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Thoughtful analysis, below, from George Friedman, founder and chairman of the global intelligence organization STRATFOR, as Friedman explains why he believes that Europe — not China, Russia, etc. — is the real driver of history, today.
In the brief interview, he focuses on the reemergence of nationalism amongst the EU countries (“when Europe gets nationalistic, the world gets nervous”), the economic woes that have become social woes and, now, political woes, the current failures of the EU, and how the approach of central EU policy makers and Germany, itself, is going to determine the course going forward.
He also discusses the increasing irrelevance of the oft-touted BRICS and the fact that the U.S. is currently the one improving nation in all of this. His words, not mine: “For better or worse, the only country that is showing signs of improvement is the United States. And that is, I think, the most important thing to take away from this conversation. As dumb and stupid and weird as the United States is, it’s the one that is growing the fastest. It’s the one that has–developing–the lowest unemployment.”
The times, they are a’changin’! As the nations of the world continue to limp along, the dynamic in Europe is really changing. It’s hard to imagine the EU experiment completely coming undone, and, of course, we know from prophecy that it is destined to be a much (MUCH) stronger union, yet a union troubled by internal turmoil, as the post yesterday on the Pope’s visit mentioned. It remains to be seen how these nationalistic passions may play out as the coming “super state” develops, how they might transmogrify and the form in which they may feed into the attitude of the state when the prophesied mechanism for unification, a resurgence of strong religious sentiment, is in place to bear its destined load. As Friedman mentions in the video, with the rise of these nationalistic attitudes come a rise in racism, anti-modernism, and other sentiments that the political left and the elites of Europe have never really quenched.
Enough from me! Video is below.
Thoughts En Route 
(Daniel 2:43 NKJV) As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay.
This reminds me so much of the social policies of the EU, even if the ten toes are not yet manifested as such. It’s the ability of people to move across nations freely which is one thing the UK is having problems with accepting, and it can’t be totally alone in this. The policy is meant to increase cohesion among other things, but it doesn’t seem to be working as the policy makers had hoped.
I’ve said at times to prophecy skeptics that consistently, whenever Europe looks as if it’s down for the count, watch out – that’s when it’s become the most dangerous. Revivals of the Beast come out of such chaos.
Whatever about nationalism emerging in European Union member states as a whole, there is no significant of it in the Republic of Ireland except on the fringes of politics. In Northern Ireland it is more visible in the ongoing friction between the forces of republicanism and unionism and that is primarily between Sinn Fein on the republican side and on the loyalist side in the shape of the Democratic Unionist Party on the other. However, south of the border in the Republic of Ireland, the majority of people, whilst retaining that core Irish nationalism, are not sufficiently angry with the European Union and its trappings of power, that the fires of more xenophobic nationalism are not being successfully fanned by extremist nationalists. The dominant political parties – those sharing power and the opposition – are sufficiently comfortable, even complacent in their positions of influence within the European Union. Therefore there is little likelihood that Ireland will cause any anxiety to the status quo in the European Union .
That would be consistent with our long-standing inference that Ireland would be part of or subject to the Beast power as Ephraim would not be, and thus, have to “wait for [his] salvation” according to Jacob’s prophecy and to the fact Dan is missing from the 144,000 but not from the millennial land outlay for restored Israel.
It is disheartening to think that my country will continue to be part of the European Union and therefore part of the Beast power, although probably a very minor player -symbolized by the clay component rather than the iron. Considering the history of Ireland and its long struggle to break free from British dominance – in the beginning against the English, per se, before the Act of Union and subsequently, as a result of the Act of Union, the British. There is an Irish nationalist song – a rebel ballad, if you will – and it’s usually the militant nationalists who sing it, though not unusual for the man in the street to do so. It is called A Nation Once Again! The chorus goes, in relation to the ” fight ” for freedom, ” . . . . an Ireland once a province [ of the England/Great Britain ], a nation once again “. It is ironic that Ireland – that is, the Republic of Ireland – is now a case of ” . . . . an Ireland once a nation, a province once again, buy now that of the European Union/Germany and the majority of us seem to be content with that. We have sold our birthriight for a bowl of pottage!
Watched some other lectures given by George Friedman in which he talks of a post-EU Europe i.e the EU experiment has failed (since it depended on prosperity and post-2008 this is not the case for the southern EU nations) and Europe has again fractured into competing nation states. The problem with the EU was “that its only consensus was prosperity. There is no consensus on austerity.” Also, there is no sense of community in Europe. There is no sharing of pain – what happens to one happens to all. He took the extreme case of the Germans and the Greeks. The future of those countries will be very different. There is no shared fate here. During prosperity both sides acted in their own national interests and now that prosperity has disappeared that truth is laid bare. (A lesson to be repeated with the “time of the Gentiles” a gentile golden age of prosperity followed by God then severely limiting vital resources to the nations: trumpets 1-4. Result: nations turn on one another instead of helping one another: trumpets 5-6).
He was speaking to a Polish audience and he urged an economic Poland that is on the rise to take the lead and form the Intermarium with other central and Eastern European countries in order to make it too much trouble for Germany or Russia to invade and occupy these countries. He urged Poland to act with love for its people (setting a positive example of community is implied here contrasted with the lack of love evident in the EU) and take the lead.
George Friedman seems to believe that Europe is returning to its past – the nation state. But he admits that it is possible that “something else” may happen. Germany has offered to bail out Europe if they will follow German rules on banking and finance. The question of sovereignty would be left to another entity that is yet to take shape. This less favoured view of George Friedman appears to be the one that more closely matches Bible prophecy.
A bit lengthy, but thanks for the opportunity to comment.
Right — part of the lesson of the “iron and clay” is that the unity is, indeed, an unnatural one. Thanks for commenting!