“Taken as a single geographic entity, Europe has the largest economy in the world. Should it choose to do so, it could become a military rival to the United States. Europe is one of the pillars of the global system, and what happens to Europe is going to define how the world works. I would argue that in 2013 we will begin to get clarity on the future of Europe.”

So states George Friedman, ceo of respected think tank Stratfor (January 3).

The tendency for Bible prophecy for our times to be so rapidly coming to fulfillment, daily, at present, would seem to support Dr. Friedman’s contention “that in 2013 we will begin to get clarity on the future of Europe.”

Three elections will be held in nations that play a key role in end-time prophecy this year—Israel on January 22, Italy in February and Germany in September. The leaders elected will find themselves enmeshed in the rapid-fire consummation of many of the Bible prophecies for our time, each of these nation’s political machinations impacting the other. The key political role influencing the geopolitics of each of the others will be played by Germany.

Israeli elections will see that country’s leader elected for a four-year term, though given the volatility of Israeli politics few prime ministers hold the job for that term before another election is forced upon them.

It would seem that incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to win the January 22 vote. Thus we should expect little change in the foreign-policy direction of this nation in the immediate term. The result will be continuing strain with the American administration and an increased tendency to look to Europe for the support traditionally given to this benighted nation by the United States. This will particularly be the case as EU foreign policy (read Germany) centers on the Middle East and North Africa in 2013.

Elections for an Italian prime minister will be held in February. Already the pope has endorsed Jesuit-educated technocrat Mario Monti as his choice. If Monti succeeds, look for a strengthened alliance between him, central banker Mario Draghi and EU President Herman Van Rompuy in relation to the endorsement of further centralization of the EU economies at the expense of the loss of the national sovereignty of eurozone nations.

In September, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s sputtering political career as Germany’s chancellor shall probably end at the German federal elections. With the mood turning ugly both within Germany and in Europe about the current nature of the German psyche, the time is rapidly developing for the rise of a populist leader in that nation (Spiegel, Dec. 13, 2012).

Of all three of the vital national elections being held this year, it is the German election which has the most potential to impact international relations over the next few years. This is especially the case as German and Italian politics will tend to merge in supporting the vision of Europe’s imperialist elites under increasing influence from Rome.

Put this together with George Friedman’s claim that Europe could—should it choose to do so—as “the largest economy in the world,” become also “a military rival to the United States,” and it becomes a worrisome prospect that with Europe “as one of the pillars of the global system,” it will be in a powerful position, given the right leadership, “to define how the world works” (op. cit.).

All those statements are in direct alignment with Bible prophecy for our times!

For over 70 years we have trumpeted—first under Herbert Armstrong, and latterly under our current editor in chief, Gerald Flurry—the rise of a powerful European combine, under the leadership of Rome and Berlin, which would dominate the globe economically, financially, commercially and militarily. This is in exact accordance with the prophecies for our time as revealed in Revelation 13 and 17, and Daniel 8 and 11.

The fact that one of the brightest geopolitical minds on the scene today recognizes much of this potential is worthy of taking note. What is so much to the point in considering the direction of Europe from here on is the statement by Friedman that “If, however, Europe does emerge with a plan that has general support and momentum behind it, then we might say that Europe is beginning to emerge from its crisis, and that, in turn, would be the single most important thing that happens in 2013” (ibid).

Yet it is hard to see that such a plan would have any prospect of coming to fruition unless Europe has the quality of leadership in place to not only endorse it but to strong-arm it into reality. This is why we propose that such an event may have to wait till the outcome of this year’s federal elections in Europe’s leading nation—Germany.

All the prophetic indications lead to the conclusion that it will be a powerful Germanic leader that causes the final configuration of a militarily dominant European entity to coalesce into 10 separate regional groupings all rendering their support to a single overarching leader (Revelation 13, 17). Ultimately, this will be the “plan that has general support and momentum behind it,” to quote Stratfor.

So, what to watch for in 2013?

Watch January 23 for the outcome of the previous day’s elections in Israel, and watch the reaction of extremist Islamist groups to that result place Israel under huge pressure to seek out an alliance with the EU—especially its leading nation, Germany—to replace its ailing relationship with the U.S.

Watch the outcome of the Italian elections on February 24 and 25. If Monti—the pope’s man—gains office, then the linkage between the Vatican and the leader of old Chaldea will be strengthened significantly. This, in turn, will give a powerful boost to the confidence of imperialist Catholic European elites—especially in Germany—who are the real movers and shakers behind the scenes in Europe.

The upshot could well have significant effect on the outcome of the German elections in September.

As we have consistently declared, Europe is now ruled by a Rome/Berlin axis. France has been rapidly diminished in political stature in Europe since the Hollande liberal-socialist regime was voted into office.

These vital elections take place amid a Europe in crisis. As George Friedman writes (ibid):

People are not being asked to die on a battlefield for the European Union but to live lives of misery and disappointment. In many ways that is harder than being brave. And since the core promise of the European Union was prosperity, the failure to deliver that prosperity—and the delivery of poverty instead, unevenly distributed—is not sustainable. If Europe is in crisis, the world’s largest economy is in crisis, political as well as financial. And that matters to the world perhaps more than anything else.

The reason it matters to the world is the history of what such crises tend to produce in Europe. History reveals that crises of this nature have huge potential for dislocating the whole global system.

The rapidly escalating conflicts in North Africa are bound to enmesh Europe—especially Germany, which has been deeply entrenched in that continent for many a decade—to take on a more assertive role in their resolution. At stake is the guarantee of continuing reliable oil supplies to the EU.

For the second time in less than a century, Europe is on the brink of unleashing the effects of a deep crisis on the rest of the world. The results, in the short term, will be catastrophic beyond imagination. Yet the wonder of it all is that this is but the major harbinger of the replacement of the whole global system by a future system of global peace and order such as man has longed for since creation.

For the deepest insight into the causes and effects of this whole European scenario, read our booklets Germany’s Conquest of the Balkans and Germany and the Holy Roman Empire.