Job cuts: Since the economic downturn in the USA has spread to the Old Continent and profit warnings are turning up everywhere like low-pressure areas, a wave of redundancies has begun to roll across Europe on a scale that has not been seen here for a long time. And it’s not just the staff concerned that are the victims of this unimaginative cost-cutting craze of the top bosses. The massive cuts in well-paid jobs could ultimately even cost the job of a man who prides himself on his excellent relations with company bosses: Chancellor Gerhard Schröder.

“Tourists into the Death Zone”

Mines: Eleven years after the collapse of the communist system, the former border between East and West Germany is covered with grass. But the idyllic impression is deceptive. Despite all assurances to the contrary, live explosives are still lying around in the green border strip. After the no-man’s land had been cleared by the Society for the Recultivation and Utilisation of Land (GRV), 33,000 of originally 1.3 million mines were still unaccounted for at the end of 1995 according to the Ministry of Defence. However, the Ministry nevertheless found a way of sticking to its reported success in clearing the minefields. The officials explained that the missing mines had been “set off by the meteorological events or by passing game”, and attributed the discrepancy to “inadequate documentation [by the East German border troops] while laying and clearing the mines”. Their conclusion: a large proportion of the missing mines are “in fact no longer there”.

“Globalisation from the Bottom Up”

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with the critics of globalisation Christine Buchholz (“Linksruck”), Ute Zillig (“Schöner Leben”) and Sven Giegold (“Attac”) on speculators, violence as a means of protest and political resistance in a society obsessed by having fun:

Zillig: “Neo-liberal globalisation is changing our capitalist system, it’s making it worse. Employment conditions are being deregulated, for instance, and people feel more and more insecure as a result. The scale of the threats has increased.”

Buchholz: “At ‘Linksruck’ we are not opposed to globalisation per se. But instead of neo-liberal globalisation from the top down, we favour globalisation from the bottom up. This offers great potential for emancipation. … We see that young people in our country are also very much affected by the global developments, even though they are better off in material terms. The Shell Youth Study shows how widespread a fear of the future there is among adolescents, for example.”

Giegold: “There is largely a consensus about three key demands: To close the gap between the North and the South, the industrialised countries have to open up their markets to the countries of the southern hemisphere. … The second point is that the debts of the poorest nations have got to be cancelled. … [The third key demand] is a new system of world finance. Particularly for the fast-developing nations, financial crises are a huge risk factor. That’s why the general opening of capital markets implemented by the IMF is wrong. Investors should not have the right to withdraw their money again within a few days and so push millions of people below the poverty line, as they did in the Asian crisis of 1997. … If we have a globalisation of the economy, we also need a globalisation of politics.”

“The Sacred Festival of Fools”

SPIEGEL cover story: Bayreuth is caught up in a flurry of anniversaries: the Wagner festival was first started 125 years ago, and relaunched 50 years ago. But the feuding Wagner clan has long forfeited its chance of transforming the traditional holy of holies into a modern music theatre.

“Sad in Human Terms”

SPIEGEL interview with star tenor Plácido Domingo (60), on the long farewell of festival chief Wolfgang Wagner and the “Ring” cycle he himself intends to produce in Los Angeles:

“You’ll see, it’s going to be a “Ring” such as you’ve never seen on stage before … We’re still working on the funding. … A sense of making a fresh start is urgently needed at once, and they need to generate new enthusiasm and more interest among top-class artists, too. Wolfgang’s insistence on his position is in some ways sad in human terms.”

“We Will Continue to Defend Ourselves”

Middle East: The new spokeswoman of the Arab League, Hanan Ashrawi, on the escalation of violence between Israelis and Palestinians, the hopes of a cease-fire and the reform of her organisation:

“It would be the first time in history that an occupied people has been asked to be lenient with the occupying army. It’s a pity that the truth is being turned upside down like this. This leads to the impression that we, the occupied people of Palestine who are still being deprived of our rights, pose a threat to Israel’s existence. The reverse is true. … As yet, innocent blood is still being spilt. But bit by bit the world at large will not be willing to put up with this any longer.”

“Anatolian Grave for Billions”

Turkey: A Turkish clan has lured Western investors to the Bosporus using good contacts and dodgy balance sheets. Its first victims: mobile phone giants Motorola and Nokia. The network of companies belonging to the Uzans is vast. Apart from Telsim, the family also owns two banks, two electricity companies in Antalya and on the Syrian border, has a quasi monopoly on construction and cement factories in the Southeast of Turkey, plus hotels, two soccer clubs and an extensive media group including daily newspapers, magazines, radio and television channels.

“Dream and Tragedy”

Russia: Viktor Afanasyev, former commander of the Mir, is to fly to the International Space Station. For his ailing cosmic superpower, being a part of it all is the last opportunity– but he has trouble getting accustomed to the new brotherly relationship.

“A Matter of Honour”

Austria: The Alpine republic has been doing things its own way, not just since the BSE crisis. Thanks to an odd couple – an ecologist philosopher and a crony of Jörg Haider’s, the head of the ultra-right-wing FPÖ, one of the coalition parties in the Austrian government. “Ja! Natürlich” (Yes - naturally) is the biggest ecological success story in Europe. Last year the Billa group, part of the Cologne-based Rewe empire, turned over 350 million marks with its range of “gentle” foods. The group concludes five-year contracts with the farmers, guarantees fair prices, and requires them to carry out strict checks. A follower of Jörg Haider’s working side by side with a critical ecologist, and behind them an adviser to the chancellor and a staunch conservative? “Ja! Natürlich” is profoundly Austrian, a campaign that crosses party boundaries, almost patriotic, like virtually all national success stories of the post-war era.

“Farm Power”

Energy: Germany wants to cut its emission of greenhouse gasses by generating electricity by environmentally friendly means. Power generated using wood, grass, liquid and solid manure can be similarly successful to wind power in this respect. Some ten percent of Germany’s power needs could be covered by biomass. Since the combustion of biomass (“a renewable resource”) only releases the same amount of carbon dioxide that was previously removed from the atmosphere, electricity generated using biomass is regarded as being neutral in terms of its effect on the climate. Now the pioneers are hoping that their products will be in greater and greater demand at home and abroad, the more industrial nations – and later also developing nations – are obliged to limit their emissions of greenhouse gases.