As the Greek crisis threatens to repeat in Portugal and Spain, the world wonders whether the European Union is doomed. Is Greece the first in a long line of European dominoes waiting to push the Continent off an economic bridge? Is the dream of a united Europe over?

When Britain gave up its Commonwealth and joined the European Union, Prime Minister Edward Heath held a conference with diplomats from Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Over dinner, he told them that Europe was destined to become a superpower that would put the United States in the shade.

With Europe in turmoil today, Heath’s words sound hollow.

“[T]he grand vision of the European Union is cracking,” writes msn’s Bill Fleckenstein. “With sovereign debt imploding and credit default swaps blowing out across Europe, the situation is rapidly coming to a head. It’s difficult to see how the members of the European Union will resolve this problem” (emphasis mine throughout).

Mohamed El-Erian, the ceo of Pimco, the world’s largest bond investment house, agrees: “The Greek debt crisis has morphed into something that is potentially more sinister for Europe and the global economy. What started out as a public finance issue is quickly turning into a banking problem too; and what started out as a Greek issue has become a full-blown crisis for Europe.”

The problem facing Europe now is the same one that has stared it in the face from the beginning. How do you get the disparate nations of Europe, with their varied histories and different economies, ever to agree to give up their economic sovereignty and be managed at a foreign capital?

It would take a crisis of enormous proportions, with potentially lethal repercussions.

Fortunately for those voices pushing European unification, that crisis has arrived. And one nation has emerged as the only one capable of solving it: Germany.

All eyes are on Germany. The future of united Europe hangs on the actions of a nation that 65 years ago tried to unite it through war.

According to the analysts at the Daily Reckoning, Germany has played its cards very well, “taking advantage of the Greek crisis whenever possible.” It has been months since Greece began issuing pleas for help, yet Germany has stalled. Without German participation, no bailout could be forthcoming. The Greeks were left to sweat. This meant the Portuguese and Spaniards were sweating too, because if Greece failed, they knew that they would be next.

Meanwhile, as Trumpet columnist Ron Fraser highlighted yesterday, the message heard loud and clear around the world was: Germany is “the undisputed master of Europe.”

Germany’s waiting game has worked out well for the new master of Europe. The longer Germany waited to make a bailout decision, the more Europe and the world looked to Germany for a solution—and the greater the political concessions that were offered.

But there were economic benefits to playing the waiting game, too. It was an opportunity to stifle European competition. As interest rates soared in Greece and its southern European neighbors, corporations in these local markets were forced to pay higher interest rates. Businesses in Germany faced no such pressure.

More importantly, as Germany dallied, the euro plummeted. Against the U.S. dollar and Chinese yuan it fell more than 13 percent just since December. The weaker euro made European exports less expensive. A newly imported $50,000 Mercedes could now be had for only $43,500 in America. Meanwhile, a domestically manufactured Cadillac still cost $50,000. Although this benefited all European exporters, with Germany the second-largest exporter in the world (ahead of America), it disproportionately benefited German big business interests and the German economy.

On May 2, Germany announced that it would participate in a €110 billion bailout package for Greece (although Germany’s high court still has to rule that the bailout does not violate German law). Only time will tell if the dominoes have been propped up. If not, you can be sure Europe will soon be turning to Germany for the solution again. Germany knows this.

Ultimately, however, whether or not Greece stays or is forced out of the eurozone is somewhat irrelevant. If Greece were to be kicked out, the remaining eurozone would be economically stronger. If Greece stays, Germany has already extracted its pound of flesh, and the Greek crisis has served its purpose. As the Globe and Mail highlighted on May 1, economically speaking, Europe has become a German colony.

Whether Greece stays or goes is also a moot detail according to Bible prophecy. The Bible does prophesy that in the days immediately prior to the return of Jesus Christ, a European superpower, ruled by one foremost nation but composed of 10 nations or groupings of nations, will rise to dominate global trade and commerce. This European grouping of nations is prophesied to be more powerful than either the United States or Russia. (You can read about this prophecy in the booklet Germany and the Holy Roman Empire.)

It is this reshaping and reforming of Europe that is the key event to watch. And when the crisis is over, and Germany has solidified its rule over the Continent, then it will be America’s turn to watch out. A new, stronger, more unified European superpower is on the way. Crisis and climax will soon morph into resolution. The new emerging European ensemble of nations is already marching to a distinctly unique tune—and it sounds like something written by Wagner.