Should the German armed forces be deployed in Macedonia? What speaks for and against their deployment?

"Off to Genoa!"

Globalisation: Following the riots in Göteborg, demonstrators and police forces are arming themselves for the next great battle – during the World Economic Summit in July in Italy. However, the violent minority distracts people from the basic problem of the free trade opponents: they have no concept. The angry protests are only on the face of it directed against control mechanisms such as the World Bank – as a rule it is not excessive political influence that is criticised but the absence of it or the wrong type. Instead of leaving the market to its often-cited self-healing powers, stronger corrective measures are being called for. The movement wants to counteract the colonialisation of its everyday world by the advertising and marketing strategists in the large corporations, by means of transparent, democratic structures of co-operative development and market control. Positions like this are in fact capable of winning a majority.

"New Opium for the People"

SPIEGEL interview with French farmers’ leader José Bove on the world-wide battle against globalisation:

"It can sometimes be legitimate to resort to illegal campaigns, if legal action doesn’t lead anywhere. I am willing to accept that responsibility and I’m prepared to go to prison for it. The consequences of globalisation are filling more and more people with fear and desperation, also and in particular adolescents. Many of them have given up all hope, they feel they are victims of an economic aggression. That could explain their outbursts of violence. … The market has to serve the people, and not the other way round."

"Spluttering Express Train"

The German capital: The new mayor Wowereit is focusing on speed in reorganising the ailing state of Berlin. But so far he has not pulled from his pocket a master plan for saving the city. While Wowereit wants to "put everything up for review except for the education budget", new senators are already beginning to grumble – just like the old ones. Only the Greens and the PDS are doing their calculations right down to the last cent. Their cost-cutting list contains some drastic measures. External experts are even more radical.

"At Some Stage There’ll Be Trouble"

Interview with "community organiser" Leo Penta on politicians without a concept, the ostentatious metropolis-mad behaviour exhibited in Berlin, and parallels with his development efforts in the run-down city of New York:

"Everyone says they are concerned about Berlin – but all of them are concerned about getting away to the best start for the elections in autumn. This expends too much energy, and someone will inevitably have to pay the penalty for that. … Large-scale projects, big buildings, showing off – you have to forget about that. Far too much has been invested into the image, in order to shine outwardly and to serve insiders. … When New York was neither willing nor able to solve its deep-rooted problems in 1975, the citizens acted on their own and developed new methods of urban development – such as “community organising”, which works almost entirely without resorting to public funds. … In New York, the initial drive came from trust money, from the churches, private donors and sponsors. … Apart from the schools and institutions that have sovereign duties, such as the police and the judiciary, there must be no taboos."

Der SPIEGEL looks at the power struggle between the head of Infineon, Uirich Schumacher, and Siemens management.

"The Barbarossa Case"

SPIEGEL cover story: The attack on the Soviet Union, whose anniversary is coming round for the 60th time this year, marked the beginning of the end for Hitler. This cruellest of all wars also brought suffering to the families of Vladimir Putin and Gerhard Schröder. The writer Walter Kempowski collected documents about Russian everyday life during the war in the summer of 1941. (Part of the series about "The Presence of the Past")

"Radiant Tranquillity"

Russia: A new law permits nuclear waste to be imported into the country, while entire regions are already radioactively contaminated. Environmental activists are under surveillance by the secret service. The nuclear lobby has been working towards the Duma decision for years. But Yury Vishnevsky, head of the state nuclear supervisory authority Gosatomnadsor, considers the Nuclear Ministry’s plans to process ten percent of the world’s nuclear fuel rods in Russia unrealistic.

"Room with a War View"

Middle East: The intifada is bringing tourism in the Holy Land to the brink of collapse. Even the support of Jewish solidarity visitors is crumbling. In Israel alone, tourist figures have fallen by 50 percent – a sharp drop after the boom in the millennium year 2000. Almost one tenth of the 400 hotels in the country have had to close down, 30,000 employees have lost their jobs. Statistically, there has not been a single holidaymaker among the 600 people killed in the intifada, but no amount of statistics can dispel the fear that one’s holiday might turn into a blood-ridden nightmare. The Palestinian tourist industry, which had just begun to take off, has been hit far harder than its more robust Israeli competition. In Bethlehem, Jericho and Gaza tourism is fast approaching rock-bottom. The few tourists who still dare to visit the country can enjoy the luxury of having the normally crowded sights completely to themselves.

"The Curse of the Cogwheel Brain"

Computers: In 1823 the inventor Charles Babbage was commissioned by the British government with building a visionary computing machine – and failed. Only now has the mechanical computer been completed. With the major order, a tragedy took its course in 1823 which pre-empted many of the problems of today’s software industry: expired deadlines and desperate updates, spectacular demo versions and gigantic bad investments.

"Videos in the Patrol Car"

Police: German police detectives are testing a super-modern radio system – preventing criminals from listening in is likely to cost up to twelve billion marks. Since all the police authorities in Europe are to switch over to the digital technology, the overall figure will be far higher.

"The End of the World for a Poet"

Exhibitions: The lyric poet Jakob van Hoddis was one of the most talented of the expressionists. A Berlin exhibition is reminding its visitors of his unusual fate. Van Hoddis is a welcome case for the history of literature, because his roughly 100 poems and works of prose exemplify the zeitgeist of his generation. Those born around 1890 demonstrated against the approaching war and felt that there was something fishy about the smouldering peace; they wanted to establish a new pathos as a counterweight to the materialism of the Wilhelminian era and were soon interrupting each other in cynical, Dadaist ways; they celebrated the individual and were slaughtered in large numbers on the battlefields of the First World War.