Stalin, Japan, and the Struggle for Supremacy over China, 1894–1945

Stalin was a master of deception, disinformation, and camouflage, by means of which he gained supremacy over China and defeated imperialism on Chinese soil. This book examines Stalin’s covert operations in his hunt for supremacy. By the late 1920s Britain had ceded place to Japan as Stalin’s main enemy in Asia. By seducing Japan deeply into China, Stalin successfully turned Japan’s aggression into a weapon of its own destruction. The book examines Stalin’s covert operations from the murder of the Manchurian warlord Zhang Zuolin in 1928 and the publication of the forged “Tanaka Memorial” in 1929, to Stalin’s hidden role in Japan’s invasion of Manchuria in 1931, the outbreak of all-out war between China and Japan in 1937, and Japan’s defeat in 1945. In the shadow of these and other events we find Stalin and his secret operatives, including many Chinese and Japanese collaborators, most notably Zhang Xueliang and Kōmoto Daisaku, the self-professed assassin of Zhang Zuolin. The book challenges accounts of the turbulent history of inter-war East Asia that have ignored or minimized Stalin’s presence and instead exposes and analyzes Stalin’s secret modus operandi, modernized as “hybrid war” in today’s Russia. The book is essential for students and specialists of Stalin, China, the Soviet Union, Japan, and East Asia

Stalin, Japan, and the Struggle for Supremacy over China, 1894–1945

Stalin was a master of deception, disinformation, and camouflage, by means of which he gained supremacy over China and defeated imperialism on Chinese soil. This book examines Stalin’s covert operations in his hunt for supremacy. By the late 1920s Britain had ceded place to Japan as Stalin’s main enemy in Asia. By seducing Japan deeply into China, Stalin successfully turned Japan’s aggression into a weapon of its own destruction. The book examines Stalin’s covert operations from the murder of the Manchurian warlord Zhang Zuolin in 1928 and the publication of the forged “Tanaka Memorial” in 1929, to Stalin’s hidden role in Japan’s invasion of Manchuria in 1931, the outbreak of all-out war between China and Japan in 1937, and Japan’s defeat in 1945. In the shadow of these and other events we find Stalin and his secret operatives, including many Chinese and Japanese collaborators, most notably Zhang Xueliang and Kōmoto Daisaku, the self-professed assassin of Zhang Zuolin. The book challenges accounts of the turbulent history of inter-war East Asia that have ignored or minimized Stalin’s presence and instead exposes and analyzes Stalin’s secret modus operandi, modernized as “hybrid war” in today’s Russia. The book is essential for students and specialists of Stalin, China, the Soviet Union, Japan, and East Asia

New Questions on the Battle of Khalkhin Gol (Nomonhan)

Mongolian Journal of International Affairs Vol.19 2014: 49-5

Fostering Evidence-Based Education with Learning Analytics: Capturing Teaching-Learning Cases from Log Data

Evidence-based education has become more relevant in the current technology-enhanced teaching-learning era. This paper introduces how Educational BIG data has the potential to generate such evidence. As evidence-based education traditionally hooks on the meta-analysis of the literature, so there are existing platforms that support manual input of evidence as structured information. However, such platforms often focus on researchers as end-users and its design is not aligned to the practitioners’ workflow. In our work, we propose a technology-mediated process of capturing teaching-learning cases (TLCs) using a learning analytics framework. Each case is primarily a single data point regarding the result of an intervention and multiple such cases would generate an evidence of intervention effectiveness. To capture TLCs in our current context, our system automatically conducts statistical modelling of learning logs captured from Learning Management Systems (LMS) and an e-book reader. Indicators from those learning logs are evaluated by the Linear Mixed Effects model to compute whether an intervention had a positive learning effect. We present two case studies to illustrate our approach of extracting case effectiveness from two different learning contexts – one at a junior-high math class where email messages were sent as intervention and another in a blended learning context in a higher education physics class where an active learning strategy was implemented. Our novelty lies in the proposed automated approach of data aggregation, analysis, and case storing using a Learning Analytics framework for supporting evidence-based practice more accessible for practitioners

E-book-based learning activity during COVID-19: engagement behaviors and perceptions of Japanese junior-high school students

Recent spread of the COVID-19 forces governments around the world to temporarily close educational institutions. In this paper, we evaluated learning engagement, level of satisfaction and anxiety of e-book based remote teaching strategy on an online learning platform. The research involves 358 students at an urban junior-high school in Japan. Learning logs were analyzed to measure student engagement, whereas survey responses indicated their perception regarding the remote learning experience. Log analysis revealed that the average completion rate over 267 learning materials was 67%. We also observed a significant decrease in engagement 3 weeks after remote learning and different subjects and grades. Survey analysis showed students felt both satisfaction and anxiety about remote learning. However, there were significant differences in the level of satisfaction between different grades. The results indicated that (1) maintaining students' motivation is a challenge to remote learning in secondary schools, and (2) we need to relieve students' anxiety about their own progress in the class and their classes after the break. This study is the first to report trends in actual teaching-learning engagement, which were recorded during sessions of emergency remote teaching in Japanese schools. The results can inform the future implementation of remote learning in junior-high schools

Evidence Mining Using Course Schedule

Creating evidence from learning big data has become increasingly important as we can use eLearning infrastructure and store learning log digitally. On the other hand, we need to time and effort to create evidence because it is manual. In this paper, we proposed the method to make evidence easier. Especially, we focus on procedure to automatically select the duration of intervention and comparison data based on the course schedule information. We simulated the procedure and confirmed the making a case based on course schedule information. In the discussion part, we mentioned the points that should be further improved for practical use in the future. Through our method, we will democratize the evidence-based practice to all the teachers in schools

The Great Terror

AbstractThe greatest number of people arrested as “spies” during the Great Terror is represented by Polish and Japanese “spies” followed by German ones. There is a reason for this. During the 1920s and 1930s (and even during WWII when, after Pearl Harbor, Poland and Japan were technically at war), Polish and Japanese intelligence services collaborated closely against the Soviet Union. Of course the Soviet Union knew of this and infiltrated the Japanese and Polish services (the extent is naturally not easy to determine). Still Polish-Japanese undercover work was serious enough to concern Stalin deeply. Iagoda, a past master of counterintelligence, carried out “Trest”-like operations in the Far East, right up until the Great Terror, i.e., until he was replaced by Ezhov. Ezhov attacked Iagoda’s operations and decimated his foreign intelligence cadres. This is little known background to the Great Terror. It is not that there were many spies (in fact there were not many) or that the Great Terror struck actual “spies” (probably very few if any), but the fact of the matter was that the Great Terror took place against the backdrop of fierce international intelligence battles. German connections are sometimes mentioned, but Polish-Japanese connections are not, even though they appear to have been more important than the German ones. This partially explains the greater number of people executed as Polish and Japanese spies.RésuméLa plupart des « espions » arrêtés pendant la Grande Terreur furent en premier lieu des « espions » polonais ou japonais, avant même les « espions » allemands. Ce n’est pas fortuit. Pendant les années 1920 et 1930 (et même pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale quand, après Pearl Harbour, la Pologne et le Japon étaient techniquement en guerre), les services secrets polonais et japonais ont collaboré étroitement contre l’Union soviétique. Certes l’Union soviétique était au fait de cette collaboration et avait infiltré les services secrets japonais et polonais, même s’il reste difficile d’apprécier dans quelle mesure. Cependant, le travail des services polonais et japonais était suffisamment sérieux pour inquiéter Stalin. Jagoda, expert du contre-espionnage, avait mis en place des opérations du type « Trest » en Extrême-Orient jusqu’à la Grande Terreur, i.e. jusqu’à ce qu’il soit remplacé par Ežov. Ežov attaqua les opérations de Jagoda et décima les cadres de ses services secrets. C’est une partie peu connue de la Grande Terreur. Ce n’est pas qu’il y avait beaucoup d’espions (en fait ils étaient peu nombreux) ou que la Grande Terreur supprimait les véritables espions (probablement très peu si toutefois il y en avait) mais la Grande Terreur se positionnait dans le combat terrible auquel se livraient les services secrets internationaux. Les relations allemandes sont parfois mentionnées, les polono-japonaises jamais, même si elles semblent avoir été plus importantes que les premières. Ceci explique partiellement le nombre important d’exécutions d’espions polonais et japonais

The Great Terror

AbstractThe greatest number of people arrested as “spies” during the Great Terror is represented by Polish and Japanese “spies” followed by German ones. There is a reason for this. During the 1920s and 1930s (and even during WWII when, after Pearl Harbor, Poland and Japan were technically at war), Polish and Japanese intelligence services collaborated closely against the Soviet Union. Of course the Soviet Union knew of this and infiltrated the Japanese and Polish services (the extent is naturally not easy to determine). Still Polish-Japanese undercover work was serious enough to concern Stalin deeply. Iagoda, a past master of counterintelligence, carried out “Trest”-like operations in the Far East, right up until the Great Terror, i.e., until he was replaced by Ezhov. Ezhov attacked Iagoda’s operations and decimated his foreign intelligence cadres. This is little known background to the Great Terror. It is not that there were many spies (in fact there were not many) or that the Great Terror struck actual “spies” (probably very few if any), but the fact of the matter was that the Great Terror took place against the backdrop of fierce international intelligence battles. German connections are sometimes mentioned, but Polish-Japanese connections are not, even though they appear to have been more important than the German ones. This partially explains the greater number of people executed as Polish and Japanese spies.RésuméLa plupart des « espions » arrêtés pendant la Grande Terreur furent en premier lieu des « espions » polonais ou japonais, avant même les « espions » allemands. Ce n’est pas fortuit. Pendant les années 1920 et 1930 (et même pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale quand, après Pearl Harbour, la Pologne et le Japon étaient techniquement en guerre), les services secrets polonais et japonais ont collaboré étroitement contre l’Union soviétique. Certes l’Union soviétique était au fait de cette collaboration et avait infiltré les services secrets japonais et polonais, même s’il reste difficile d’apprécier dans quelle mesure. Cependant, le travail des services polonais et japonais était suffisamment sérieux pour inquiéter Stalin. Jagoda, expert du contre-espionnage, avait mis en place des opérations du type « Trest » en Extrême-Orient jusqu’à la Grande Terreur, i.e. jusqu’à ce qu’il soit remplacé par Ežov. Ežov attaqua les opérations de Jagoda et décima les cadres de ses services secrets. C’est une partie peu connue de la Grande Terreur. Ce n’est pas qu’il y avait beaucoup d’espions (en fait ils étaient peu nombreux) ou que la Grande Terreur supprimait les véritables espions (probablement très peu si toutefois il y en avait) mais la Grande Terreur se positionnait dans le combat terrible auquel se livraient les services secrets internationaux. Les relations allemandes sont parfois mentionnées, les polono-japonaises jamais, même si elles semblent avoir été plus importantes que les premières. Ceci explique partiellement le nombre important d’exécutions d’espions polonais et japonais

Flip & Pair – a strategy to augment a blended course with active-learning components: effects on engagement and learning

Blended learning technique has adapted many new digitized tools to facilitate students with flexible and self-phased learning opportunities. The flipped classroom strategy, one of the blended learning models has been limited by low engagement of students in the online component. In the present study, we augment a Flip and Pair (F&P), an active-learning strategy into the blended learning course. Following the AB type single group quasi-experimental design, we evaluated the effects of F&P strategy on the student’s engagement and learning while orchestrating it for an undergraduate engineering physics course. Our results highlighted that there is a positive correlation between the engagement (computed based on learning logs of TEEL (Technology-enhanced and Evidence-based Education and Learning) platform in the F&P activities with that of the performance score (knowledge quizzes and final exam). F&P strategy had a better contribution compared to Flip and Traditional Teaching (F&TT) strategy with respect to both engagement and performance. Also, students exhibited a positive perception of learning and engagement. Based on our findings, we identified the key instructional measures that an instructor can follow to increase student engagement while using the F&P strategy

Allocation under dictatorship : research in Stalin’s archives

We survey recent research on the Soviet economy in the state, party, and military archives of the Stalin era. The archives have provided rich new evidence on the economic arrangements of a command system under a powerful dictator including Stalin’s role in the making of the economic system and economic policy, Stalin’s accumulation objectives and the constraints that limited his power to achieve them, the limits to administrative allocation, the information flows and incentives that governed the behavior of economic managers, the scope and significance of corruption and market-oriented behavior, and the prospects for economic reform