German President: Russia’s Invasion Plunged Germany Into Crisis

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused Germany’s “deepest crisis” since reunification, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Friday, adding that “tougher, rough years are ahead of us.” Some highlights from the speech:

• Russia’s invasion plunged Germany into “a different time, into an uncertainty that we thought we had left behind us, a time marked by war, violence and displacement, by concerns that the war would spread across Europe like wildfire.”
• The “good years” are over, and “harder years, tough years are coming.”
• Germany will step up militarily. To survive the years ahead, “We need the will to assert ourselves as well as the strength to make sacrifices.”
• He praised “the growing awareness of and the growing respect for our Bundeswehr [German military] across our society.”
• “Finally, it is high time: This society needs a strong Bundeswehr—but the Bundeswehr also needs a society that supports it!”
• However, “resilience and the ability to handle conflict require more still.”

Steinmeier began his speech by saying, “The 24th of February”—the day Russia invaded Ukraine—“was an epochal shift.” Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry said the same thing. On that same day, Mr. Flurry wrote: “The most important nation to watch right now is Germany. How will it respond to Putin’s war on Ukraine? This Ukraine war is going to speed up the rise of the prophesied German-led Holy Roman Empire!”

Steinmeier’s speech is proof of this. Germany’s relationship with its military is steadily changing. Not only is it spending more on its army, it is also exalting its armed forces in a way it hasn’t done for nearly 80 years.

This transformation will continue. Steinmeier is right to point to a tough winter for Germany’s economy. Herbert W. Armstrong long forecast that financial troubles would accelerate the rise of this new European empire. To learn more about where these changes are leading, read Mr. Flurry’s article “Bible Prophecy Comes Alive in Ukraine!”