“Thousandfold Disappointment”

SPIEGEL cover story: Mass unemployment, the Telekom fiasco, the scandal involving defence minister Rudolf Scharping – in the election campaign, the luckless Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, once the chancellor of the media, faces the united team of his Christian Democratic/Christian Socialist opponent. The corporate sector has withdrawn its allegiance. Sections of the SPD are considering the previously unthinkable – defeat in the forthcoming general elections in September.

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with Chancellor Gerhard Schröder

“A Lesson in Humility”

Tax evasion: The defendant Boris Becker and his lawyers will probably agree to make a deal with the public prosecutor’s office. In return for the possible probation order, the star would have to confess. But the deal has not yet been settled. Becker’s defence lawyers appear to be in some doubt as to whether to agree to it. Could they perhaps score some points for Becker in a trial, after all? The diplomats in Becker’s team of advisors and defence lawyers warn that the consequences of such a clash could be devastating.

“Promoting and Demanding”

SPIEGEL interview with Michael Sommer, the head of the umbrella organisation of the German trade unions, DGB, about the Telekom disaster, the plans of the Hartz Commission for the labour market, and the last chances for the governing Red/Green coalition:

“Telekom is not a candidate for a rescue operation. Certainly, debts must be reduced and perhaps certain parts of the business will have to be sold off. But to talk now about a change in strategy, reorganisation or even reducing staff levels – that’s something I would warn against. … I have a different demand, directed at all politicians: hands off Telekom during the election campaign. … The principle of promoting and demanding requires us to talk about what can be expected of unemployed people in the future, without blinkers and without taboos. … The trade unions have to recognise that the labour market is changing. And we are not going to resist that, as long as modernisation and social security remain balanced in the process.”

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with Japans Prime Minister, Yunichiro Koizumi, about the global economy and the state of Japan.

“Inbreeding instead of Competition”

SPIEGEL interview with US economist Alfred Rappaport, 70, who invented the concept of shareholder value, about recent outgrowths of his theory and ways out of the crisis in confidence:

“Over the years I have talked to many managers and discovered that the typical CEO believes, deep in his heart, that the markets have a short-term effect. People who think that will set the course accordingly, and sell off their options. The empirical truth is that markets operate in the long term. … I would make the managers sign balance sheets in which the capital flow is listed in full detail and in which every line is explained, saying what it is and why the corporate management believes that this measure will create long-term value. … Fraudulent managers must undoubtedly trade in their expensive suits for a prison uniform.”

“Alone against Airbus”

Scandals: For the world’s second largest aeronautical group, a minor lawsuit being heard by the Hamburg industrial tribunal could turn into a mud-slinging over fictitious commissions, scheming for positions, and big-time politics. What looks at first glance like an everyday legal argument could put the managers of Airbus in a tighter spot than many an attack by its US competitor Boeing. Because to underpin her demand to be reemployed, the lawyers of a fired ex-manager have presented explosive documents to the judges, which for the first time offer deep insights into the internal business practices of the word’s second largest builder of aeroplanes. In justifying their complaint of unfair dismissal of the former employee, they have brought up falsified consultancy contracts, fictitious commissions said to have been paid indirectly to the Socialist Party of France. People refusing to take part in such deals are, they claim, mercilessly given the brush-off and put under internal pressure.

“Condemned to the Stone Age”

Angola: Since the death of rebel leader Savimbi, the exchanges of gunfire have ceased in Angola – but the dying continues. For thousands, help is arriving too late. Over decades, the war served Angola’s oligarchy as a vehicle for increasing its own wealth and as a pretext for neglecting the population. The government of José Eduardo dos Santos made almost ten million dollars a day from the oil business, yet even in the residential apartment houses of the capital Luanda, scarcely touched by the war, the water pipes remain dry and the lifts don’t work. With their illegal earnings from the oil and diamond industry, stashed away in bank accounts in Paris and the British Virgin Islands, the country’s corrupt rulers could feed the entire, impoverished population.

“Sacred Building Site”

Archaeology: Maurice Crijns, a Dutch architect and amateur archaeologist wants to go in search of the burial chamber of King Antiochus on Mount Nemrut. Archaeologists are horrified; they have been trying to locate the legendary burial chamber for 100 years now. Uncovering it is expected to be a sensation of a magnitude that could even eclipse the discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb. Crijns’s plans for opening up the burial chamber are very controversial, because he appears to be guided by extremely obscure powers: his wife claims to have been directly involved in the building of the site of worship on Nemrut – in an earlier life.

“An Island in Search of a Murderer”

Crime: For 150 years, the descendants of the mutineers of the “Bounty” lived peacefully on the small Pacific island of Norfolk. It seemed like a paradise: no drugs, no theft, no violence. But then a murder occurred – and suddenly everyone is a suspect. Almost half of the 1850 inhabitants are related to each other in some way. They hope the murderer is one of the 670 tourists on the island. Just not a local, please. All the inhabitants are under suspicion of murder. That has changed the mood dramatically. “Suddenly it is a question of guilt,” says Gueff Gardener, the prime minister. “One of us is the perpetrator. There are probably accessories to the crime. Some of us are protecting a murderer.”

“My Line Is Skyline”

Architecture: The terrorist attacks of September 11 also dented a symbol of modernity – the skyscraper. Architects are reluctant to admit this. Despite their fatal attractiveness to terrorists, new giants are being planned everywhere – even in spite of the current economic slump. The simple reason is this: fancy, modern offices in glamorous locations are easier to let – even in times of crisis – than offices in more inconspicuous buildings.

“Tell-Tale Biological Paint”

Security: Invisible genetic markers are to make it more difficult to forge and smuggle wines, banknotes and paintings. But it is difficult to tell how safe the molecular markers really are. A handful of suppliers are currently competing, without having uniform minimum standards; in general, they refuse to answer more detailed questions, saying that this would breech the security – a principle mocked at by experts as “security by obscurity”. Certain weaknesses of the genetic labels are nevertheless known: the sensitive substance can easily be destroyed by heat or ultraviolet radiation. However, worse than that, genetic snippets which are found on a certificate can often also be reproduced using similar methods.

“Feel-good University”

From the SPIEGEL series about education in Germany: large German universities have long fallen behind the world’s elite. Reforms are only gradually starting to be implemented: greater freedom for individual universities, but also stronger competition – even the rating of professors by the students. There is no shortage of ideas for reforms, almost every university is experimenting with new courses divided into separate stages, which are meant to lead to a degree more quickly and in a more structured way, with global budgets and new models for finance. But the arduous process of restructuring is slow in getting underway, especially because the educational bureaucracy is only gradually letting go of the reins.

“Greed and Megalomania”

Soccer: Throughout Europe, the dream of making money quickly through television is being smashed. While German clubs have been obliged to rediscover the merits of thrift, in England professional soccer below the level of the Premier League has long been facing financial ruin: numerous clubs are already ruled by receivers in insolvency, 600 professional players are out of a job. And they can point to the guilty party, too: the British pay-TV network ITV Digital. However, the managers of ITV Digital were not the only ones to hopelessly overestimate the market. Leo Kirch, too, bit off more than he could chew, the Italian pay-TV channels Telepiù and Stream are struggling, RAI is negotiating with the clubs about halving salaries, and Spain’s television stations are also making substantial losses in the soccer business. All of them have been inflating the bubble – in England it has burst.