Competitive Intelligence

Madison Ranked SI's "Best College Sports Town" - There's No Place Like the Home of the Badgers

After yesterday's remembrances of sadness, I thought it'd be a nice time of year to commemorate traditions of a happier nature - like... COLLEGE FOOTBALL! And, I'm proud to acknowledge, Sports Illustrated has announced that my alma mater, UW-Madison, ranks the "Best College Sports Town" in the country! Woo-Hoo!

What does all that have to do with competition, you might be asking...? Well, because Madison BEAT Athens, Austin, Gainsville, Boulder, Bloomington, Eugene, Knoxville, College Station AND Syracuse! (Those were the rest of the Top 10.)

Of course, two other significant rankings hit the papers in the past month or so.... First, UW-Madison ranked Number 7 among public universities in the annual ranking by U.S. News & World Report, hanging onto its rank as the seventh best public institution, tying with the University of California-San Diego, while falling one notch to tie for 32nd among all national doctoral universities. (Harvard and Princeton universities tied for first in that category.)

And, of course, the Badgers were first runner-up in The Princeton Review's party school ranking - jumping EIGHT places from last year's 10th place finish. The University of Colorado-Boulder was the top party school, while Brigham Young University in Utah was the top "stone cold sober" school.

- Arik

As We Commemorate 9/11, Al Qaeda Threat Persists

Coinciding with conclusions by U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein against the aviation industry that the hijacking and crashing of a jetliner was a "foreseeable risk", America and the world mourned the 3,000 lives lost two years ago in acts of terrorism by suicidal extremists. The ruling opens the door to a possible rush of lawsuits from families of victims that died as a result of apparent negligence on the part of defendants American and United airlines, the Boeing Co. and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Hellerstein said that while terrorists had never flown airplanes into buildings before, "airlines reasonably could foresee that crashes causing death and destruction on the ground were a hazard that would arise should hijackers take control of a plane."

Elsewhere around the nation, memorials remembered those who died and those who acted to rescue others.

Still, other reports attest to Al Qaeda's "largely invisible but extensive presence in the United States that includes logistical support, recruiting and fund-raising operatives and financial conduits linking them to the terrorist organization's global network".

However, as the Washington Post reported, counter-terrorist efforts have made progress that might signal weaknesses, as evidenced by a decided shift in strategy by Al Qaeda in trying to open a front in Iraq:

"Two years after the attacks on the United States, Osama bin Laden's leadership cadre has been isolated and weakened and is increasingly reliant on the violent actions of local radicals around the world to maintain its profile. But the al Qaeda network is determined to open a new front in Iraq to sustain itself as the vanguard of radical Islamic groups fighting holy war, according to European, American and Arab intelligence sources."

Likewise, the FBI has all but given up hope of infiltrating terror cells using traditional means:

"The FBI has concluded that it may never be able to plant undercover agents inside al-Qaeda, and so agents are focusing more on recruiting terror operatives as informants and on continuing to get details from those already in custody."

And, Homeland Security is still struggling to get a foothold since it was chartered back in March by merging 22 federal agencies and 170,000 employees:

"Six months after it was established to protect the nation from terrorism, the Department of Homeland Security is hobbled by money woes, disorganization, turf battles and unsteady support from the White House, and has made only halting progress toward its goals, according to administration officials and independent experts. The top two officials under Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge are stepping down amid criticism from some White House officials and elsewhere in the administration. So few people want to work at the department that more than 15 people declined requests to apply for the top post in its intelligence unit -- and many others turned down offers to run several other key offices, government officials said."

Yet, there's a profound sense that the problems that still plague us are not insurmountable. As we memorialize fallen brethren, I'm sure we're all reminded how fragile our lives and our economy can be, even while our country remains strong and resolute.

- Arik

WTO Opens in Cancun to Protest, Tragic Suicide, Agricultural Strife & Debate on Whether “Free Trade” Means “Fair Trade”

Under fire without and within, 146 trade ministers convened today in Cancun Mexico at the World Trade Organization's Fifth Ministerial to discuss everything from enforcing intellectual property (IP) rights for software, music and movies in the developing world to, the primary local issue for Mexicans, the disintegration of rural economies from NAFTA. All this, even while the European Union’s high court ruled European states could ban genetically modified foods, a big loss for American agribusiness, and the suicide of a South Korean farmer that cast a shadow over the event; here’s an excerpt from AlterNet:

“A South Korean farmer, Kun Hai Lee, committed ritual suicide during the WTO's opening day to protest the organization's agricultural policies. Witnesses said Lee stood in front of police lines, declared that "the WTO kills farmers," and then slashed himself to death with a blade. His suicide came on South Korea's Day of the Dead. Few at the demonstration realized what had occurred until later in the day. As word slowly spread of the suicide, supporters of Kun Hai Lee vowed to protest his martyrdom throughout the coming week, possibly starting with a tent city at the barricades where the death occurred.”

The WTO issued a rather weak statement of “regret”, but took no responsibility for the man’s actions.

Indeed, anti-globalization protests were strong in this round, reminding us of the sometimes violent protests at the Seattle round in 1999. Another AlterNet excerpt reads, the “battle to impose genetically-altered crops on Europe has lost American agri-business $1 billion during the past five years. And $190 billion in U.S. farm subsidies has inflamed discontent from Brazil to Mexico.”

CorpWatch has good coverage of the agriculture issue - which really makes me wonder if the long-range planners are at all thinking about their collective future - and recasts the debate as a north-south conflict, with armies of farmers from developing nations demanding the WTO lay off agriculture:

“However, if the north/south rift widens, tensions between Washington and the EU resurface and street protests heat up, negotiators will find themselves in the same volatile situation that derailed the WTO's Seattle round four years ago. Thousands of farmers have already taken to the streets in Cancun to demand the WTO stay out of agriculture. The rest of the debate will unfold behind closed doors as the trade negotiations progress this week.”

A good piece from BusinessWeek reiterates the stakes in this round as well - that the developed world versus the developing world presents such profound challenges to getting this right and fair for everybody.

Finally, NPR’s On-Point had a great audio piece on the growing disillusionment with the WTO process even in the developed world over the continued export of white-collar jobs to low-wage nations abroad:

“If everyone from IBM to textile mills ships jobs overseas, what is left for American workers? If jobs chase low wages, does everyone end up poor?”

- Arik

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Update: Just five days later, talks ended in failure.