Back in March 2004, the European Union fined Microsoft €497 million for alleged abuse of its dominant market position. It sought to impose certain restrictions on Microsoft’s business practices. Then in July 2006, after an appeal by Microsoft against the EU’s original decision, the EU fined Microsoft an additional €280.5 million for allegedly failing to comply with its original ruling. It all came to a head this week when, on September 17, the European Court of First Instance ruled that Microsoft had lost its case on all substantial matters of fact and law.

But there is more to the ruling by the European Union against Microsoft than meets the eye—much more!

The European Court maintained that it was essentially seeking “a level playing field.” But in actuality, through this momentous decision the European Union has manipulated itself into taking over the high ground in all future global business practices.

The Trumpet staff was hardly surprised at the ruling against Microsoft. Decades of research into the rise of the current European Union—from its seemingly innocuous beginnings as a combine of five countries forming the European Coal and Steel Community back in 1957, to the current unwieldy, 27-nation monolith—informed by inerrant biblical prophecy, means that our writers possess a unique view on this rising imperialistic power.

In one sense, it’s all happened before.

In another sense, it is quite unique.

As commentators on the European Union such as European watcher Rodney Atkinson have observed, the collectivist EU is not dissimilar to the collectivist Third Reich in the structure of its institutions and in the achievements of its objectives. It’s just that this time, the rising Fourth Reich, as some of the most astute observers have called the EU, has achieved those objectives via a series of treaties and a raft of regulations foisted off onto Europeans by the unelected, faceless bureaucrats in Brussels, rather than by military action—to this point. Now European law is being used to trump all corporate law, worldwide!

There is a series of verses in the book of Revelation prophesying of this coming great power of the north (the biblical “king of the north” of Daniel’s prophecies) that highlights a group of politically influential individuals who owe their power and fortune to the globalist policies of this great northern power. They are the merchants mentioned in Revelation 18, verses 3, 11, 15 and 23. The context reveals the symbiotic relationship that exists for a brief time between a great religious leader, a powerful militaristic leader of government, and corporate business moguls of the north.

When considered in the light of these fascinating prophecies, the EU ruling on Microsoft is both groundbreaking and breathtaking in its globalist sweep.

The court’s decision has been described as “the most important antitrust decision in EU history” (Globe and Mail, September 18; emphasis mine throughout). In a broad sense, this is essentially a victory of EU law over U.S. corporate law. As the Globe and Mail commented, hearkening back to Microsoft’s successful appeals against anti-trust charges in America, “So what works in the U.S. clearly is not a slam-dunk in the EU.”

Reaction from the U.S. government and industry representatives has been harsh and bitter. President of the Association of Competitive Technology, Johnathan Zuck, stated that the EU court’s decision will set a precedent that “will threaten the ability of any successful company to protect its innovations” (Agence France Press, September 18). U.S.-based lobby groups claimed that the court’s decision will stifle innovation globally.

Devastated by the far-reaching nature of the EU’s triumph, Brad Smith, general counsel for Microsoft, declared, “It is very clear that we all have the need to look to Europe and the European Commission under the terms of this decision, and it is equally clear to me that this decision will occupy … the thoughts and discussion of many people, not just in the weeks ahead, but in the months and years to follow. It is one of these decisions that have that kind of extraordinary impact” (Associated Press, September 17).

In another ap release, Smith was quoted as observing that the extreme breadth and scope of this watershed ruling by the EU provided much to consider for not only the technology sector of industry, but “for every other industry in the world … the decision very clearly gives the [European] Commission quite broad power and discretion.”

As the full impact of the EU court’s ruling began to dawn, the consumer representatives group Americans for Technology Leadership described the ruling as a “disastrous decision” that sent a message to the whole world. “Consumers lost today as the Commission has been given a free hand to impose unprecedented regulation” over industry, the group stated. The import of the decision is that it will result in the EU imposing the intervention of Brussels-based bureaucrats to force companies to share intellectual property with their competitors.

The Guardian even went so far as to call the European Commission “the leading competition authority in the world” (September 17). In a similar vein, Associated Press business writer Aoife White described the EU court ruling as strengthening the EU’s hand with a “resounding victory” that will “likely cement Europe’s role as the leading international regulator of dominant companies.” That’s a powerful position for the European Union, once touted as an institution created to enable free trade, to acquire.

In the meantime, Europhiles gloat. The French daily Le Figaro described Microsoft, the icon of U.S. business, as “the invincible giant on its knees” (September 18). European Union Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes, fully aware of the global impact of the EU court’s decision, declared triumphantly, “This is an important precedent, not just for this particular product on this particular market” (Associated Press, op. cit.).

Already Apple, Google and Intel are in the European Commission’s sights. Now, armed with this powerful precedent set by the EU court’s decision against Microsoft, the EU will pursue any corporate entity that threatens the European Union’s goal of global dominance in business.

Truly, the age of global dominance by the merchants of the biblical king of the north has arrived.