"Becoming Faster Everywhere"

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with the board chairman of Siemens, Klaus Kleinfeld, 47, about the sale of his mobile phone division, the most promising areas of future growth, and the lessons to be learnt from his childhood poverty:

"We wanted to help to create good basic conditions for the future. BenQ is using that money to expand its patent position and adjust the product lines. The Siemens workforce will be kept on. Our customers will continue to receive good service. And the shareholders are responding favourably to our leaving the field. So the deal made economic sense too. ... However when it came to mobile phones we were apparently not able to run the business successfully for many years. ... It would be good for us not just to introduce a health card, but to lead the way internationally in the development of electronic patient records. Or else the third generation of the Internet, genetic engineering, the enormous field of power generation. These are huge areas on a global level. And we could become pioneers there. ...Poverty makes you inventive. And perhaps it also teaches you the basic principles of life better. I am convinced of that."

"People Are Really Worried"

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with former US Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin about the German and the US budget deficit, Europe's structural problems and the danger of an economic crisis in the United States:

"Your labour market laws are very restrictive and the social security benefits are very high. And Germany does have a demographic issue. These are the problems you must solve. ... I don't think that the taxes are the real problem. If Germany continues to cut taxes the budget deficit will increase further. ... what you really need to do is increase productivity, reduce unemployment and create sustainable growth. You won't be able to achieve this via tax cuts. ... I think that both the Euro as such and the European Union are a good thing. But the common currency in some instances distracted people from the really important tasks - i.e. the structural reforms that create a climate in which companies invest, recruit and thus generate growth. So far, none of the large European economies has undertaken reforms which create a robust investment climate. ... We have quite a number of issues we need to address. All independent research institutes forecast a ten year deficit of between 4.5 and 5 trillion USD - provided that the most recent tax cuts won't be taken back. In addition, we will see a huge number of baby-boomers enter retirement in the middle of the next decade. [...] And we don't invest enough in education. I don't think that there is one single answer - you need to address the problems in a process. [SPIEGEL: Which would be?] To arrange a meeting between the President, the Chairmen of the Senate and the Congress and the leaders of both political parties. They would then have to bring themselves to collectively take responsibility for the situation. I think that the political challenge is so huge that not one single entity can cope with it on its own - it can only be done jointly."

"The 100 Billion Dollar Deal"

Arms industry: European arms manufacturers are pressing onto the US market, with growing success. Now Airbus maker EADS wants to sell aerial tankers to the US military on a large scale. And despite the fierce resistance of its arch-rival Boeing, its chances are not at all bad. Foreign companies have been getting a better and better hold in the USA since the Pentagon has been forced to keep a closer eye on the price of arms due to the high cost of the war in Iraq. The US market is interesting to European arms companies not just because it is three times as large as their local market. It also offers considerably higher profit margins.

"We Have Made Mistakes"

SPIEGEL interview with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani about the trial of Saddam Hussein, the nightmare of terrorism and the struggle of reconstruction:

"If Prime Minister Jafari wants to speed up this process he can do so; but ultimately the decision lies with the Iraqi judiciary. We have no disagreement with the Americans. ... We do indeed have a big problem with car bombs - but that is not a phenomenon that comes from Iraq itself. Last Wednesday the terrorists boasted that they had set up the first entirely Iraqi suicide commando. That proves that this form of terrorism is being forced upon us. ... Go to Kurdistan or other parts of the country, and you'll see a flourishing economy. On the markets there you will find things that were never seen under Saddam Hussein. ... After losing the last Gulf War, the standard of living was disastrous: a doctor earned 15 dollars a month, nowadays he makes several hundred. The income of police officers has also risen by a factor of ten. Iraq does not consist only of Ramadi and Falluja, we have many successes to show too.

"Dual Enforcement of Liability"

Compensation: Corporations and trade unions are demanding that the Federal government fork out millions for corporate shareholdings that were expropriated by the Nazis. In many cases, the companies no longer exist, and they in turn were involved in other enterprises most of which ceased to exist more than half a century ago. But before these companies became history, they owned land - some of it in Eastern Germany. While compensation was paid after the War for property expropriated in the West, former company owners and their heirs can now stake a claim in these East German latifundia too, some of which have already changed hands several more times.

"Moscow's Unloved Booty"

Russia: Sixty years ago, Königsberg disappeared from the map to be replaced by Kaliningrad. This weekend the town is celebrating its 750-year anniversary together with President Vladimir Putin and Gerhard Schröder. But what is to become of this Russian island in the middle of Europe? Königsberg was the cradle of Prussia and the place where the coronation of its kings took place, it was the home not just of Immanuel Kant, but also of Johann Gottfried Herder, E.T.A. Hoffmann, Käthe Kollwitz and Hannah Arendt, a symbol of cosmopolitanism and enlightenment - but that Königsberg no longer exists. Its historic centre had already been destroyed half a year before the war ended, during an attack by 800 British Lancaster bombers. Then, for over 45 years, a blanket of leaden gloom descended on the northern edge of East Prussia. Kaliningrad was a no-go area bristling with nuclear missiles and out of bounds to foreigners - Moscow's outpost on the Baltic Sea. Even Soviet citizens needed a special permit to enter the sealed-off area. The debate over which historic legacy Russian Kaliningrad can lay claim to is not just an academic question. What is at issue is the future perspectives of a town which does not truly own up to its past. Whether or not Kaliningrad will indeed become part of the new Europe - this is of enormous interest to most of its 968,000 inhabitants; but also to the leaders in Moscow.

"A Town Like a Promise"

Emancipation: They have high-paying jobs, are the driving force behind the Turkish economic miracle, and talk like the women in "Sex and the City". In Istanbul, a young generation of women is staging a gentle revolution - against fundamentalism, for a modern Turkey. Many women in Istanbul would only wear a headscarf nowadays as a means of protection in bad weather. To many women, the city holds the promise of a Turkish modern age, a promise which already lured the generation of their parents to it. In Turkey, one professor in three, one doctor in three, and one lawyer in four is a woman; and more women hold executive positions in companies than do in Germany. Seventy percent of Turkish women with a university degree are in paid employment. But alongside this elite, an army of individuals are still humiliated, enslaved and beaten - simply because they are women.

"The Best Goals Are Scored in One's Head"

Zeitgeist: The cultural programme for the FIFA World Cup, due to cost 30 million euros, intends to use art, fun and games to demonstrate just how easy-going Germany has become. That gives rise to a new concern: Who will rescue the game of football from showmen and intellectuals? The chief cultural planner for the World Cup, André Heller, has already announced the next of no less than 40 projects. The vivacious Viennese was invited to assume this football office by Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and FIFA back in the year 2000 - and from the outset has confessed to being entirely ignorant of the game. Since the British author Nick Hornby managed the feat in 1993 of landing a hit both in the feature pages of the papers and in the stadium with his wonderfully garrulous fan monologue "Fever Pitch", the dams appear to have been swept away: the game is entirely in the hands of the cerebral artists.

"Negotiating Instead of Treating"

Psychiatry: A model project in Hamburg allows schizophrenics to decide largely for themselves whether to take drugs and how long to remain in hospital. In the newly set-up Treatment Unit for Schizophrenia at Hamburg's Klinikum Nord, the duration of hospitalisation is now open to negotiation. If patients feel stable enough, they can go back to sleeping at home any time they like, provided there is no risk of suicide. Each patient chooses his or her personal therapy companion from the team as a mediator and confidante who spends a large amount of time with him or her, coordinates treatment, keeps in contact with his or her family or office-based psychiatrist or talks to landlords or employers when necessary.