Locations
Abu Dhabi, UAE
Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates. The Emirates’ culture, like its weather, is freakish, which makes Abu Dhabi an exciting city to visit and where, if you have the right credentials, anything you could possible desire is available – for a price.
There is a rather nasty character who resides in the Emirates and he is called “The Senegalese,” or “The African.” He has no other name. He lives in a glass house out on one of the Abu Dhabi’s private islands.
Because Abu Dhabi has become a cosmopolitan metropolis, it has attracted dark figures like the African and like a brother-sister team from Ireland. A spending spree is about to happen, because Abu Dhabi is always open for business.
A quick look at Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Abu Dhabi TV Ad - Cannes 2010 Winner
Interactive visual display system, Abu Dhabi Mall (video)
CNN on Abu Dhabi (video)
Judea, 63 BCE
The ancient world lives, today, in Jerusalem, and in the Middle East. A Roman general writes to his emperor about Judea and describes what he is about to do for his sovereign. In his honor. For the greater good of the empire.
He is about to destroy a city and, in one blow, write another page of modern history. Little does he know how well his description perfectly foretells our future.
Archaeology: Ancient Jerusalem (video)
Roman Period Timeline: 63 BCE to 4th century CE
Wars between the Jews and Romans
The Center for Online Judaic Studies (COJS)
Beginning of the Roman Conquest (video)
Bellinzona, Switzerland
Switzerland conjures up images of neatness, order, cheese, boredom, and a particular affliction called perfectionism. The Swiss city of Bellinzona is where architect Alexander Francisco Spinetti resides. He is President of Shapeshift SA. At age 42, he is conscripted to join a group of special people. He will work for a Roman Catholic Cardinal. He will build a special place for the priest’s team: a team that has vowed to change the future as foretold by Lola.
The City of Bellinzona, Switzerland
Buddy Guy at the Bellinzona Blues Festival 2010 (video)
Carspotting in Bellinzona (video)
Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A.
The area teems with researchers, scientists, academics, whiz kids and powerful machines. The time has come to deal with the implausible.
A few Boston area scientists reveal an important discovery: they foretell a future no one wants to consider or accept. University eggheads, as well as ordinary civilians, shudder at the prospect of the world ending. Sleep in Boston does not come easily.
Lola and Cambridge go well together. They complement each other. Where else on this planet could people believe a man-made oracle?
The City of Cambridge Mass., U.S.A.
The Urban Mapper
MIT
Architecture of Cambridge, MA
Cray Inc, The Super Computer Company
City of Cambridge Dance Party (6/27) (video)
Lec 1 | MIT City Visions: Past and Future (The Jerusalem Project) (video)
Ramstein Air Base, Germany
Ramstein Air Base, better known as K-Town, is where Marine Colonel Mary-Beth Harrison comes for rest and recuperation from the war in Iraq. She was shipped back to Germany after what happened to her in Tall Afar. She needs to clear her head.
But time is catching up with Mary-Beth. The time off was almost illusory: Germany is but a short interlude. The weather is getting foul, and the Colonel is about to receive new orders, from the top.
Ramstein Air Base, Germany
US Air Forces in Europe
86 Force Support Squadron
C-17 Globemaster Take Off at Ramstein Air Base, Germany (video)
Progress on the construction of the Kaiserslautern Military Community Center (video)
Hong Kong, China
Hong Kong is the new New York. Hong Kong and Shanghai are together the most prosperous cities in China and among the most populous in the world. Hong Kong wields its influence through commerce, finance, and its entrepreneurial culture. It’s where people go to be amazed and where business people go to make deals. So it is no wonder that the priest goes to Hong Kong with the sole purpose of recruiting a key figure, a man who just happens to be evil!
Will this monster be able to understand his role in the larger scheme of things? Will he be able to face up to knowing that he, too, has little time left?
Somehow Hong Kong is a place where people can seize the day!
Carpe Diem!
The priest is gambling at a high stakes table. He will need to seize the moment!
Carpe Momento!
Hong Kong Tourism Board
The Langham, Hong Kong
German Consulate General, Hong Kong
Bishop of Hong Kong
Hong Kong National Day Fireworks (video)
London, UK
London is a key in determining Jerusalem’s fate. Many reasons come to mind, but only one counts. And that’s that there’s a man living there who can do the job, just like his father before him. It’s that simple. But there’s a little more to it than that. London’s legendary history brings time into play: a deeper understanding of how the past bears on what we do today – and tomorrow. London is a perfect backdrop for revealing secrets; the city lends itself well to cloak-and-dagger mysteries and conspiracies. London is a place where political intrigue, spies – and death at the tip of an umbrella – are alive and well.
London also reminds the priest that there’s a past we must remember. London is a time capsule for the prelate, a place where he can rest and study. And, while John Kleinrup at first appears uncomfortable with the prospects of the priest’s request, he discovers in himself the strengths he needs to accept.
John Kleinrup isalso reminded of his responsibilities. Of course, they will pale against the backdrop of the Middle East’s destiny.
The City of London
MI6: Secret Intelligence Service
MI5: Security Service
Allen Hall Seminary
Westminster Cathedral
MI6: A Century in the Shadows - BBC Radio 4 (video)
MI5: Russian spy ring story - RT News (video)
Luxembourg City
Recently exposed to Luxembourg, two Frenchmen attempt to get themselves out of trouble – by getting even deeper into it! The country’s economic reliance on its banking businesses offers a rare service for two unscrupulous, yet naive, lawyers.
It had occurred to the two Frenchmen that those zealous businessmen who populate Luxembourg could play an interesting role in their plot to make money. One such Luxembourgeois is Erik “Max” Keppner. A banker. A man with a mean streak. The two Frenchmen suspect him of having a sense humor. They were right. Maxmight just might have one. Call it wit.
Money, money, money. Does money make the world go around – at least in Luxembourg?
As the two Frenchmen, Edouard de Billier Caston and Bernard Gibier, approach the deadline to activate their scheme, they start to see the city as a trap, rather than a place of limitless opportunity.
The City of Luxembourg
Le Cercle Munster
Banks in Luxembourg
Luxembourg Real Estate Market Trends
Walking around Luxembourg city centre (video)
Luxembourg City (video)
Moscow, Russia
Like countless millions, Julian Andre Precovis a product of Stalinist Russia. He’s also a survivor of the Gorbachev era. Precov lived through Perestroika, then Glasnost, which, in theory, provided new freedoms to the Soviet people, such as the freedom of speech.
However, Julian is as much a product of Mother Russia as he is a man of his time: he is ruthless, opportunistic and well-organized. His understanding of the world should be seen through the lens of a Russian male, a Muscovite, politician, bureaucrat and diplomat, all entering the 21st century wounded – and highly unpredictable.
Journey to Moscow
Moscow's Kremlin
Baltschug Kempinski Moscow
Russia-Moscow-The Kremlin-Red Square (video)
Multan, Pakistan
Multan is a “Cycle” city. Located in the Punjab Province of Pakistan, it is definitely not on the Conde Nast list of places to visit. Although it’s known mostly for its bazaars and mosques, Multan plays a very important role in the fate of the City of Jerusalem: there an Imam will be asked to do the right thing; to do something to avert a horrific outcome in the Middle East.
He is a Pakistani citizen and loves his people. However, Imam Saïd Buttar will soon leave Multan and Pakistan, probably forever.
He, too, is on a mission.
Multan, Pakistan
Mosques of Multan
Multan City History
43 seconds of Multan (video)
Mumbai (Bombay), India
Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, another “Cycle” city, is the capital of the state of Maharashtra. Its 15 million citizens exemplify what the word challenge really means. The city is home to Bollywood, business magnates, artists, workers, professionals, clerks, street hawkers – all living side-by-side in towering skyscrapers and endless slums and speaking in a dozen tongues. Mumbai can only be described as a city where extreme growth and extreme poverty somehow coexist.
Mumbai is also about chaos theory at work. Extraordinary things happen every day in the midst of the pollution, unbearable noise and illegal activities.
Nearby is a man, a Mumbaikar. He calls himself Jeejee. It means “Call me anything you want!” He is a wretched “untouchable” who will soon meet his maker. A Russian avenger awaits him. What Jeejee achieves from his fateful rendezvous with the Russian can best be described as a fatal healing.
Welcome to Mumbai
Lonely Planet's Mumbay
History of Mumbai
Combating Organised Crime
Mumbai Bombay Nightlife
Mumbay Police
Mumbai Police Parade (video)
New York
New York City is where serious discussions take place in a penthouse suite away from prying eyes and ears. Everything that has not yet been said will be. Everyone not yet convinced of their mortality will be. Anyone not yet caught off guard will be.
New York, the re-born city, is ready to do its job. New York is always ready to send the world a new message. This time, it’s a message from Lola.
The Official Guide to New York City
The Peninsula Hotel New York
Bell Helicopters
New York Downtown Manhattan Heliport, NY, US
The Suez Canal and the United Nations
The Suez Canal Invasion of 1956 (video)
Khrushchev Threatens Hammarskjöld & UN 1960/10/3 (video)
Palestine, 1945
Palestine is the conventional name used to describe land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. Most of the Cardinal’s team must find a way to deal with the Palestine issue, just like Colonel Charles Martin Paice of the 6th Airborne Division, British Forces, in 1945.
Following World War I and the occupation of the region by the British, the Colonel was assigned the task of keeping the peace. Winston Churchill once said that a nation that forgets its past is doomed to repeat it. In the Middle East, Paice realizes, that might be phrased a little differently: a nation that refuses to forget its past is doomed to repeat it, over and over again, until extinction.
Colonel Paice writes to his wife and tries to explain what he’s doing there. Does he understand why his presence is so necessary in the Middle East, so far away from his wife and children?
ACJ Proposal on Palestine 1945
Palestine Conflict - British mandate Years 1945-1948 - British Deaths
Palestine and the Great Powers 1945-1948
British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine
British Paras 1945 to 1968: Palestine, Suez, Cyprus, Aden (video)
Santa Fe de Bogotá, Colombia
Along with Mumbai and some other 20 cities around the world, Bogota is yet another “Cycle” city: a place where violence and wars are engaged in for their own sake. Bogota has no limits. It shows no restraint. Bogota is a place where humanity was, at some point in time, and not very long ago, at risk. This very special place is a marker for worst practices.
In Bogota, a character named Ricky Morales is waiting to unleash what he is particularly good at unleashing on his fellow citizens. Bogota sets the stage: its mood and color make it a perfect fit in the clan of Cycle cities. Blood red.
Santa Fe de Bogota
Images from Bogota
The assassination of Eduardo Umaña Mendoza
Cocaine, Crime and Coffee.....It really is nice! - Bogota, Colombia (video)
Poison and Antidote: a look into violence in Colombia (video)
São Paulo, Brazil
They call themselves Paulistanos.
They are a defiant, proud and stubborn people. Life is difficult, and making a living in São Paulo can be grueling. With peasants emigrating from the countryside every year, the city is congested to the point of being paralyzed at certain hours of the day. Yet despite their city’s chaos, horrendous traffic jams, kidnappings and crime, people say they live a good life in São Paulo.
São Paulo is a “Cycle” city. In its dark bowels can be found the gangs, for whom corruption and organized murder is a currency. It’s also where Denis Planter resides. Mostly a kid bent on revenge, Denis is a product of the city’s size and inability to deal effectively with small, human issues.
Sao Paulo
Most Violent City in Brazil
Street Gangs Throughout the World
Bulldog sustainability: urban repair squad
Visiting a Favela in Sao Paulo (video)
Favelas 2006 (video)
Tall Afar, Iraq
Tall Afar is a “Cycle” city. Throughout its history, the ancient city of Tall Afar has been besieged, put to the sword and sacked. But it’s not too difficult to find places in the Middle East where war and violence are an essential part of their inheritance. Tall Afar is an example rather than an exception.
Tall Afar is also where Marine Colonel Mary-Beth Harrison, who will become a key player in the Cardinal’s plans, gets into trouble.
She comes to Tall Afar to do her job as a JAG officer and soon finds herself in hell. Tall Afar is where Mary-Beth turns her life around, like Paul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus,in an overpowering life-changing experience. Unlike Paul, however, Mary-Beth’s conversion isn’t about religion or faith: it’s more about her role as a U.S. Army officer, as a woman; about her sense of duty to her country and her belief in what’s right and wrong.
Tall 'Afar
Tal'Afar, Iraq (Oct 20, 2007 - 1:16:57 PM) (video)
Tal Afar, Iraq (Military Aerial Attacks) (video)
Combat Zone: Battle of Tal Afar - Part 2 (video)
Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv
Ben Gurion Airport is the largest public airport in Israel and it is important because it’s here that the first real steps toward changing history are taken, here, in the Holy Land, at the airport.
It’s at the airport that the first signs of an adventure that is about to happen are spotted. What’s extraordinary about Ben Gurion Airport is the contrast between its clean, antiseptic and thoroughly modern look and the danger that lurks outside and surrounds the airfield.
Ben-Gurion International Airport
Ben Gurion Airport : Tel Aviv
Airport Allows Self Security Check (video)
Security Pointers From Israel (video)
Val Morin, Québec
Val Morin is located in the Laurentian Mountains, about an hour north of Montreal, along the Rivière du Nord. It’s about 20 kilometers south-east of Mont-Tremblant and about fifteen minutes from Louise Destrey’s country house. “Rusty,” Louise Destry’s “Boy,” a 10-year-old, 1,200 lb. thoroughbred, is stabled here. He’s a bit of a primo divo, actually; he insists on getting his carrots and apple juice.
Rusty likes Val Morin because it’s a quiet little hamlet where people go to find peace of mind and tranquility.
The people who take care of Rusty at the Equestrian Centre are as professional as they come. There’s also a golf course and an ashram in Val Morin, all within easy walking distance of where Rusty boards.
Val Morin Stables Equestrian Center - Centre Équestre Val-Morin
Sivananda Ashram Yoga Camp - Val Morin, Quebec, Canada (video)
Rusty
Goma, Congo
Goma may not have been the first “Cycle” city on this planet, but it has probably become its poster child. Goma is situated on the northern shore of Lake Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The city lies near an active volcano. The recent history of Goma has been dominated by the Cycle’s hymn to war. It is the heart and soul embodying what it means to become a cycle city.
Goma is not for the faint of heart. Few travel to Africa, even fewer to Goma. For good reason. It can be difficult and perilous to one’s health.
An African magnet of misery
Goma Travel Guide
Goma, Congo - 2008 Missions Trip (video)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/video/2008/oct/30/goma-update (video)
Fragile Cease-Fire In Goma, Congo (radio broadcast)
Near Goma, Congo, soldiers and rebels loot a refugee camp (video)
Jerusalem
The city was founded in the 4th millennium BCE, making Jerusalem one of the oldest cities in the world. But the City of Jerusalem is running out of time. It’s not only where history began, it’s where significant events will determine the fate of the world.
To understand the importance of Jerusalem from a global perspective, think of Jerusalem as a prize – as an object of incredible value for billions of people, many of whom would like to see it under the control of their particular faith.
Can possessing, controlling or conquering the City of Jerusalem be like taking a poison pill? Can this city of religions, all of which sprang from the beliefs of one man called Abraham, belong to any one religion in particular?
Jerusalem's Website
Jerusalem: Battle for the Holy Land
Jerusalem Matisyahu (music video)
Incense and icons in Jerusalem (video)
Ask 60 Minutes: Lesley Stahl on Jerusalem's Divide (video)
Welcome to RE/MAX Israel
