“I’m Really Looking Forward to It”

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with German foreign minister Joschka Fischer on the forthcoming election campaign, his relationship with Gerhard Schröder and Edmund Stoiber – and on Germany’s new role in the world:

“Neither my party nor I myself are suitable as supernumeraries. Regardless of who stands in front, we will present ourselves as a team, quite simply because we have good people. … Edmund Stoiber isn’t the kind of driving force that Europe and Germany need. Men like Stoiber have always polemicised against the euro. Stoiber will have to answer some awkward questions in terms of foreign policy. … We have got to help those who cannot manage it on their own – ‘we’ being the United Nations, the World Bank, also the European Union, and all the others. … The terrorist attack also made it clear how small the world has become. If the wealthy nations don’t tackle the problems of the poor, this can become extremely dangerous for all of us. … The heart of the problem is a profound modernisation crisis in many societies. … During the crisis, the European Union revealed that it is not yet built for the question of war and peace. In the long run, only Europe can deal with such problems.”

“Symbolic Gestures”

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with business consultant Roland Berger on over 20 years of delayed reforms in Germany, the successful model practised by Bavaria, and the qualities of the adversaries Edmund Stoiber and Gerhard Schröder in terms of their economic policies:

“On a local government level, the situation is clear to my mind: here Edmund Stoiber is certainly a better economic policy-maker than Gerhard Schröder was in Lower Saxony… Stoiber succeeds by stimulating the innovative potential of the business world through high-tech and innovation offensives. He privatises state property. Then he puts that money into science, education, research and into the infrastructure, for newly-founded companies. … Germany’s performance simply is poor: it comes last in terms of growth rates, last in terms of innovation rates. We have disastrous unemployment figures, and we are ultimately losing our share of the world markets. … These are the effects of 20 years of delayed reforms in Germany, the lion’s share of which were due to the Kohl administration. Schröder has at least tried to break up the log jam, but he hasn’t gone far enough.”

“Don’t Abandon Us”

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with Afghanistan’s interim prime minister Hamid Karzai, on reckoning up with the Taliban regime, the search for Mullah Omar and bin Laden, the struggle of reconstruction, and the lack of Western aid:

“In terms of the political acceptance and loyalty of our citizens, who simply want peace, this government can rely on their total support. But our possibilities for doing our job are very limited. … The Taliban system has been swept away and is now history. … If the international community doesn’t want Afghanistan to revert to chaos again and to become a refuge for terrorism, the magnificent promises of aid must at last be followed by deeds. However, so far there’s little to be seen of this, and that really is disappointing. I can only hope that the western world doesn’t turn away from Afghanistan again, as it did after the withdrawal of the Soviets. That would be a terrible mistake.”

“If Necessary We Must Die”

Pakistan: SPIEGEL reporter Carolin Emcke is on site in the north-western provinces, where despite all the peace efforts, the conditions resemble those in war: deserted villages, columns of refugees, and heavily armed positions mark the border with India. The old fears of the powerful Hindu neighbour are overwhelming. Under its president and supreme military commander Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan has not only received 600 million dollars in financial aid as an American ally, it has also managed to break out of its long isolation. India sees this as a threat to its strategic supremacy in southern Asia. As always, the conflict with India also involves the trauma of religious suppression. Because in a sense collective fear was the midwife to Pakistan as a nation: the Muslim west of the former British colony India split off in 1947, to be a home and nation for all true believers who no longer wanted to be governed, oppressed and dominated by Hindus.

“Hunters for Stolen Treasure”

Crime: Be it Porsche or Persian carpet – more and more often the judicial authorities are confiscating the property of criminals. Criminal investigators seize up to half a billion euros a year – and, like in the USA, they are allowed to keep part of this for themselves. Many people even worry that the investigators could put the most effort into those cases with the highest pay-off. Because unlike in the past, more and more states are toying with the idea of rewarding their money collectors by boosting their funds, instead of letting the millions vanish in the quagmire of the budget.

“Christian or Predator”

Vatican: John Paul II wants to demonstrate for peace together with representatives of all the world religions. But his own executive staff often take a different view. He would like to set a papal example against the “dark clouds on the horizon”, to stimulate co-operation between and mutual respect among all religions. The Islamic world is the most important target for his message. Many cardinals and bishops have long felt that not only is Pope Wojtyla’s criticism of consumerism and capitalism going too far, but that his basic pacifist stance is also increasingly naive.

“I’ve Always Been Wiser”

SPIEGEL interview with US writer John Irving on his colleagues’ reactions to the terrorist attacks in September, television journalism in America and his latest novel “The Fourth Hand”:

“Anti-Americanism has been turned into an issue. This was a new idea to many Americans. … My literary friends who say that nothing is the way it used to be any more – these people understood little about what goes on in the world even before September 11th. … My desire is to make people cry or laugh – that has always been stronger for me than any intellectual considerations of the prospect of convincing people of something or motivating them. … People who don’t like my work always complain that I write about sex and violence. I’m not held responsible for the way I wrote a book – the critics attack me because of the contents. That isn’t criticism, it’s Political Correctness, the disease that has suffused film and literary criticism: morality and Puritanism.”