institute article above explains, much of it was plagiarized from a Russian-version of a 1970s Strategic Planning textbook. - Clifford Gaddy, Brookings Institute Russian Specialist and Economist
I thank Dr. Gaddy (PhD - Duke University) for his valuable critique - and admire his forthrightness and especially his courage, in these days when Novichok is so easily available to very wicked and cowardly men.
