Word: deserter
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...crossroads between east and west in the desert nation of Turkmenistan, a quiet battle is under way for natural gas, oil and influence, and the U.S. and Europe are losing out to China and the Muslim world. There's a lot at stake: the Central Asian country has the world's fourth-largest reserves of natural gas and substantial oil reserves, putting it in the same energy league as Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iraq. Plus, its position just north of Afghanistan could be hugely beneficial to NATO as it seeks more reliable supply routes to its troops on the ground...
...origins of the Hajj date back to 2,000 B.C. when Ishmael, the infant son of the prophet Ibrahim (Or Abraham, as he is called in the Old Testament) and Ibrahim's wife Hager were stranded in the desert. With Ishmael close to death from thirst, Hager ran back and forth between the hills of Safa and Marwa looking for water until the angel Jibril (Gabriel) touched down to earth and created a spring of fresh water for the baby, known as the Well of Zemzem...
...reimagined version replaces the nightmare state with the nightmare corporation. Michael (Jim Caviezel) is an analyst for Summakor, a company that collects surveillance data. After quitting his job, he wakes in a strange desert, lost and with scant memories of his past. Finding his way to the Village, he meets its superficially happy--but deeply anxious--citizens and Two (Ian McKellen), the drolly creepy leader, who is inordinately interested in Six's memories. Six suspects that the Village powers want to steal his mind. "We might," Two purrs. "But we will always give it back...
...Castiglionis reckoned that Cambyses' army must have taken a different route from Thebes into the desert than the one explored by earlier generations of archaeologists. Geological surveys they conducted over a new stretch of terrain further afield from the old caravan track revealed dried-up wells and pieces of earthenware pottery from Persian water pots. The army may have taken this alternative path through the desert in order to surprise the defenders of the Amon temple, but were stopped short by the unforgiving Saharan khamsin wind, which triggered sandstorms that scattered and eventually destroyed the attacking troops. The Castiglionis' team...
...that has not always been remembered by subsequent generations. Like Napoleon's march into Russia, Cambyses' doomed campaign serves as perhaps the ultimate act of hubris, of a power-hungry monarch who refuses to accept the limits to his ambitions. While these 50,000 Persian warriors disappeared in the desert, Cambyses didn't fare much better. At the time, he was marching on a kingdom in Ethiopia, but provisions ran out beneath a scorching sun and his troops were forced to pick lots having divided into groups of 10. According to Herodotus, the unfortunate 1 of each 10 was killed...