I'm not doubting the veracity of this next story; I just look around my own nation and see a rank cesspool so it is hard for me to gear up and criticize others.
Anyhow, this is what we are being treated to for news in this little corner of the world.
"In China, academic cheating is rampant; Some say practice harmful to nation" by Gillian Wong, Associated Press | April 11, 2010
LIUZHOU, China — The former schoolteacher ghostwrites for professors, students, government offices — anyone willing to pay his fee, typically about $45....
Ghostwriters?
See: MSM Monitor Going Through Menopause
You understand my attitude now, 'eh?
Ghostwriting, plagiarizing, or faking results is so rampant in Chinese academia that some experts worry that it could hinder China’s efforts to become a leader in science.
Crap is rampant in AmeriKa. I know; I attended and graduated from a college.
The communist government views science as critical to China’s modernization....
State-run media recently exulted over reports that China publishes more papers in international journals than any country except the United States. But not all the research stands up to scrutiny....
Reminds me of my newspapers.
“Academic fraud, misconduct, and ethical violations are very common in China,’’ said professor Rao Yi, dean of the life sciences school at Peking University. “It is a big problem.’’
Here, too.
Critics blame weak penalties and a system that bases faculty promotions and bonuses on the number, rather than quality, of papers published.
Am I looking in a mirror?
Dan Ben-Canaan is familiar with plagiarism. The Israeli professor has been teaching for nine years at Heilongjiang University in the northeastern city of Harbin. A colleague approached him in 2008 for a paper he wrote about the kidnapping and killing of a Jewish musician in Harbin in 1933 during the Japanese occupation. You have to be kidding me.
You call it a jewspaper with all sarcasm intended and they turn around and validate the sarcasm and criticism.
“He had the audacity to present it as his own paper at a conference that I organized,’’ Ben-Canaan said. “Without any shame!’’
What is that they used to say? Takes one to know one?
The pressure to publish has created a ghostwriting boom....
Even in the business of selling research papers, there are cheats....
How about the DRUG and MEDICAL FIELD$?
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And you know what el$e China cheat$ on, right?
"Geithner visits Beijing amid currency dispute" by Associated Press | April 9, 2010
BEIJING — US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner met with a Chinese vice premier yesterday and discussed economic ties in a sign the two sides might be trying to cool their rhetoric in a dispute over China’s currency controls.
Related: China's Currency
In a statement after their meeting, the Treasury Department did not say whether the two sides discussed currency. Calls to China’s Finance Ministry were not answered. But....
An undervalued Chinese currency makes Chinese goods cheaper for American consumers but hurts US exporters by making their products more expensive in China. Geithner, who stopped in Beijing after a two-day visit to India, left for Washington after the meeting.
The decision to hold such a high-level encounter suggested Washington and Beijing are trying to narrow their differences over currency, which threaten to overshadow cooperation on the global economy, Iran’s nuclear program, and other issues....
Just want you to keep the focus, readers, because that is priority one.
And what is with chasing down this guy?
"Crusading Chinese lawyer giving up activism; Questions raised about possible pressure by police" by Charles Hutzler and Isolda Morillo, Associated Press | April 8, 2010
BEIJING — A crusading Chinese rights lawyer whose disappearance more than a year ago caused an international outcry said yesterday that he is abandoning his once-prominent role as a government critic in hopes he will be allowed to reunite with his family.
Related: Chinese Lawyer Wants to be Left Alone
I find it very odd that the AmeriKan press never questions those reasons when our officials cite them. The amount of time being spent on the guy leads me to the conclusion that he is a western agent.
In an exclusive interview, his first since he resurfaced two weeks ago, Gao Zhisheng, 44, said he did not wish to discuss his disappearance and whether he had been held and mistreated by the authorities. He appeared thinner and more subdued than the stocky, pugnacious civil rights defender of the past, though he said his health was fine.
You get the implication right?
At least AmeriKa doesn't hide people away in secret prisons and tortu.... oh, never mind.
Nevertheless, Gao said, the ordeal had taken a toll on him and his wife and two children, who secretly fled China early last year to escape relentless harassment by police.
“I don’t have the capacity to persevere. On the one hand, it’s my past experiences. It’s also that these experiences greatly hurt my loved ones. This ultimate choice of mine, after a process of deep and careful thought, is to seek the goal of peace and calm,’’ Gao told the Associated Press at a tea house near his apartment in northern Beijing.
His eyes brimmed with tears several times when he discussed his family, especially when he described seeing their shoes when he returned home for the first time Tuesday.
“I completely lost control of my emotions, because to me these are the three dearest people in the world and now, we’re like a kite with a broken string,’’ he said.
Among the most dauntless of a group of human rights lawyers, Gao was a thorn in the authoritarian government’s side for much of the past decade. He advocated constitutional reform and took on sensitive cases involving evangelical Christians and members of the banned Falun Gong spiritual group. He was jailed, tortured, and watched by police until he went missing 14 months ago. Vague statements from the government as to his whereabouts drew protests by international human rights groups, the US and British governments, and the UN’s torture investigator.
I can't countenance that kind of criticism seeing as my government is a major violator.
The more than hourlong meeting seemed partly intended to dispel concerns over Gao’s health and state of mind since he disappeared in February 2009. He showed flashes of his previously defiant self, mixing praise for the government’s building of the economy while calling for democracy. But his desire not to talk about the past and his often roundabout answers raised questions about the current conditions of his freedom and if he is still under police surveillance.
Yes, MSM has all sorts of questions -- OVER THERE!!
Gao said his meeting with the AP was a chat, not an interview — which is forbidden under terms of a 2006 parole for a subversion conviction. He hinted at a compromise with authorities, a relinquishing of his past activism in exchange for contact with his family, and perhaps a reunion.
“You know that past life of mine was abnormal, and I need to give up that former life. I hope I can become part of the peaceful life of the big family,’’ Gao said.
He later said: “You know the main basis for choosing to give up is for the sake of family feelings. I hope I can reunite with them. My children need me by their side growing up.’’
MSM never questions that here.
Gao’s sudden resurfacing March 18 added to the confusion. For a few days, he spoke with friends, family, and the media by mobile phone, saying he was at Mount Wutai, a Buddhist retreat, and wanted to be left alone.
Don't we all when it comes to the MSM?
That explanation was so out of character for the normally garrulous Gao that it brought speculation from friends and supporters that he was being pressured by the authorities.
Gao acknowledged his seeming turnabout is sure to dishearten his backers and asked for their understanding.
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And I found this next item interesting in light of certain comments that were made.
"Indian data hacked from China, report says" by Associated Press | April 7, 2010
BEIJING — China-based hackers stole Indian national security information, 1,500 e-mails from the Dalai Lama’s office, and other sensitive documents, a report said yesterday.
That doesn't necessarily mean it was Chinese.
Related: Under the Dalai Lama's Cloak
That just adds to the mystery. CIA front company on operation?
Researchers at the University of Toronto said they were able to observe the hacking and trace it to core servers located in China and to people based in the southwestern city of Chengdu. The researchers said they had been monitoring the hacking for the past eight months. The report said it has no evidence of involvement by the Chinese government, but it again put Beijing on the defensive.
And CUI BONO, 'eh?
Separate reports earlier this year said security investigators had traced attacks on
Also see: Googling China
What came up for you?
“I don’t know the purpose of stirring up these issues,’’ Jiang Yu, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said at a news conference in response to questions about the report....
I do.
When you look at the dividing lines for WWIII, India lines up with USrael and against China.
The report describes a hacking operation called the “Shadow network’’ that researchers were able to observe as it broke into computers and took information, including from computers at Indian diplomatic offices in Kabul, Moscow, and elsewhere.
Hmmmm.
The report said the researchers were able to recover Indian national security documents marked “secret’’ and “confidential,’’ including ones referring to security in India’s far northeast, which borders China. Others related to India’s relationships in the Middle East, Africa, and Russia....
Gee, and who might want to know such things?
I thought they were friends?
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