Cover story: @-bomb – Internet pirates threaten the computer world

“We too have information regarding the efforts of individual states to acquire long-range rocket technology. … But whether developing a national defence system is necessarily the immediate consequence of this, is a different matter. One could also envisage a preventive political approach – for instance the stronger integration of such states into the international community of states. … In the long run, today’s Europe with its 15 member states is going to become a Europe of 27 states, and looking further ahead even 30 member states, within the next 10 or 15 years. In the framework of today’s network of institutions that Europe would scarcely be capable of acting, it would become eroded. The consequence is, to my mind – and I am talking here about the long-term perspective – setting up a sovereign European democracy, complete parliamentarisation. … Europe can only come into being via a constitutional compromise, only through a sharing of sovereignty between the national state and the European union.”

“Like a Waking-Signal”

SPIEGEL interview with Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes on the forthcoming elections in Mexico, on revolutions, dictatorships and the threat to democracy in Latin America:

“The revolution gave us our national identity, because it revealed the country the way it was. Before that, we Mexicans didn’t know any more than other Latin Americans whether we should consider ourselves Spanish, Indian, African, French or English. … Today the opposition rules more than half the country and dominates parliament, and the mayor of the capital is also a member of the opposition. But the best proof of the change is the prospect that the opposition might win on July 2. … We have to reinforce the strength of the grass roots organisations in the villages so that they to not submit to the corruptible local chiefs. … With information being generally available nowadays, authoritarian regimes can no longer conceal their crimes. This has led to a marvellous victory of human rights. From an economic point of view, though, I am afraid that Darwinian battles are going to take place about access to this wonderful world of information and investment. Millions of people are being excluded for good. … The left-wingers have gone into a state of acute shock. But I am confident that they will be able to modernise themselves. They have to dare to exercise control over the market economy again. They should remain true to their tradition and create a political space for the neediest.”

“City of Hope”

Russia: Vladimir Putin has declared Novgorod, the province between Sr. Petersburg and Moscow, to be an example for the rest of the country. A young governor now rules there, pragmatically and firmly – to the delight of German investors, too. How did this region, which has no raw materials of its own, manage to climb from 63rd place to one of the top positions among the 89 provinces of the Russian Federation in just five years, overtaking all others including the capital itself in terms of direct foreign investments? Its most important advantage for investors is the tax exemption: in Novgorod not a single rouble of communal taxes is due before an investment has paid for itself. Another striking feature is the way in which land is handled. Investors can take a very long lease on land, and recently they have even been able to buy it.

“A Foreigner Everywhere”

SPIEGEL interview with the Cuban American pop singer Gloria Estefan on Latin American music, the consequences of her car accident and the Elián case:

“The sad thing is that Cuba only exports music that is already a hundred years old. … The regime prevents innovative musicians from playing the things they would like to play in their own country. …Most of all I wanted to prevent Elián from being traumatised any further … Fidel Castro is orchestrating the whole affair, and that is why Elián will belong to the state after his return … After my serious car accident in 1990 everything changed for me. I had fractured a vertebra and had to learn everything all over again. … I have metal rods in my back which will remind me of it every night for the rest of my life. Compared with that, everything else is paradise.”

“It’s a Complete Shambles”

Hostage crisis: The struggle for the release of the 21 prisoners on the island of Jolo is becoming increasingly chaotic. While enigmatic mediators negotiate without any result, the Abu Sayyaf rebels are moving from one camp to the next with their hostages. The tragic role has fallen to the German hostage Renate Wallert.

“A Prisoner of His Body”

Church: The Pope’s health is firing speculation about John Paul II’s possible resignation and his succession. The augurs of the Vatican believe that an Italian has the best chances – not too liberal, not too reactionary and most importantly: not too young.

“Monster with a Polite Mask”

Authors: Ever since the end of Pinochet’s dictatorship, Chile has been a society that continues to suppress or gloss over the memories of the past. The Chilean novelist Roberto Bolaño, who has been living in Spain for over two decades, recently visited his home country – and provoked it.

“Torment of the Singing Saw”

Music theatre: Israeli composer Chaya Czernovin has set the fears of a mad concentration camp inmate to music for Munich’s biennial art festival – in an opera without words. Without warmth or pathos, or the drive of a plot, this chilly, speechless work entitled “Pnima” – and subtitled: “Into the Inside” – discloses a horrific experience: that the Holocaust can block the thoughts and speech of its victims.

“Glancing behind the Façade”

Psychology: The interaction of 24 muscles makes a face look happy, surprised or terrified. Now a US scientist wants to teach his computer to read facial expressions. The program is already able to distinguish a fake laugh from a genuine one better than most human beings.

“Paparazzi in Space”

Satellites: An armada of commercial espionage satellites is heading for space. At little cost they can photograph any place in the world, be they mass graves, military sites or power plants. Some scientists are heralding the age of “new transparency”, others are deeply concerned. The new generation of commercial satellites can achieve a resolution of one metre – anything smaller than that they miss, anything larger they can pick out.

“We Don’t Make Things Easy for Each Other”

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with Grand Prix racing driver Ralf Schumacher, 24, on the battles with his brother Michael and BMW’s comeback, on pit bait and the stock exchange:

“Every time when we fight a duel on the race track, I enjoy it. We don’t make things at all easy for each other. Only when a third party profits from an operation like that and I lose my place on the winner’s platform, then it’s rather a pity. … During the tests before the season began, we weren’t once able to drive the full distance of the race all in one. BMW hasn’t built a Formula One engine for 17 years now. So it was clear that we would be starting out with an engine that was neither the steadiest nor the lightest, nor the most powerful in the field. And suddenly, in the first Grand Prix race in Melbourne, the thing held together and we came in third.”