In a harbinger of things to come, the Irish have aroused the ire of the European Union’s most powerful member nation, Germany.

First came Ireland’s rejection of the Lisbon Treaty. Recently, in the wake of the global financial meltdown, came its breaking of EU rules by acting unilaterally to protect its own financial institutions.

These moves are causing the true nature of the beastly European Union to emerge. The message is becoming clear: Either bow the knee to Baal in Brussels, or suffer what one German politician termed last week, “disastrous consequences”!

To the most careful watchers of the EU, this comes as no surprise. It merely reinforces the claim of some of the more astute observers, such as Rodney Atkinson in his book Fascist Europe Rising, that the development of the EU has paralleled that of the Third Reich. As the Trumpet has long forecast, the results will be even more devastating than those of the Nazi/fascist era.

German-Foreign-Policy.com reported October 10, “Elmar Brok, a German [Christian Democratic Union] member of the European Parliament, declared yesterday that the Irish government must reckon with ‘disastrous consequences’ if it does not table precise proposals for the ratification of the ‘Lisbon Treaty’ at the EU summit ….”

Just what are those “disastrous consequences”? Believe it or not, they entail the threat of sanctions by the EU against one of its very own member nations! So much for any ounce of democracy being given license by this fascist Eurostate!

Due to the Irish government exercising the nation’s democratic right to seek the declared will of the Irish people via a referendum (as required by Irish law) on the question of whether or not it should sign up to the EU treaty, and due to the outcome of that vote being a clear no, “To pressure Dublin to repeat the referendum soon, Brussels is contemplating imposing sanctions” (ibid.).

Not only is the EU threatening Ireland with sanctions, but, according to Die Presse, it has also proposed that the Irish EU commissioner be relieved of his duties (September 26). One ex-EU commissioner has even gone so far as to suggest that any government such as that of Ireland that cannot impose the will of the EU on its national electorate should step down! (EUobserver.com, October 9).

Though the present Irish government is keen to see Ireland ratify the Lisbon Treaty, it is only too aware that polls indicate fully 70 percent of the national population would vote no if a second referendum were held today.

German Foreign Policy reports that a smear campaign has been mounted against the Irish opponents of the Lisbon Treaty, stigmatizing both the U.S. and the leader of the Irish no campaign, by certain elements within the German government.

Spiegel published a report (September 28) alleging that the Irish Euroskeptic group Libertas is suspected of having received covert cia support for its campaign publicizing the downside of Ireland signing up to the Lisbon Treaty, which is simply the antidemocratic EU constitution in disguise.

Certain German members of the European Parliament are applying increasing pressure on Ireland to force a yes vote out of the Irish electorate. Elmar Brok, a high-profile member of Germany’s Christian Democrats and member of the European Parliament, together with Germany’s Green Party leader in the EU parliament, Daniel Cohen-Bendit, and EU Parliamentary President Hans-Gert Pöttering himself, have all made public statements attempting to create the impression that the U.S., via the cia and senior Pentagon officials, has been involved in an attempt to undermine the EU constitutional process.

German Foreign Policy claims that “The defamation campaign against Declan Ganley is an example of the gradual development of the German/American struggle for hegemony.” This, they observe, is a result of “partial fault lines that have emerged in relations between Berlin and Washington. It is being skeptically observed in the USA how German world power ambitions see in the EU its vehicle to enhance its international standing and therefore is seeking to model it as a centrally directed, highly militarized power bloc” (op. cit.).

Unfortunately, these skeptical voices in Washington are a case of too little, too late. The horse has bolted.

Twenty years ago, no German parliamentarian would have had the temerity to accuse the U.S. this way. But Germany sees America now in deep, deep economic trouble, bogged down in overstretch militarily, and deeply divided politically; it recognizes that the U.S. voice in global foreign policy is increasingly weak. Certain influences within Germany that stretch back over 75 years have impacted elements within today’s business, political and military circles in that country that bespeak a spirit akin to that which drove Germany to world power status with devastating results over 70 years ago.

Those who possess that same old imperialist spirit of Kaiser Wilhelm and Adolf Shickelgruber see their chance on the horizon.

As Charles Moore recently pointed out in a very focused article in the Daily Telegraph, it was amid the last great global financial and economic collapse in the 1930s that we last saw conditions similar to those of today ripen for the rise of demagogues (October 11). The only difference, Moore pointed out, was that there were powerful democracies able to form an effective alliance to beat the onslaught of tyranny.

Today there are no powerful democracies to form effective resistance to such an enemy.

Seventy years later, the conditions are ripening rapidly, conditions that are leading to the very state of the nation in Germany that the German mind cannot tolerate: chaos and confusion economically, socially and politically. The average pundit not possessing either a clear understanding of the Teutonic mind, nor having a clear understanding of the cycle of history, may not take the time to appreciate just what is building in Europe today. However, it would appear that some astute minds in Washington, few though they be, are becoming concerned at rumbles emerging from the heartland of Europe.

The Trumpet is clear on where this is leading—exactly to where Herbert W. Armstrong prophesied it would over 70 years ago!

If you wish to find out just where that is, order a free copy of our booklet Who or What Is the Prophetic Beast?