“Send in the Air Force”

Air safety: The German government and military are making plans for the ultimate terrorist attack. Fighter jets would have to shoot down hijacked airliners before they could be crashed into nuclear power stations, for instance. Particularly thorough checks on passengers and armed sky marshals in the planes are the German solution to the problem – officially. But this line of approach is crumbling. Once an aircraft that has been hijacked by terrorists is approaching a nuclear power plant it will be too late for a discussion of principles, airforce commanders are arguing. They point out that nearly all NATO states have recognised this and passed the appropriate legislation following September 11. Germany is pretty much on its own, they say, and there’s no time to lose.

“Divide and Rule”

Iraq: Washington is vigorously urging for Saddam’s scientists to be interviewed. Baghdad is threatening with apocalyptic scenarios, and in London opposition leaders have been holding a conference. The religious and ethnic minorities in the country are worried about persecution and arbitrariness. Washington wants a change in regime, and to achieve that it needs a sound reason for going to war. The sooner, the better. Washington wants to find a provocation, not to prevent one. And European and Middle-Eastern diplomats in Baghdad say that Saddam’s inner circle of power has understood this point very well. A high-ranking Middle-Eastern diplomat says that the West underestimates the role that Saddam has assigned to his Arab neighbours in the current conflict. Inside the country, too, Saddam the tactician is back to his old form, despite the pressure being exerted on him.

“Let Them Bark Away”

Brief interview with Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic about the failed Serbian presidential elections and his marred relationship with Yugoslav president Vojislav Kostunica:

“President Kostunica’s destructive nihilism will not affect the system. … We have the majority within the governing alliance. … By the end of 2003, at the latest, we will have a new constitution – and a new president. … I give my word of honour: I don’t know the current whereabouts of General Ratko Mladic, who is wanted by The Hague War Crimes Tribunal.”

“Tadzio’s Beautiful Secret”

Literature: Who was the blond youth, one of Thomas Mann’s most famous characters, originally modelled on? A Polish baron thought he recognised himself in the novella “Death in Venice”, but new documents raise doubts about his version. Was the poet infatuated with another young boy?

“On a Drip-Feed of Power”

Russia: The investment management of the Kremlin is a wealthy state within a state. Putin’s major-domo hands out social favours and so keeps the top officials favourably disposed towards his master. By historic standards, Vladimir Koshin, 43, represents an institution which most heads of state in the Western world have long relinquished: he is the Kremlin’s major-domo, the President’s steward. His rank corresponds to that of a deputy prime minister, with a range of responsibilities resembling those of a corporate managing director. His 350-strong army of officials is in charge of administrating and collecting the fiefs of power – from the President’s state aircraft, through the ministers’ official cars, to the passes for the Kremlin’s canteens: to each their own, in a finely graded hierarchy.

“Sender Charged”

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with head of the German post office, Klaus Zumwinkel, 59, about the political crossfire which is currently wreaking havoc on his balance sheets, the laborious struggle to become the world’s number one, and the question as to when the German government should withdraw from the company altogether:

“The European Union’s decision [that the post office must pay a penalty of about 850 million euros to the Ministry of Finance for cross-subsidisation] really did surprise us, since some cases of genuine financial assistance exist which have not resulted in any consequences. When Romano Prodi was Italy’s prime minister, his post office service received nine billion euros in government grants. Now he’s president of the European Commission … Our exclusive licence for the letter business expires in 2007. After that, all our services will be facing competition. The federal government ought to get rid of its shares before then. … We do after all achieve pre-tax profits of at least 2.2 billion euros.”

“All or Nothing”

SPIEGEL interview with Mathias Döpfner, 39, the board chairman of the Axel Springer Verlag, about the aftershocks of the Kirch collapse, and the end of his television plans:

“It wasn’t our intention to drive Kirch out of the publishing company. But in the absence of viable alternatives we were forced to exercise the put option. After that, a conflict arose which had to be decided. The fact that the conflict was ultimately resolved in our favour had a liberating effect on this company. … Right from the start our strategy was to go into television all the way, or not at all. … After months of negotiating with the insolvency managers we do not see any result that would prompt us to bump up our shares. If things remain as they are, the decision has already been made. We will in future concentrate on our core area of business: print media and what can be made of them via digital distribution channels.”

“The Empty Throne”

SPIEGEL cover story: Is God merely 2000 years old? Did he originally even have a wife? Archaeologists have found various heathen relics and gilded idols in Israel. Their finds provide new insights into the origins of the monotheistic world religions. The investigators come from all sorts of different fields. Pollen analysts are roaming through Judaea and Samaria, which are currently under military occupation. Specialists in Middle Eastern studies are deciphering tablets of cuneiform script. And old texts from the Nile also hold clues about the true story of the Hebrews. The historic basis of the Bible, in particular, is being shaken.

“God’s Secret Children”

Church: They are not really supposed to exist – children whose fathers are priests. But they do exist, and are denied, hidden away or aborted before birth. And so life often becomes hell on earth for the secret offspring of Catholic priests. In many places these children are treated as if they were something that no longer officially exists: unwanted bastards. They know nothing about where they come from. Or else they have to conceal the identity of their fathers.

“The Contemporary”

Advisors: For history professor Heinrich August Winkler, the move of the government to Berlin became the chance of a lifetime – he wrote a best-seller about recent German history and became an advisor to politicians from all parties. Today, the proximity of the university to the political classes in the German capital gives him the opportunity to invite ministers, MPs, journalists and diplomats to his seminars as lecturers. As a visiting professor to Harvard University, Winkler has seen how closely the political and academic establishment sometimes work together in the United States. And so the professor – who had long achieved recognition among experts for his work on the Weimar Republic, the labour movement and liberalism – has become an intellectual authority with the arrival of the Bonn politicians in Berlin.

“Baroque Goes Broadway”

Musical theatre: In Erfurt, Johann Sebastian Bach is for the first time being performed on an operatic stage – in a cunning mixture of styles by the American composer Stanley Waldon. Waldon blends his Bach medley with style: hymns, organ music, Well-Tempered Clavier, the art of the fugue – a panoply of mobile, Baroque treasures. But pure Bach remains the exception in the score. Sometimes Walden plays two Bach melodies simultaneously, distorting them through such synchronous doubling, sometimes he will add his own weird accompaniment to Bach’s original melody. Instead of an overture, the names of all Bach’s children are recited, based on the notes representing the four letters of their famous name, and without any musical backing at all.

“The Living Clouds”

Astronomy: A German astrobiologist has reanalysed the data collected by earlier planetary probes and has stumbled across some mysterious phenomena. His incredible hunch: there may after all be living organisms on Venus. Life is probably not possible on the surface of Venus – but how about the Venusian skies? At a height of 50 kilometres, temperatures only range between 30 and 80 degrees, and air pressure is similar to that on the surface of Earth. It has been known for some time that micro-organisms can be swirled up into the air to heights of many kilometres where they can serve as condensation nuclei for clouds. But until now researchers had completely ruled out that organisms might survive at such lofty heights, let alone reproduce: here on Earth, cloud temperatures are a frosty minus 56 degrees, hard ultra-violet radiation damages living cells, and there are scarcely any nutrients available. Venus, with its permanent cloud cover, has much denser, longer-lived and warmer clouds. Droplets of water vapour, which could support microbes, are bigger than on Earth and remain airborne for months – unlike on Earth where they usually fall as rain within a few days.

“Ten Days of Tension”

SPIEGEL interview with twice Olympic champion Simon Ammann about the forthcoming ski-jumping event “Vierschanzentournee”, his quest for steady performance, and the comparisons with storybook hero Harry Potter:

“The comparison with Harry Potter is totally wrong, really. There is no magic involved in ski-jumping. I had to work hard for my success. … The strain among the athletes is enormous; you are stretched to the limit for ten days. There’s always someone wanting something from you, always someone calling out your name. That leaves your nerves in shreds. But I’m motivated by all the bustle. I want to be good where the most people are watching, where viewing figures are highest. … One week I’m jumping well, the next week badly. What distinguishes a top athlete like Adam Malysz is that his performance is good all the time – no matter whether it’s snowing or windy, hot or cold. That’s the point that I’d like to get to.”