WorldWatch
Asia
Russia finally claimed total victory over the area of Luhansk, Ukraine, at the start of July, after months of failure and frustration. Russia’s full-scale invasion, which began in late February, has been marked by poor organization and heavy attrition. Yet it has continued to fight. Its victory in Luhansk could prove to be the turning point.
Russian forces are also intensifying operations in the nearby Donetsk area. British intelligence reported on July 9 that Russia was mobilizing additional troops and armored vehicles. The Russian government is also considering laws that would force businesses to supply the military with goods and services, and force employees to work overtime.
Russia’s renewed vigor has been aided by China. After Russia escalated its war on Ukraine, the United States and 37 of its coalition partners banned companies from supporting Russia’s military and defense sector. However, on June 29, the U.S. Commerce Department reported that five Chinese firms were discovered to be violating that ban by “providing support to Russia’s military and/or defense industrial base.”
The U.S. and other Western nations have urged China to abandon Russia. As civilian casualties at the hands of Russian aggression continue to climb, so have global condemnations from almost every nation. But not China. China’s support for Russia’s unpopular aggression defies logic in some ways, but it is an outcome that Bible prophecy warns us to expect.
China publicly backed Russia in 2014 after it annexed Crimea. Its continued support is what Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry has consistently called “a stunning fulfillment of biblical prophecy.” Revelation 16:12 forecasts a multinational “kings of the east” alliance that will emerge in the end time. The Scriptures say this Asian mammoth will deploy a force of 200 million troops during a horrific nuclear World War iii.
Mr. Flurry has said Russia will lead this Asian power bloc, with China as its main partner. These two powers are already allied and fulfilling the early stages of these prophecies.
Meanwhile, China is strengthening its influence over East Asia, including former U.S. allies. New Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has expressed a desire to strengthen his nation’s relationship with China, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Marcos’s election has begun “a new golden era” for that relationship. Watch for China and Russia to continue building their alliance—and a powerful “kings of the east” Asian superpower. Read about this in our article “Why the Trumpet Watches Russia Allying With China.”*
Europe
All across Europe, leaders are in trouble. French, German and Italian heads of government are struggling.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz is rapidly losing popularity as poverty in Germany reaches record levels, and half of German citizens fear the war in Ukraine could escalate into World War III.
Emmanuel Macron won reelection as France’s president in April but suffered a disastrous defeat in parliamentary elections on June 19. His Ensemble coalition won only 245 seats, with 289 necessary for a majority. This is the first time in the history of the fifth republic that the president has failed to win a majority in Parliament. Le Monde called it a “nightmare scenario” and a “stunning blow.” Macron is trying to govern without a majority, cobbling together support in Parliament on a case by case basis. With both the radical left and radical right holding a large proportion of parliamentary seats, it will be hard for Macron, a centrist, to accomplish anything.
Italy’s president, Mario Draghi, resigned on July 21, leaving Europe’s biggest potential economic disaster leaderless, in a time of high inflation, rising interest rates and fuel shortages.
June and July were also violent months in Europe. An Iranian gunman killed two and wounded 21 outside an Oslo, Norway, homosexual nightclub on June 25. The incident is being treated as a terrorist attack. Oslo has been open to both Western trends and Middle Eastern immigrants for many years. But now, these two radically different cultures are clashing. Denmark experienced a rare mass shooting, July 4, when a gunman killed three and injured four at a shopping mall in the capital, Copenhagen.
Russia raised the prospect of violence on a much greater scale when President Vladimir Putin announced on June 25 that he would supply Belarus with Iskander-M missile systems. These short-range missiles can be armed with nuclear warheads and strike targets in Central Europe within minutes.
Europe’s leadership vacuum, economic struggles and fear of violence are creating a hunger for strong leadership.
The man whom the Trumpet expects to lead Europe made a media splash at the same time. On June 27, numerous journalists reported that Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg has been hired as a moderator and interviewer for RTL Germany and will produce two documentaries for its streaming service. Guttenberg has endured as a media star while in government, through various scandals and up to today, more than a decade after leaving office. Read “Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg Becomes TV Presenter.”
The Trumpet has also consistently forecast that the Vatican will play an enormous role in solving Europe’s crises. A new Vatican constitution went into force on June 5. Most news coverage about the document, Praedicate Evangelium, revolves around the pope’s decision to allow lay Catholics (including women) to lead curial departments and his decision to incorporate a clergy-abuse commission into church government. But by far the most significant reforms are the restructuring of all curial activities under one simple mission: to support the pope in his bid to convert all nations. The new constitution could see a renewed effort for the Catholic Church to play a leading role in Europe. To learn more about where a strong leader and strong Catholic Church will take Europe, read our free book The Holy Roman Empire in Prophecy.
Anglo-America
The truth about the stolen 2020 United States presidential election is not going away, so Barack Obama and Joe Biden’s radical regime is doubling down on its efforts to fundamentally transform America while there is still time.
After watching the 2000 Mules election fraud documentary at the Texas State Republican Convention, June 16–18, the delegates passed a resolution in their 2022 platform, stating that the Republican Party in Texas recognizes that Joe Biden’s installment as president is the result of election fraud.
The dominant party in one of the most important states in the union didn’t stop there. It also officially called for overturning the Supreme Court mandate that same-sex “marriage” be legalized nationwide and even stated, “Texas retains the right to secede from the United States.”
On July 7, Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued an executive order authorizing both the Texas National Guard and the Texas Department of Public Safety to arrest immigrants crossing the border and deport them back to Mexico. Normally, only the federal government is authorized to enforce immigration law, but Abbott cited Article IV, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution, which states, “The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened) against domestic violence.” Some legal analysts argue that Abbott’s order misinterprets the Constitution, but the legality of it hinges on whether or not the ongoing migrant crisis constitutes an “invasion.” Somewhere close to 10 percent of all people in the U.S. are illegal immigrants.
In “What Will Happen After Trump Regains Power,” Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry explained that President Donald Trump was the winner of the 2020 election. He further said that the Bible prophesies Trump’s return to power, yet he “will have to fight for it. It doesn’t have to be military action, but it certainly could. President Trump could also lead some states to secede from the union.” This prophecy is based on 2 Kings 14:26-28, so the fact that Texas is defying the Biden administration in an effort to stave off invasion indicates that Governor Abbott is likely to become a strong ally of President Trump in his fight to save America.
The U.S. annual inflation rate climbed to 9.1 percent in June, its highest level since 1981. The core inflation rate, which doesn’t include food and energy prices, eased to 5.9 percent. But food prices rose 10.4 percent while gasoline prices soared by an incredible 59.9 percent. Even as inflation worsened, Biden sold nearly 6 million barrels of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to the China Petroleum and Chemical Corp. The investment firm of his son, Hunter Biden, owns a $1.7 billion stake in that corporation. Gerald Flurry’s newly updated and expanded book, America Under Attack, explains how the current administration’s assault on U.S. power is actually prophesied in the Bible (Daniel 8:11, 24). These nation-destroying problems are not the result of incompetence. They are the result of deliberate treason.
Middle East
The geopolitical sands have begun to shift in the Middle East. The Trumpet has long forecast an alliance between the moderate Arab nations and a German-led Europe based on a prophecy in Psalm 83. Several high-level meetings and visits took place between the leaders of various Arab nations including Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt and Qatar. This led to warming relations across the region and talk of greater military cooperation, potentially laying the groundwork for such an alliance.
On June 25, Jordan’s King Abdullah II said in an interview, “I would be one of the first people that would endorse a Middle East NATO.” On June 27, several Arab allies, Israel and the United States met in Bahrain in an effort to “build what we like to call a regional architecture, which is both military and civilian in its character,” he said.
This movement toward reconciliation and cooperation is driven by the increasing threat posed by Iran. As Iran continues its pursuit of nuclear weapons and terrorism, expect the moderate Arab nations to set aside their differences and unite against a common enemy.
While the more moderate Arab nations gravitated toward each other and Europe, Iran strengthened its relationship with Russia. The two nations signed a memorandum of understanding on June 16 to increase trade and create a north-south corridor to expedite the flow of goods between Russia and India.
In addition to this trade agreement, Iran also applied for membership in the BRICS cultural and economic alliance. The alliance currently consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. China also invited Saudi Arabia and a few other nations to join.
Meanwhile in Israel, the coalition government that formed to oust Benjamin Netanyahu was dissolved on June 30 by the legislature. Left-wing Yair Lapid was sworn in as an interim prime minister. On November 1, Israel will hold its fifth elections in less than four years. With the legislature dissolved, Lapid is in a strong position to push through his agenda. This may include attempting to end Netanyahu’s political career once and for all. Netanyahu is currently on trial for what many see as politically motivated corruption charges. Also watch for Lapid to address the Palestinian question in the coming months. “I want to separate from the Palestinians,” he said in 2021. The creation of an independent Palestine during his premiership may not be out of the question. Read “Beware a Yair Lapid Premiership.”
