“The Unveiled Dignity of the West”

The reasons behind radical Islamic violence are still a subject of controversy. Europeans and American must not permit the “Warriors of God” to talk them into believing that all they have to offer is affluence: their intellectual and spiritual tradition deserves to be defended – also against Islam. The West, Europeans and Americans together, must defend itself against militant Islamism, certainly with arms, but in particular by means of politics that believe in their own, different values, and can only then be credible. But what values are these?

“They Have gone Berserk”

Palestinian president Yasir Arafat on suicide attacks and Sharon’s retaliatory measures, as well as the chances for a return to the peace process:

“To understand what makes Sharon tick, you have to know certain things about his past. Sharon was the first Israeli head of state to violate a taboo giving rise to a spiral of violence, and he did so deliberately. … Sharon’s campaign is directed against civilians, women and children. His tanks, guns and aeroplanes are destroying our infrastructure, the airport of Gaza built with the help of European money, schools, and the Statistical Office in Ramallah, also set up with European and American assistance – the list is long. … Even though Israel is astonishingly enough putting a spoke in our wheel, we are indeed taking action against the instigators of violence and terror, and effectively too. … In spite of my age, I still believe that I will have the privilege of crossing the Egyptian/Palestinian border, and also the Israeli border, in the company of Egyptian president Husni Mubarak in the “Railway of Peace” which he has ordered to be built.”

“Arafat Is Not Our Enemy”

SPIEGEL interview with foreign minister Shimon Peres on Sharon’s action against the Palestinians and the need for political dialogue:

“The military actions have after all prevented at least 80 percent of the looming terrorist attacks. If terrorists are afoot with bombs strapped to themselves, we have to stop them . Unfortunately we were therefore also unable to relax the sealing of the borders to the extent we would have liked. But it’s wrong only to take military action. We have to do more … I think it’s miscalculated to believe there are other Palestinians surrounding Arafat who might be more willing to bring about peace. Also: calling for him to be overthrown only weakens the more moderate forces among the Palestinians. We are undermining Arafat if we say we want someone else. Anyway, it’s wrong to pretend that we can decide on the Palestinian leadership. We have to take the Palestinians the way they are.”

“We Want Peace at Last”

SPIEGEL interview with Sayed Hussein Anwari on domestic tensions, the risk of a new beginning and the role of the Germans:

“We want to give some important signals. The Afghan people have to be convinced that there will no longer be war in the country, and that there’s no reason any more for ethnic conflicts between Pashtuns, Tajiks and Hazara, that we are seriously going to pave the way for democratic elections and that Afghanistan’s women will be given their freedom again.”

“Sleepless in Mogadishu”

Somalia: The American military is spying out the country, which is submerged by anarchy, for training camps of Bin Laden’s terrorists. But Somalis claim that the suspected sites are only homes to goats and birds. It cannot be ruled out that individual fanatics are indeed using Somalia as a refuge, or a base. After all, the terrorists of September 11 remained undetected even in Hamburg. But does that justify the bombardment of the civilian population? To the USA, the Islamic country on the Indian Ocean remains unpredictable, particularly because it lacks those structures which go towards making a functioning state. During a recent visit to neighbouring states, the US State Department’s Undersecretary for Africa said that Somalia is at the moment open to everyone, meaning that it offers terrorist groups numerous opportunities “24 hours a day”.

“Into the Heart of the City”

Terrorism: The pavements of Ben Yehuda Street in the centre of Jerusalem are soiled by the blood of 50 years of hatred. The series of Palestinian attacks began there in 1948, and after the attack of December 1, in which eleven Israelis were killed, war is once again raging in the Middle East.

“Grain of Hope”

Genetic engineering: GM rice is now to be grown in Asia for the first time. When experiments on genetically enriched rice containing provitamin A first started, some 10 years ago, their aims were ambitious: scientists hoped that they could wipe out one of the worst nutritional deficits of the Third World in one fell swoop. Up to two million children still die every year as a result of vitamin A deficiency, an estimated 500,000 go blind. The reason is that, in Bangladesh for instance, up to two thirds of their diet consists of rice. But the rice grains contain no provitamin A, which the human body converts into vitamin A. A spokesman for Greenpeace Southeast Asia says that “golden rice is devil’s food”. “It’s the food industry’s Trojan horse.” Under the pretext of trying to combat the nutritional crisis in the Third World, he says, the multinationals are in fact simply trying to make GM foods – hitherto unloved by Western consumers – socially acceptable through the back door.

“Synchronicity in the Bottleneck”

Brain research: Scientists in Bonn have deciphered the mechanics of memory. Synchronously active nerve cells level the way for sensory impressions to enter into human memory. Over the past years, brain researchers had already come across the mechanism of synchronised 40 Hertz oscillations before: the brain uses them to process visual stimuli. But the fact that synchronisation is also used in memory is a completely new finding. “Memory performers” who memorise long strings of digits do so by associating them with pictures or stories in their minds. The Bonn discovery now suggests that they are making use of the fact that processing information is all the more effective, the more certain areas of the brain are synchronised with the hippocampus and the olfactory cortex.

“Steel Surgeons”

Medicine: Robots are spreading relentlessly in the field of medicine, mill-cutting bones, sewing coronary blood vessels, putting spinal columns in traction, and drilling more accurately than any dentist. Modern intervention strategies combine “key-hole surgery” through tiny openings, endoscopy using miniaturised cameras, and computer-aided diagnostic procedures. But it is the robots that add the finishing touch to this trend. The new robot nobility includes “Robodoc” and “Otto”. Thirty of the US-made systems known as Robodoc are already deployed in German operating theatres. Otto comes from Berlin, constructed at the famous Charité clinic, and is a particularly skilful assistant when drilling in screws. The army of robots in the service of medicine is growing all the time. “RoboDent” for example, introduced last spring in Berlin, minimises discomfort in the dentist’s chair. However, the experts all agree that a lot of work still needs to be put into their development. The wish list is headed by better means of communicating with the robot colleague while he goes about his work. Sensors that measure movement and temperature and automatic laser probing of the area during surgery are meant to stop the energetic, tenacious and quick assistants from straying off on their own as a mechanical beings.

“Transit to Portugal”

Illegal immigrants: Increasingly, smugglers of illegal immigrants are bringing their clients to Germany perfectly openly, in coaches. Germany is often only a stop-over for the sham tourists on their way to other Schengen states. The border guards are not the only ones to be facing problems as a result of the smugglers’ trick of bringing their clients into the country as package tourists, because genuine visitors are hardly distinguishable from the fake ones. Respectable tour operators who offer tours of Germany in Eastern Europe are also in dire straits.

“Munich Repeal of Obsolete Statutes”

Contemporary history: The Free State of Bavaria brought legal action against Adolf Hitler in 1948 in order to get its hands on his estate. To this day, Bavaria lays claim to almost everything that once belonged to the Führer. Bavaria goes to court over Hitler’s personal papers and stops auctions of his personal effects. It even goes in search of reprints of “Mein Kampf” in Italy or Mongolia in order to assert it’s copyright.

“The Will of the People”

Witches: It was not only women who became victims of the witch-hunts that raged throughout Germany for several centuries; one witch in four was a man. One of the main reasons for the persecution was this: between the 15th and 17th centuries, the period of the heaviest witch-hunts, Germany suffered supreme economic poverty as a result of a climatic shift. A “little ice age” led to unusually harsh weather, with storms and severe frost throughout Central Europe. Summers failed to take place, harvests were destroyed by hail, guilty parties were needed.