Some are speculating that the Trump administration’s apparent alignment with Vladimir Putin’s Russia is aimed at pulling a “reverse Kissinger,” by making Russia a United States partner and rupturing the Russia-China partnership.

It is beyond dispute that many of the Trump administration’s recent statements and policies align with those of Russia.

• On February 18, Mr. Trump revealed his plan to end Russia’s war by letting Putin keep what he’s seized in Ukraine, recover the area in Russia that Ukrainian forces have taken, and block Ukraine’s westward aspirations. Ukraine gives up everything and Russia nothing.
• The Trump administration announced the same day that America and Russia had restored normal functioning of each others’ diplomatic missions.
• The following day, Mr. Trump parroted Kremlin propaganda by blaming Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for starting the war, and he called Zelenskyy a “dictator” for postponing elections, though the delay is constitutionally stipulated, and many countries such as Canada, Israel, New Zealand and the United Kingdom have postponed elections during wartime.
• On February 20, President Trump warned America’s European allies that if they fail to comply with his and Putin’s plan for Ukraine’s full surrender, America will withdraw troops from Europe. This threat undercut nato, showing the Europeans that America is an unreliable ally. A weak nato is the best thing imaginable for Putin who detests any organization that resists his conquests of Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and whatever nation may be next.
• On the 24th, America stunned the world by voting in the United Nations with Russia, North Korea and Belarus against a resolution that condemned Russia for invading Ukraine. Not even China, India or Cuba went that far; all three abstained from the vote.
• On the 28th, the Trump administration told the U.S. Cyber Command to stop cyberoperations against Russia.
• On March 1, Elon Musk, who leads the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, said “I agree” in response to a post saying America should withdraw from nato, an organization built mainly to resist Russian expansionism.
• The next day, the Trump administration reportedly began discussions with Russia to restart the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline that would inject billions into Russia’s economy and boost its leverage over Eastern Europe.
• On March 3, Mr. Trump ordered a pause on all U.S. military aid to Ukraine.
• On March 5, the Trump administration paused intelligence sharing with Ukraine and ordered Britain to do the same.

These Russia-friendly moves simultaneously stunned many in the West and delighted many in the Kremlin. Putin ally Dmitry Medvedev even took to X to proclaim his glee. “If you’d told me just three months ago that these were the words of the [United States] president,” he wrote, “I would have laughed out loud. [Donald Trump] is 200 percent right.”

The State Duma deputy Oleg Morozov described Trump’s freeze on sharing intelligence as “sensational.”

But could it be that Mr. Trump is playing 3-D chess here? Could there be a greater strategy at play that is designed to rupture the Russia-China alliance by pulling Russia close to the U.S.?

Grandmaster Maneuvering?

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio implied such a possibility to Breitbart News on February 25, saying, “If Russia becomes a permanent junior partner to China in the long term, now you’re talking about two nuclear powers aligned against the United States.”

The logic is that, if successful, then such a U.S. strategy would empower America to stand up to China—who many argue is the more menacing danger to America than Russia—with greater focus.

Such a move would be the reverse of what U.S. President Richard Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger carried out with China and the Soviet Union in the 1970s. During “the week that changed the world,” Nixon visited China and normalized long frozen diplomatic relations with its leaders. This enabled America to peel China off its alliance with the Soviet Union and let U.S. leaders leverage their strengthened position against the Soviets. Losing their longtime Communist ally forced the Soviets to make significant concessions, catalyzing the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union.

This time around, the strategy would be the reverse: aiming to peel Russia off of China to weaken and isolate the Chinese Communist Party that Nixon and Kissinger inadvertently set on the superpower path all those years ago.

Whether or not this is the true goal of President Trump’s Kremlin-friendly policies remains to be seen. But what we can be sure of is that such a strategy would not work.

Much could be written about current Russia-China ties being magnitudes stronger than the brittle bond Nixon and Kissinger were dealing with. Today it is a true strategic alignment forged by the burning desire they share to challenge U.S. dominance. Much could be said about the indispensable trade partners the two have become to each other, with China now the world’s thirstiest importer of oil and gas and Russia awash in both. The U.S., meanwhile, as a net exporter of oil and gas, has little use for Russia’s hydrocarbons and couldn’t begin to take China’s place buying them up.

But more important than any of these realities, in terms of how we can know a “reverse Kissinger” won’t work, is Bible prophecy.

The Kings of the East

Revelation 9:16 says that a power will emerge in our modern era that will include a staggering 200 million soldiers. The Bible provides many crucial details about this largest army ever assembled on Earth. Revelation 16:12 reveals that this mega-army is assembled by the “kings of the east,” which shows it to be a confederacy of several Asian or Eastern nations. Scriptures such as Daniel 11:44; 12:1 and Matthew 24:21-22 make clear that it will be one of the juggernauts in a nuclear World War iii.

Another detailed passage in the book of Ezekiel says it will be led by the “prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal” (New King James Version). Rosh signifies an ancient name of Russia, a fact recognized by several encyclopedias and commentaries, such as the Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary. Meshech and Tubal signify Moscow and Tobolsk, some of Russia’s most important cities.

Since 2013, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry has said this crucial passage is describing none other than Vladimir Putin. In a Key of David episode recorded on Nov. 13, 2013, he wrote: “Vladimir Putin could very well become the leader of a 200 million-soldier army talked about in Revelation 9:16. … I think certainly he has the right credentials for that job.” Within a few years, Mr. Flurry was absolutely certain of this, writing in 2017:

We need to watch Vladimir Putin closely. He is the “prince of Rosh” whom God inspired Ezekiel to write about 2,500 years ago!

It is also vital to note the plural “kings” in the Revelation 16:12 mention of the “kings of the east.” When this plural noun is placed alongside Ezekiel 38:2, it becomes clear that although Putin’s Russia will be at the head of the bloc, Russia will be dependent on its alliance with other Asian countries—one in particular that is far more populous: China.

This Russian “prince” will exert great power over the “land of Magog,” Ezekiel 38:2 shows. This is an area which includes modern -day China and its 1.4 billion people. The following verses show that several other Asian nations will be among these “kings of the east,” but none is as important to Russia as China.

It has become glaringly obvious in recent years that Russia and China are “thick as thieves.” Throughout Russia’s war on Ukraine, as Western powers tried to isolate it, China dramatically ratcheted up its imports of Russian oil, buying some 45 to 50 percent of Russian crude exports. These steady purchases provide invaluable funding to Russia’s war effort. Xi Jinping’s China also sent soldiers into Russia in 2023 to practice for war alongside Putin’s troops, and it found creative ways to circumvent Western sanctions to send vital goods to Russia’s war machine, including huge quantities of drone components, armored personnel carriers, trench-digging machinery and semiconductors.

Russia and China are already making war together. And the prophecies mentioned above show that their greatest military exploits lie ahead.

It may be reassuring for Western observers to speculate that President Trump isn’t as naive or small-minded as his pro-Russia moves suggest, and that he actually has a grand plan in mind. But from these prophecies, we can be assured that if he is aiming to peel Russia away from China, the plan will come to nought.

To understand the Bible passages about the rising Asian military alliance and to know what to expect for the months and years ahead, read our Trends article “Why the Trumpet Watches Russia Allying With China.”