Germany looking for greater impact on the international scene and involved in other alliances

Berlin Reichstag

Germany is getting more involved in international matters that it used to shy away from. Stratfor reports:

The Ukrainian crisis is important in itself, but the behavior it has elicited from Germany is perhaps more important. Berlin directly challenged Ukraine’s elected president for refusing to tighten relations with the European Union and for mistreating Ukrainians who protested his decision. In challenging President Viktor Yanukovich, Berlin also challenged Russia, a reflection of Germany’s recent brazen foreign policy. Since the end of World War II, Germany has pursued a relatively tame foreign policy. But over the past week, Berlin appeared to have acknowledged the need for a fairly dramatic change. German leaders, including the chancellor, the president, the foreign minister and the defense minister, have called for a new framework that contravenes the restraint Germany has practiced for so long. They want Germany to assume a greater international role by becoming more involved outside its borders politically and militarily. For Berlin, the announcement of this high-level strategic shift comes amid a maelstrom of geopolitical currents. As the de facto leader of the European Union, Germany has to contend with and correct the slow failure of the European project. It has to adjust to the U.S. policy of global disengagement, and it must manage a complex, necessary and dangerous relationship with Russia. A meek foreign policy is not well suited to confront the situation in which Germany now finds itself. If Germany doesn’t act, then who will?

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Germany and Japan have pursued relatively unassertive foreign policies since the end of World War II, but the vagaries of geopolitics are forcing them to change course in dramatic ways. On Thursday, German leaders announced that Berlin would try to play a larger global role politically and militarily. Meanwhile, Japan has already been gradually normalizing its military and strengthening its regional and global role, but its transformation has accelerated under the premiership of Shinzo Abe. Though nearly 9,000 kilometers apart, Germany and Japan still share many of the geopolitical constraints that dictated their actions in the first half of the 1900s, culminating for each in defeat, ruin and eventual rebirth. Both emerged en force at the turn of the 20th century, taking established regional and global powers by surprise. http://www.stratfor.com/sample/geopolitical-diary/shared-geopolitical-challenges-germany-and-japan

The world abhors a military vacuum and Germany and others are trying to figure out who should fill it. Notice also the following:

The announcement by the new grand coalition government in Germany that the country’s previous policy of military restraint is at an end marks a historic turning point. It heralds a new stage of aggressive imperialist foreign policy. For the first time since the end of World War II and the monstrous crimes of the Nazi dictatorship, Berlin’s leading politicians have clearly stated that Germany will in the future intervene in crisis areas and global hot spots more strongly and independently than before, including by military means. The days when Germany was obliged to practice military abstinence are finally over, they insist. Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (Social Democratic Party—SPD) first announced the new policy last week in the Bundestag (parliament). He said Germany was “too big and too important” to confine itself any longer “to commenting on world politics from the sidelines.”http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/02/06/pers-f06.html

While many do not think that much will happen with Germany’s military, as I wrote last week (see In Munich ‘Guttenberg dares comeback’ and German leaders push for stronger military role), the recent events in Ukraine, Russian military matters, and the relative decline of the US military are all motivating various ones in Europe in general and Germany in particular to want to step up the military presence in Europe.

The Bible warns of a strong leader who will rise up who will have had problems (Daniel 11:21). This leader will be from an area north of Jerusalem (like Europe; see also (see also Jerusalem: Past, Present, and Future). He will apparently be charismatic (cf. Daniel 7:20,11:21-24,31; Revelation 13:3-5) and lead a confederation that does not stick well together (Daniel 2:42-43), like many of the nations of the European Union. The Bible talks about a beast of the sea that had a deadly wound to one of its heads that was healed:

3 And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast. (Revelation 13:3)

Germany may have appeared to have died, militarily for a time, but it is not dead. A significant military power will arise in Europe according to Revelation 13:4 and Daniel 11:39-43, and it would appear to have German involvement per Isaiah 10:5-11.

I would also add that in addition to its old ally Japan, Germany has been involved in selling military equipment to various nations in the Middle East and North Africa, including Egypt. The Bible also tells of a time that there will be a temporary military alliance between Arabic nations and the modern Germans (Psalm 83:4-8). Germany is starting to assert itself more and more and take steps which align with those biblical prophecies.

Speaking of alliances, the European Union is an alliance highly dependent on Germany. Notice that the EU President basically is calling for the world to recognized that Europe can be a military force:

In his opening statement to the Saturday program of the Munich Security Conference on Feb. 1, European Union Council President Herman Van Rompuy, after expressing his full support and sympathy for the Ukrainian demonstrators, underlined that “Some people think Europeans are naïve; that we prefer carrots over sticks. Now, I am not saying that we cannot sometimes play our hand more strongly.

“I know the EU is sometimes looked at as somewhat of a Florence Nightingale — after all, we are the world’s biggest donor of development and humanitarian aid. But we do not just send nurses and nutritionists, we also send judges and policemen, soldiers and marines. In fact, we just decided to send in principle around 600 troops to Bangui. They will work side by side with those of France ….”

This would be the first time since their creation in 2007, that a military unit of the EU Battlegroup (EUBG) would be deployed under direct command of the Council of the European Union.http://larouchepac.com/node/29732

Changes in Europe and Germany are taking place. Europe will not remain a peaceful entity forever (Revelation 13:4; Daniel 11:40-43).

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Europa, the Beast, and Revelation Where did Europe get its name? What might Europe have to do with the Book of Revelation? What about “the Beast”? Is an emerging European power “the daughter of Babylon”? What is ahead for Europe? Here is a link to a video titled: Can You Prove that the Beast to Come is European?
Might German Baron Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg become the King of the North? Is the former German Defense Minister (who is also the former German Minister for Economics and Technology) one to watch? What do Catholic, Byzantine, and biblical prophecies suggest?
Germany’s Assyrian Roots Throughout History Are the Germanic peoples descended from Asshur of the Bible? Have there been real Christians in Germanic history? What about the “Holy Roman Empire”? There is also a You-Tube video sermon on this titled Germany’s Biblical Origins.
Germany in Biblical and Catholic Prophecy Does Assyria in the Bible equate to an end time power inhabiting the area of the old Roman Empire? What does prophecy say Germany will do and what does it say will happen to most of the German people?
Who is the King of the North? Is there one? Do biblical and Roman Catholic prophecies for the Great Monarch point to the same leader? Should he be followed? Who will be the King of the North discussed in Daniel 11? Is a nuclear attack prophesied to happen to the English-speaking peoples of the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand? When do the 1335 days, 1290 days, and 1260 days (the time, times, and half a time) of Daniel 12 begin? When does the Bible show that economic collapse will affect the United States? Here is a link to a video titled: The Future King of the North.
Is Russia the King of the North? Some claim it is. But what does the Bible teach? Here is a link to a video, also titled Is Russia the King of the North?
Can You Prove that the Beast to Come is European? The Book of Revelation tells of a beast power that will rise up. Some think that this must be Russia or could be Islamic, while others say that this power is European. The Book of Daniel tells of the rise of an end time King of the North that some think must be referring to a Russian leader, while others say that this power is European. How can you be sure? This YouTube video has all the scriptural proofs that you should need to prove that this power must be a European one.