Interview with the head of Vodafone Airtouch, Chris Gent, on the merger between Vodafone and Mannesmann.

“One + One = Five”

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with Sumner Redstone, age 76, head of the entertainment empire Viacom, on the world-wide merger mania in the media industries, the ailing Hollywood business and the problems of a newly divorced multi-billionaire:

“Most of all, I want to be the Number One in terms of quality. And we are. I have to leave the matter of sheer size to others for the time being – unfortunately. … We don’t want to join forces with Internet companies whose stock market value is inflated and whose share prices will immediately collapse after a merger. I prefer real companies with real profits. … I have spent my entire life fighting monopolies. That’s why we are never going to behave like a monopolist. Nobody needs to be afraid of Viacom. … Ever since the film script to “Titanic” was written, we gave it our full backing, unlike many other studios. Scripts are the most important thing. You can never make a really successful film using a poor script. … Phyllis is a really lovely woman. But it wasn’t a good marriage. We should probably have parted company earlier. … But this story certainly isn’t going to have any influence on Viacom’s business.”

“Teutonic Procedures”

Business sites: The laws concerning foreign citizens are becoming a handicap to Germany as a location for businesses. Being unable to employ experts from non-EU states, high-tech companies are moving their research activities to the USA and Eastern Europe. In all high tech sectors of German industry, personnel managers and the founders of new companies are complaining of a lack of qualified employees. And whenever they try to close the gap using applicants from Eastern Europe, India or China, they run into stubborn resistance from the employment office. The authorities in charge deny that the problem even exists. They say that there are 35,000 unemployed computer experts in Germany and that the real reason for the industry’s lamentations is its desire to bring “cheap foreign labour into the country”.

“Lice on One’s Head”

France: Up until its privatisation in 1994, the oil group Elf Aquitaine was the French republic’s bribery machine. The gentlemen at the Elysée Palace used the company to support parties abroad or to bribe politicians. Did money flow to Germany too? The “Elf Affair” stands for corruption, sharp practices, fiddles and clandestine party funding, an almost impenetrable web of politics, industry and finance, involving protagonists from top government circles and ranks of the demimonde. And if it is confirmed that having concluded the contract to build a refinery in the East German town of Leuna, Elf went on to help out Helmut Kohl with millions at the request of the French president François Mitterand, then the story is likely to boomerang back at the two monuments of Franco-German friendship.

“We Need Renewal”

Iran: Election campaign in Teheran. The Islamist reactionary die-hards are defending their majority in parliament with all their might against the followers of liberal President Khatami. Nevertheless, the reformers can expect substantial support. The conservatives have left nothing untried in order to arrest the liberal swing of the Islamic republic: from excluding prominent parliamentary candidates, via closing down newspapers that are critical of the regime, right up to assassinating fearless reformers. The reformers themselves are particularly keen to win the votes of the young and the female electorate. Both these groups are regarded as crucial supporters of the reform camp. After all, half of the almost 70 million Iranians are under the age of 20, and they can already vote from the age of 16. It was thanks to the high proportion of female voters that Khatami won the presidential elections.

“The Wall in the Heads”

SPIEGEL interview with South African writer Nadine Gordimer on the process of coming to terms with the past at the Cape and in the Berlin Republic:

“In Berlin, people were separated by a wall; in Johannesburg it was the walls of apartheid. … I see a direct line from Nazi Germany to apartheid in South Africa: when Nazi fascism, the most extreme form of racism, was defeated in the Second World War, it lived on in South Africa; the laws of apartheid were similar to those of the Nazis. … The division continues to exist in people’s minds: that’s the same in Johannesburg as it is in Berlin. … I believe that if we want to establish a better society we have to learn from the terrible mistakes of socialism and the terrible mistakes of capitalism.”

“Absolutely Determined”

Europe: The leaders of the German federal states are worried as to whether they will be able to uphold the public law system. Brussels treats with suspicion companies that are supported financially by local governments. The terms of the EU contract, which are to prevent a subsidisation race and to safeguard a free market economy, bring all those institutions in Germany which are organised under public law into disrepute. Initially, it was a question of the regional banks and savings banks; but German politician fears that it could also have consequences for the television broadcasting system, municipal water authorities and a wide range of social institutions, such as hospitals and nursing homes. The heads of the federal states are trying to explain that this is a proven component of the German economic and social order. Arguments have been put forward, together with the threat of a total blockade of European development by Germany. If the leaders of the local states carry out their threat, the European Union faces a conflict of principle. The quarrel about power and money could paralyse Europe for years.

“Whoever Controls the Door”

Crime: Following the merger between the international rocker gang “Hell’s Angels” and the German “Bones”, the police authorities are now worried about new clashes for power in the drug and red light rackets. The fear that the rocker war could spread to Germany is not unfounded. Shortly after the German Bones were taken over by the Angels, two other gangs also merged: the German “Yellow Ghostriders” joined forces with the Bandidos, of all people, the Angels’ Scandinavian rivals who have thus advanced into German territory for the first time. The police anticipates tough territorial battles during the Expo 2000, the Word Fair in Hannover to which 40 million visitors are expected. Last Wednesday, investigators from all over Germany met in Düsseldorf to discuss the situation.

“Fanatics Are Easy to Lead Astray”

SPIEGEL interview with the chairman of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, Nadeem Elyas, on the reactions of his religious peers to a picture of their founder Mohammed which was published in SPIEGEL magazine:

“Islam forbids all images, and this applies not only to pictures of the Prophet … but of all prophets and the companions of Prophet Mohammed. … The reason for all the excitement is that in a multicutural society, we expect non-Muslims to know what is going to hurt the feelings of Muslims, and to respect them. … Insults and threats are not the right way of dealing with it. … Generally speaking, the integration of Muslims into German society is only just at the beginning. They do not yet have the feeling that they are members of this society with equal rights.”

“Battle Is the Ultimate Experience”

German Armed Forces: Last summer, for the first time since World War II, a German soldier gave orders to open fire on a human being while in combat. Since then, the Swabian lieutenant has been celebrated like a star by his comrades and superiors. Today the officer, who speaks good English and French, regards himself as a “new generation” in a “new German nation” which is on a par with the other European states in both political and military terms.

“I Don’t Invent, I Discover”

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with film director Wim Wenders on his film “The Million Dollar Hotel” to be shown at the opening of the Berlin Film Festival, his love-hate relationship with America and the future of cinema:

“I wanted to tell a love story in a place where you would least expect it. The ‘Million Dollar Hotel’ is a cheap hotel for those who have no hope, the rock-bottom of drug abuse and violence in this glamorous city. … In our film, the losers accidentally get the chance to make big money, probably the only chance in their lives. … In this country I am still seen as an “author-director” and that term has become a negative byword in Germany. In America I am seen as one of the fathers of independent cinema, which over the past ten years has changed American tastes and American cinema like a sort of cultural revolution. … For some years I thought that nowadays language could achieve more than images. But particularly now, in this age of the total arbitrariness of images, many people are being drawn back into the cinemas. There is once again a desire for a place where a group of people gets together and listens to a narrator. Only the cinema offers that.”

“Far Eastern Kidney Killer”

Medicine: An increasing number of doctors and non-medical practitioners are prescribing drugs taken from traditional Chinese medicine. But some mixtures of medicinal herbs can have dangerous side-effects: supposedly gentle medicines contain highly toxic substances. The estimated number of unreported side-effects is substantial. Drug poisoning or side-effects have until now scarcely been investigated in the country of origin of these supposedly healing drugs. Only rarely are the raw materials imported from China checked as to their identity, purity or the amount of active substance that they contain. Nobody knows exactly which substances are included in many remedies, 80 to 90 percent of which are delivered as mixtures. A large proportion of Chinese medicinal herbs also abound with hazardous impurities – chemical pesticides, heavy metals and even traces of tar.