Retired border guard Arpad Bella remembers when the fences at the border were electrified. (Photo: Laura Lynch)

• Hungary’s role in the 1989 revolutions
• 1989: Europe’s revolution
• The World’s Gerry Hadden revisits the former East German border
• The World’s Alex Gallafent on owning a piece of the Berlin Wall

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MARCO WERMAN: I’m Marco Werman and this is The World, a co-production of the BBC World Service, PRI, and WGBH in Boston. The Berlin Wall came down 20 years ago signaling the end of the Cold War. That of course happened in Germany but some, including a former German leader, say it was communist Hungary that kicked the first stone out of the wall. It all involved some critical decisions by a handful of Hungarians and a fateful picnic. The World’s Laura Lynch has the story from Western Hungary.

[TRAFFIC]

LAURA LYNCH: Cars cross freely into Austria on this narrow road just outside the border town of Sopron. There are no guards, no one checking passports. Under European Union rules everyone can pass freely. Retired border guard Arpad Bella remembers when it wasn’t like that at all. The fence was electrified, land mines were underfoot and he was ready to shoot.

ARPAD BELLA: [SPEAKING HUNGARIAN]

TRANSLATOR: It was an order up until 1989 to fire if someone tried to cross the border illegally. If someone wanted to cross and he didn’t stop when he was ordered to do so, when that person tried to flee we had to use our guns.

LYNCH: But things were starting to shift at the beginning of 1989. The then prime minister, Miklos Nemeth, decided to order guards to switch off the electricity and dismantle the barbed wire billing it as a cost-saving measure. Advisors warned him against it. They feared there would be a repeat of the violence of 1956 when the Soviets cracked down on an uprising in Hungary. So in March of 1989 Nemeth went to Moscow to tell Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev about his plans.

MIKLOS NEMETH: I was not asking for permission from him but I briefed him. I told him that we made already the decision to pull down the Iron Curtain between Hungary and Austria mainly for financial reasons. For us, or for me, it was the most important thing – to check how strong Gorbachev position was that time. So then I told him we destroying, physically destroying, the barbed wired. First test. No negative reaction.

LYNCH: The fence at Sopron was dismantled. Nemeth made certain everyone knew about it. Laszlo Magas, a professor in a nearby town, got the message loud and clear. Magas had his own personal reasons for wanting to see the Iron Curtain fall.

LASZLO MAGAS: [SPEAKING HUNGARIAN]

TRANSLATOR: In the 50s for political reasons my mother was in prison for one and a half year precisely because she tried to escape to the west and she was caught.

LYNCH: Magas says what happened to his mother inspired him to organize what he and other activists called pan-European picnic at the end of August in 1989. They wanted to hold the picnic at the border, open it up for a few hours as a symbolic gesture, then go home. What neither Magas nor guard Bella Arpad knew was that bus loads of East German’s were on their way to their border intent on escaping to the west. They were in effect refugees who had come to Hungary on holiday and stayed until they saw posters written in German advertising the picnic. Hungary’s government was responsible for the posters – part of a plan to encourage the refugees to the border that day. Arpad and his fellow guards weren’t told about the plan or what to do when the East German’s approached.

BELLA: [SPEAKING HUNGARIAN]

TRANSLATOR: It was impossible for the five of us to stop 600 East German’s who were coming toward us. The only way to stop them would have been to use our weapons. The government simply dumped the responsibility onto our shoulders.

LYNCH: Arpad had only seconds to make a decision.

BELLA: [SPEAKING HUNGARIAN]

TRANSLATOR: If we had tried to stop them it would have made things worse. If we had fired warning shots there would have been so much panic. There would have been violence. We would have had to use force. But if we let them go without doing anything then I would be responsible for it because I didn’t obey the orders.

LYNCH: Arpad told his fellow guards to stand aside. All day long the East Germans kept coming. Six hundred and seventy one of them in total. Laszlo Magas watched in amazement and also with a little bit of fear.

MAGAS: [SPEAKING HUNGARIAN]

TRANSLATOR: Obviously we all thought this might have consequences and in the evening we did get threats. But the next morning people said we made history. And something really important had occurred.

LYNCH: Over the next few weeks more and more East German’s poured over the border. Within three months the Berlin Wall had fallen and Prime Minister Nemeth was presiding over a new Hungary.

NEMETH: I did not do the impossible. But I have done all it was possible that time. And that’s why I am so proud of the very fact that when I stepped down in May 1990 and I went back to see in my native village my father, he clapped my shoulders and said to me son well done.

LYNCH: Two decades later the country is struggling. The economy is in tatters. There are deep political divisions and a recent poll suggests many Hungarians say they’ve lost more than they gained since 1989. Standing at the site of that momentous picnic Laszlo Magas acknowledges the problems but he believes it’s all been worth it.

MAGAS: [SPEAKING HUNGARIAN]

LYNCH: He says, I think yes the fact we got freedom that my family is living in peace. As for the conflicts we’re facing now they’re part of human nature. I’m not going to get into that now.

For The World I’m Laura Lynch, near Sopron, Hungary.

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• BBC coverage
• Central Intelligence Agency

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MARCO WERMAN: Twenty-three Americans were sentenced to prison today in Italy. All but one of them work for the CIA and all were convicted of kidnapping. The case involves the abduction of an Egyptian-born Muslim cleric who was snatched off a street in Milan in 2003 and flown to Egypt for interrogation. The cleric says he was tortured there. Though the Americans received prison terms they’re not likely to do any time. John Radsan served as a CIA’s assistant general counsel from 2002 to 2004. He now teaches at the William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul. Now the case relates to the seizure and then extraordinary rendition of a Muslim cleric. Tell us who this man was – this cleric – and where is he now?

JOHN RADSAN: Based on the public record we believe that he was recruiting people to go and fight in Iraq against American forces. That he was a radical preacher in Milan. He’s of Egyptian origin. And he was stirring up people to fight against Americans and against western interests around the world. He’s not in prison right now. At the end of his rendition he was released and as I understand he’s in Egypt at this time.

WERMAN: And when he was extraordinarily rendered how actively do you think the US government actually participated in that?

RADSAN: From the public record it seems clear that the US was involved in his snatch in Italy. I don’t think there’s much doubt about that. And that he was transferred. One of the questions was whether the Italian government knew about this. Was this a unilateral operation or was it a bilateral operation in Italy. I think it stands to reason that the CIA would not do something that is completely unilateral in Italy. That would make it very dangerous for the CIA officers. It would complicate the intelligence relationship between the CIA and the various Italian services. It would be bad at a political level. Of course if the CIA notifies its counterparts in Italy, they’re taking it on some sort of faith that the Italian authorities will in turn notify the political leaders in Italy. And it’s one of the questions we had in the trial and we still don’t know the level of Italian involvement and we don’t know the level of American involvement. But I don’t think any of these defendants has said that this did not take place – that the abduction did not take place. The defendants say that this was an authorized operation by the United States government.

WERMAN: And at the time what was the legal opinion relating to these kinds of operations in 2003? You were assistant general counsel for the CIA at the time.

RADSAN: I was assistant general counsel. I didn’t advice on this program. But I can speculate what the advice was. We comply with American law. We have to make sure that we comply with the American constitution, with the various statutes that apply to the CIA. When we do espionage in covert action we accept, as an unfortunate consequence, that in many situations we’re going to be violating international law and we may in many situations be violating the laws of other countries.

WERMAN: And for these 23 individual Americans who were sentenced today, are they going to have to be careful where they travel now? I mean would they want to avoid going on vacation in Italy for example?

RADSAN: That’s for sure. They’re not going to be going to Italy. They’ll also have to be careful about other countries that they go to. They’ll probably get legal advice. If they don’t they should to figure out what sort of extradition arrangements may exist between France and Italy, Singapore and Italy. I suspect that most of these people will be limiting their travel to within the United States. They’re not going to take the risk. We have examples of other people that have fallen in the international target. Henry Kissinger was careful about his travel because of various allegations. So these defendants will be in a similar category.

WERMAN: So what next? Will the US try to appeal this in any way?

RADSAN: I think the lawyers that are representing these people, they will appeal. At the end even if these convictions stand I don’t think we’re going to have American officers serving sentences there. In that sense the sentences are symbolic. I think it’s possible the Italians will ask for the extradition but I think it’s next to impossible that the Americans will extradite CIA officers – these are people that were serving their country – back to Italy to serve prison sentences. There’s an irony in this case. And that is that the prosecutor, Armando Spataro, was one of our important colleagues in counterterrorism and continues to be. He might have been coordinating with other parts of the American government beyond the CIA but he is the one that has been leading the charge and getting over these hurdles to bring this case. So in that sense it’s one part of the counterterrorism community indicting and convicting another part of the international counterterrorism community.

WERMAN: That’s interesting. I mean briefly, if these sentences are symbolic as you say, what do you think is the one-line message from them?

RADSAN: The CIA got in trouble for arguably violating Italian law and the CIA lives in a murky world of having to violate the laws of other countries to do espionage and conduct covert action.

WERMAN: Well John Radsan, former assistant general counsel for the CIA. Thanks very much.

RADSAN: Thank you.

WERMAN: And the State Department said today it’s disappointed by the Italian court’s decision.

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MARCO WERMAN: I’m Marco Werman. This is The World. While President Obama decides whether to send more troops to Afghanistan his Afghan counterpart is making decisions about his new government. Hamid Karzai returned to power after a presidential runoff election was abandoned on Monday. And he’s under pressure to form a government that will more effectively battle corruption and terrorism. But any hopes Karzai may have had about turning his political rival into an ally were dampened today. The World’s Aaron Schachter reports that Abdullah Abdullah says he’s not about to play ball with Karzai.

AARON SCHACHTER: Many Afghans didn’t seem to care much how the August presidential election was held or whether there was a runoff vote. Most suspected that by hook or crook Karzai would be reelected. Now Afghans like Wajma Jan just want to move beyond the election mess.

WAJMA JAN: [SPEAKING DARI]

TRANSLATOR: We Afghans want peace and stability. Whenever we come out we’re scared. It does not matter if Karzai is the president or Abdullah. We want peace.

SCHACHTER: It was Abdullah who withdrew from the planned runoff. Still today he called the Karzai illegitimate and criticized Afghanistan’s government appointed election commission for declaring Karzai president.

ABDULLAH ABDULLAH: [SPEAKING DARI]

TRANSLATOR: This decision to award Karzai the presidency has no legal basis and a government coming to power as a result of an illegal decision by a discredited body cannot introduce the rule of law and fight administrative corruption in the country.

SCHACHTER: But Abdullah’s credibility could be called into question as well. He portrayed his pullout from the runoff election as a selfless act. But today’s Washington Post quotes Afghan and Western officials as saying Abdullah was negotiating to join Karzai in a power-sharing deal. They say Abdullah demanded several key positions in the government for his allies and quit the race only after he was turned down. For his part Karzai has promised to eradicate the stain of corruption that has tainted his country and his government. He vowed to reform Afghan laws and strengthen an anti-corruption panel formed last year. But former presidential challenger, Sarwar Ahmedzai, says there’s no chance that Karzai will change his spots.

SARWAR AHMEDZAI: There is absolutely no rule of law. There’s absolutely an increase in the drug business. He has promised so many slots in cabinet to warlords and drug lords.

SCHAHCTER: Ahmedzai had promised Iran-like street demonstrations if the elections were tainted and Karzai returned to power. He says he called those off when he realized it could lead to violence. Still, he says, there is simmering anger among the Afghan people in the wake of the elections, the cancelled runoff, and the continuation of a government widely considered corrupt and ineffective. For The World I’m Aaron Schachter.

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• BBC coverage
• Dreams and Shadows: book info

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MARCO WERMAN: Today is the 30^th anniversary of another out with the old in with the new moment. It was on November 4, 1979 that Iranian militants seized the US embassy in Tehran. It was part of an Islamic Revolution and the reverberations are being felt to this day. Today an official rally in Tehran marked the anniversary but opposition supporters staged a demonstration of their own. Security forces reportedly broke it up with tear gas and batons. Robin Wright is the author of “Dreams and Shadows: A Future of the Middle East.” She’s in Washington. Robin let’s start with the opposition rallies today. In Iran we are still seeing a government divided and there is a potent popular movement there as you know. Do you see this as a start of something bigger?

ROBIN WRIGHT: I think it is. And I think the fact that the opposition managed to come out today despite the enormous risks and the brutality of the regime in putting down anyone who shows up to protest is really quite significant. This is a movement that’s trying to signal that it may not have the tools but it does have the numbers and a certain determination. And this is arguably the most important thing that’s happened to Iran politically since the revolution itself.

WERMAN: So let’s hit rewind just a bit here. Since the hostage crisis in 1979 do you think there’s been something of a predictable ebon flow of how Iranian citizens in the streets there have viewed the ability of people to change things in their country?

WRIGHT: Well there was a period form 1997 until 2005 when the Reform Movement thought that they could put the emphasis in the Islamic Republic on Republic rather than Islamic and that there would be an opening whether it was on freedom of the press and freedom of speech or women’s rights and they failed in part because the president at the time, President Khatami didn’t have much of a strategy and didn’t have the will or ability to stand up to the hardliners. What’s interesting is that the people themselves are now taking the lead and they’re behind what is arguably the most vibrant civil disobedience campaign anywhere in the world.

WERMAN: We began a few minutes ago in Hungary and the beginning of the end of communist rule there, another anniversary. But let’s compare what happened in the former Eastern Block to Iran. I mean tell us why the people power concept took off in Eastern Europe. And it’s been a struggle in Iran but also in so many parts of the Mid East.

WRIGHT: Well I think this is where you get into east versus west and the level of the sophistication of societies, their knowledge of western ideals. This is growing in Iran and you could argue that in fact Iran’s initial revolution was the result of the fact that Iranians of all those in the Middle East, besides Israel, are the most savvy about what’s going on. And that’s why you see a people power movement today. They’re very familiar with what happened in Hungary or at the fall of the Berlin Wall and you know it’s that knowledge base. It’s that strong middle class. It’s a high level of education that helps give people a sense of what’s happening elsewhere in the globe.

WERMAN: I guess we shouldn’t let you go without talking about the political spectrum of youth in the Mid East and how that kind of squares with youth in Tehran. I think we kind of think about this people power in Tehran, especially this summer, as being very driven by young people. But in other parts of the Mid East and the world young people are also distracted by radical Islam. Does that mean it’s going to be a longer time before people power takes root?

WERIGHT: Well I think one of the most interesting things to happen in the eight years since 9/11 is the slow but steady turn against extremism across the board. There are, even as people become more conscious of their Islamic identity, there is at the same time a growing rejection of the jihadist ideology, the militancy, because that in reality doesn’t provide the answers to the basic questions of housing and employment and opportunity, bettering your life, finding a bride. You know the problems that obsess most people are not addressed by al-Qaeda.

WERMAN: I’ve got to say though Robin Wright you sound rather optimistic about change in Iran toady. Do you think it’s inevitable?

WRIGHT: I think Iran is one of the most interesting places to monitor when it comes to the subject of change. How does it happen? How is it legitimate? In Iraq we faced enormous obstacles because the US invasion was not deemed legitimate. And you can see that in the fact that people are happy when they’re polled about the US withdrawal even though they’re nervous about their own security. But there is sense that in Iran you’re seeing some real legitimate change because people are standing up. This is not going to happen quickly. It’s going to be traumatic. It is likely to be very bloody. But I think that the kind of movement we see today is not going to die down even if they can’t take to the streets as often. Again we pay so much attention on days like today when there are protests on the streets but what’s just as interesting is the quiet civil disobedience campaigns that the regime is very nervous about.

WERMAN: Robin Wright, author and journalist and she’s also currently Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow at the US Institute of Peace. Thank you.

WRIGHT: Thank you.

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[MUSIC]

MARCO WERMAN: Sikh musicians welcomed a group of religious leaders from around the world this week. The priests, rabbis, imams, and others gathered at Windsor Castle in England. They met to collaborate on an issue that the world’s governments are having a hard time agreeing on – climate change. The conference came just weeks before a global summit on climate change in Copenhagen. The World’s religion editor, Jane Little, was there in Windsor.

[MARCHING BAND]

JANE LITTLE: It’s not everyday that you see an army of black, white, red, and orange robes processing up the cobbled hill to Windsor Castle. But these religious men, and women, are on their way to lunch with Prince Phillip, the Queen’s husband, and the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon both of whom have thrown their weight behind religious efforts to tackle climate change. Ban addressed the assembled.

BAN KI MOON: Together the major faith groups have established, run, or contributed to over half of all schools worldwide. You are the third largest category of investors in the world. Your potential impact is enormous.

LITTLE: That’s why the UN is helping to fund an array of plans developed by members of nine world religions from Muslims and Christians to Bahais and Sikhs. The organizers at Windsor say that between them the religions represented here claim more than 85 percent of the world’s population. That’s convinced long time secular environmentalists that they’re vital allies. Patrick Holden is a leader in the organic food movement.

PATRICK HOLDEN: I think the power of four billion people, if it is that, ought to drive change especially because faith communities think long term. They have fantastic communication networks and they’ve got resources. Should not be underestimated.

LITTLE: The meeting marks a significant evolution in the relationship between many religious traditions and environmentalism. Martin Palmer is head of the Alliance of Religions and Conservation.

MARTIN PALMER: I think the real problem for Christianity, and to some extent for Judaism and Islam as well, was fear of paganism. They saw respect for nature as being tantamount to worship of nature. And all sorts of deep barrier to theological traps kind of went bing, bing, bing when the environmental movement came into being.

LITTLE: Palmer adds that many American Evangelicals were resistant because they saw environmental destruction as a necessary prelude to the end times when Christ would return.

[PRAISE HIM PSALM 148]

But the presence here at Windsor of many Evangelicals including a choir from the Baltimore New Psalmist Baptist Church reflects a significant conversion. Many have been moved to look again at their bibles and encouraged to see that respect for nature doesn’t mean worship of it. Creation care has become a new buzz term. Perhaps the most ambitious initiative announced here was the Muslim’s seven-year action plan. Sheikh Ali Goma’a, the influential Grand Mufti of Egypt, spoke of protecting the earth as a religious duty. The plan calls for the construction of so-called green mosques and even cities as well as a TV channel for Islam and the environment. Goma’a also announced the greening of pilgrimage cities including Medina in Saudi Arabia.

ALI GOMA’A: [SPEAKING ARABIC]

TRANSLATOR: First they will increase the green area. Second they will work very hard to create a natural balance for the carbon. Third replace everything that’s being wasted in friendly environmental way.

LITTLE: Millions of Korans will also be published on sustainably sourced paper. Meanwhile Jews from America and Israel pledge to try to cut meat consumption among their communities in half by 2015. Livestock production is a major source of greenhouse gases. And Shintos in Japan and Daoists in China will convert thousands of temples to green energy. It’s an ambitious agenda perhaps. But Martin Palmer says the goals announced here are achievable. Maybe more so than what political leaders are attempting at the UN’s climate summit in Copenhagen next month.

PALMER: I’ve been asked a number of times; do you think the governments of the world will take this seriously? And my answer’s been the same every time. I really don’t care. Because the religions are going to do this anyway.

LITTLE: And he adds if governments can’t come through at Copenhagen religions will just have to show them the way. For The World this Jane Little, Windsor.

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• The BBC World Service Trust Iran Project
• Cyrus Farivar on detained Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan

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MARCO WERMAN: Persian language bloggers, both inside and outside Iran, have been weighing in on the days events in Tehran. Those bloggers are the focus of new research by the BBC World Service Trust and a Persian-language website called Balatarin. Our technology correspondent Clark Boyd has been speaking with the people behind the research. And Clark you’ve reported quite a bit on the so-called Iranian blogosphere over the past five years. Anything new and interesting here?

CLARK BOYD: Well I think one of the interesting things for me that it does is reinforce a breakdown of stereotypes. I think in the west especially we tend to get caught up in oh it’s a Persian-language blogger. It’s a blog about Iran. It must be about politics. It must be about nuclear weapons. It must be about US-Iranian relations or something like that. And what this research has really shown in collating a wide number of Persian-language blogs is that by and large Persian-language bloggers are blogging about a lot of the same things that we blog about. Sure some of it may be political but some of it may have to do with what they fed their cat yesterday. One of the interesting things though is that they noted that there were a lot of blogs about poetry and about literature. Now that’s not so strange.

WERMAN: Strong tradition there.

BOYD: Very strong tradition there. But what’s interesting is how the language in those blogs is being used. We can hear now from Mehdi Yayanajad who is the director of this website called Balatarin.

MEHDI YAYANAJAD: They are using poetry language to kind of show what is going on and what’s wrong with politics, what’s wrong with economy. But they are using poetry language because it’s safer to use that. It’s not direct and poetry language helps them to say things that they can’t say normally.

WERMAN: So Clark these bloggers are hiding from the sensors by creating blogs that are ostensibly about poetry but seemingly about politics underneath?

BOYD: Yes and no. Again I think there are political messages that seem to be embedded in the language of these blogs but at the same time they’re also celebrating the Persian language itself. And like we said before there’s actually a very long tradition in Iran not only of using poetic language but using that poetic language in service of politics. So in that sense they’re just using one of the tools that readily available to them to make their statements.

WERMAN: So what other things did the BBC World Service Trust research unearth?

BOYD: Well another interesting thing they noted is this rise of the conservative Persian blogosphere. And I think that what we’re seeing here is concerted effort on the part of the authorities in Iran to get more people who agree with them blogging about it. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad himself has a blog. He hasn’t updated it for a long time but he does have a blog. So you’re seeing this rise of conservative blogging. And of course Iran is famous for being a regime that really knows how to play defense right. I mean they really know how to keep information out. They’re very good at filtering the net. But what we’re seeing now that they seem to be actually be going on the offensive here and recruiting people to go out and blog their side of things.

WERMAN: And the World Service is also behind this Persian-language website aggregating all this Persian-language content. What’s the end result do they hope?

BOYD: What they really want it to be is a service. There’s no overt political goal here according the people that I spoke to about it. They really just want it to be a service. A resource for Persian speakers. And eventually what they would like is to get a team of volunteers together who would help translate all of this Persian-language material into English. I’m sure it would make absolutely fascinating reading for us.

WERMAN: Well we’ll stay on top of this. I’m sure you will. The World’s Clark Boyd. Always a pleasure. Thanks.

BOYD: You’re welcome.

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Columbia is about to re-issue everything Miles Davis recorded for them. 70 CDs in total. But I want to talk about the music of an old band that few people in the west have ever heard of: “Orchestre Poly Rhythmo de Cotonou.”

Cotonou is the capital of the West African nation of Benin. In the 70s, Orchestre Polyrythmo was a household name in Benin. The group recorded dozens of songs and toured all over Africa. But they hadn’t recorded anything in decades.

Then in 2003, a German-Tunisian producer named Samy Ben-Redjeb heard some of the band’s tunes. He fell in love with this song: “Malin Kpon O.”

And he wanted to hear more of the band’s music. Ben Rejeb re-mastered a selection of their songs. This version of “Malin Kpon O ” is from his re-mastered CD. Today there are only 4 surviving members of the original band Orchestre Polyrythmo.

But they added new members and they’ve kept on playing. That’s how Radio France reporter Elodie Maillot heard them live in Cotonou. She liked their sound so much, she decided to help them tour Europe for the first time. But she knew it wouldn’t be easy.

Crazy or not, she went ahead with the plan. She even managed to get the band some badly needed horns, and guitars. This fall, the band did in fact tour Europe, their first foray outside of Africa.

The original members are all in their sixties now, but singer Vincent Ahehehinnou, says that hasn’t slowed them down.

“Just because we’re over sixty doesn’t mean we’re going to stand still on stage,” he says. “We will be grooving for the audience until we draw our last breath. You can count on us.”

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This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

MARCO WERMAN: I’m Marco Werman and this is The World. General Motors had it all planned. The car maker was going to sell its European unit Opel. GM had a buyer lined up – a Canadian car parts firm called Magna. But now GM has abandoned the sale. A company spokesman says GM will revert to its original restructuring plan for Opel. Reactions have been mixed in Europe but not in one European country. Germany had offered big loans to secure the sale of Opel. Now that the deal’s fallen through the German’s are furious. Brett Neely reports from Berlin.

BRETT NEELY: The fate of Opel has been corporate Germany’s biggest soap opera. The German government lent the near-bankrupt company more than two billion dollars last spring. The idea was to keep Opel afloat until it found a new owner. Now that GM has spurred Magna’s overtures the German government also feels jilted.

RAINER BRUEDERLE: [SPEAKING GERMAN]

NEELY: In Berlin today German Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle said GM’s behavior was quote totally unacceptable and said GM was to blame for the deals collapse. The negotiations involving the government, Opel, and Magna have been going on and off since February. So why did GM back out now just weeks before the deal was due to be closed? In some ways says Coventry Business School professor David Bailey it’s not a surprise. With economies in Europe and the US recovering and GM out of bankruptcy things have changed since last spring.

DAVID BAILEY: Clearly GM thinks that their financial position is such that they can afford to restructure GM in Europe.

NEELY: Magna also wanted to take over Opel’s technology center in Ruesselsheim outside Frankfurt. Opel’s developing a new generation of small fuel efficient cars there – something that GM desperately needs says Bailey.

BAILEY: GM actually needs GM Europe to produce the small cars that it will have to sell in America in order to meet its environmental obligations.

NEELY: He says Magna had planned to take that technology and transfer it to its Russian partners and that might of squeezed GM out of a growing Russian car market. GM says it will need about 4.5 billion dollars to restructure Opel, far less than Magna needed. Bailey says GM might be able to come up with some of that money itself though it can’t use any of the money lent to it by the US government.

BAILEY: I also think that they will probably go to European governments, including the German government, and ask for financial assistance. So I think they will be back knocking on the door asking for support.

NEELY: Belgium, Britain, and Spain all have Opel plants and their government signaled today they’re willing to talk. Still Opel’s 25,000 German workers are upset by GM’s about face. Here’s what some of them at a factory in Bochum had to say today.

FIRST MAN: [SPEAKING GERMAN]

TRANSLATOR: It’s not nice. I have no idea what else will be happening here in Bochum if Magna doesn’t take over. There are rumors that Opel in Bochum will be closed now. Let’s wait and see.

SECOND MAN: [SPEAKING GERMAN]

TRANSLATOR: Anyone could have guessed that GM would keep Opel. I knew it.

NEELY: German unions are planning a protest strike tomorrow and they’re urging other Opel workers in Europe to join. The drama’s not likely to end soon. Like any soap opera stay tuned for the next episode. For The World I’m Brett Neely in Berlin.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

Read the Transcript
This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

MARCO WERMAN: It was on this day in 1922 that British archeologist Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Tutenkamen in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. It was filled with extravagant treasures that made both the pharaoh and the man who discovered his tomb famous. Today Howard Carter’s headquarters was opened as a museum. The BBC’s Yolande Knell took a tour.

TOUR GUIDE: We are in the office of Howard Carter. He used to sit in the office to write his own diary.

YOLANDE KNELL: Conveniently close to the entrance of the Valley of the Kings Howard Carter stayed in this rest house during the difficult years when he was employed by Lord Kanavan, owner of a vast collection of Egyptian artifacts obsessively searching for the burial place of a relatively unknown pharaoh named Tutenkamen. His discovery of the tomb exactly 87 years ago was to make the boy king and the archeologist famous around the world.

TOUR GUIDE: He was the most famous and the most luckiest to find a tomb like Tutenkamen with all the treasures inside almost intact. It is the same story as Tutenkamen, why he’s famous. How about the rest of the kings and queens like Rameses II, Thutmose III, Hatshepsut – they were more important than Tutenkamen. But Tutenkamen he became the most famous because of the treasures inside his tomb.

KNELL: Mustafa Wasari from Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities oversaw the restoration of the house now reopened as a museum. Among the first visitors were cousins of Howard Carter and the great grandson of Lord Kanavan who inherited his title. He says a lot of work went in to the eventual discovery.

LORD KANAVAN: It’s rather forgotten that there were many years here spent working on the West Bank before Tutenkamen – before anyone even heard of Tutenkamen. But they persisted right into the concession in the Valley of the Kings and to be honest it was their last year of work when they found Tutenkamen’s tomb. They really weren’t going to on and spend anymore time after that because money was really running out.

TOUR GUIDE: We are standing now so close to the Tomb of King Tutenkamen.

KNELL: Every day thousands of international visitors come to the Valley of the Kings. It’s a short decent to the underground chamber where Tutenkamen mummy still lies. Although this is the smallest tomb here it remains a big attraction. It was through this doorway that Howard Carter finally made a tiny breach. Peering in he said he could see wonderful things. But those wonderful things over 5,000 objects were destined to stay in Egypt. Many including the golden burial mask are on display at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Museum director Wafaa el-Saddiq is grateful to early legislation on antiquities.

WAFAA EL-SADDIQ: Thank God because without this law it was in 1991 that collections can’t be divided and at the same time unique objects cannot leave the country. I know that Howard Carter and Lord Kanavan want very much to have some objects or the whole collection even to bring them back to Britain but because of that law we saved Tutenkamen.

[APPLAUSE]

KNELL: New archeological discoveries are still being made across Egypt. But increasingly now Egyptians themselves are responsible. This applause greeted the announcement of several finds by the first all-Egyptian team to carry out excavations in the Valley of the Kings. Salima Ikram who teaches Egyptology at the American University in Cairo says it’s a sign of the times.

SALIMA IKRAM: There are more opportunities for the Egyptians to work and so they are now taking up the work because before that I think frequently they either didn’t have the training or were denied the permission to do this. So this is really sort of the democratization and accessibility for people to learn themselves and teach others about their own history.

KNELL: Egypt’s chief archeologist believes most of the country’s monuments still lie under the sands. With his protégés now searching for several missing royal tombs, there is hope they will lay claim to yet more famous finds. For The World this is Yolande Knell in Luxor, Egypt.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

• BBC Mundo (en español)

• Coverage in the Guardian newspaper
• Stieg Larsson on Amazon