As Europe reels from crisis to crisis, many are wondering which nations will follow Ireland, Greece and Portugal onto the rocks of economic failure. A headline in last Friday’s Guardian newspaper gives more than a hint: “Cyprus could be the eurozone’s next crisis point.”

Given the overarching strategy of EU elites to colonize the southern Mediterranean region, there is little if any doubt that the Guardian headline is already becoming a reality.

With the Balkan Peninsula and Greece now virtual strategic vassal states—colonies in all but name—attached to the rising European empire, Cyprus is the next domino in this equation set to soon fall under the diktat of Berlin/Brussels.

Suddenly plunged into the international spotlight by the massive explosion that all but knocked out its main power generation facility at Vasiliko a few weeks ago, the fragile state of Cyprus’s economy is now being brought to light. The Guardian article reports:

[T]he explosion-damaged economy is being compared to the aftermath of the 1974 Turkish invasion.The cost of rebuilding the power plant alone is around €1 billion and it will need a strategic investor to help rebuild it, while the energy sector will take several years to recover.With estimated costs to the economy ranging from €2 billion to €3 billion the government has been urged to take drastic austerity measures to close a deficit almost twice the EU-recommended ceiling of 3 percent.Cyprus central bank governor Athanasios Orphanides has warned the political leadership, including President Demetris Christofias; it must instigate immediate cost-cutting measures if it is to avoid going cap in hand to the EU for a bailout.

Cyprus banks are heavily exposed to poisonous Greek debt. This has resulted in negative credit rating adjustments. The destruction of 50 percent of the island’s power-generating capacity resulting from the July 11 explosion has suddenly combined with other negative economic factors to accelerate the risk of default by Cyprus on the nation’s debts. The Financial Times reported (July 20):

The governor of the Cyprus central bank has warned that the economy faces “a state of emergency” following a disastrous explosion at a Greek Cypriot naval base that caused 13 deaths and an estimated €2 billion in damages.Athanasios Orphanides said that unless harsher than planned austerity measures were adopted immediately, Cyprus might become the next southern European member of the eurozone to seek a bailout.

Just one sudden, unanticipated phenomenon can change the state of a nation overnight in this volatile world. As the Guardian observed: “Cyprus can expect to go through political, social and economic changes that were not on the agenda prior to the July 11 disaster” (ibid).

This turn of events greatly favors the imperialist agenda of German elites. Indeed, it greatly accelerates their timetable for the strategic seizure of the entire region from Zagreb to Nicosia—as is patently obvious to long-time observers of that agenda as activated via the infamous Nazi “Red House” document.

Control of this region is crucial to command of the vital warm-water sea gates controlling the junction of the Adriatic, Ionian, Aegean and Mediterranean seas, not to mention access to the Suez oil gateway and to the vital Dardanelles crossroads to the Black Sea.

Cyprus, in addition to Greece, is also vital to the ongoing development of Germany’s shipping industries. As the German federal government website states, “There is especially close cooperation between Cyprus and Germany in the shipping sector. Many German shipping companies and shipping management businesses are based in Limassol in Cyprus.”

Germany was quick to recognize Cyprus following its declaration of independence in August 1960. By 1961 a trade and economic agreement between the two was in place followed by an air transport agreement in 1967. Currently the two nations are negotiating a bilateral security of information agreement. This will be a vital element in Germany’s efforts to capitalize on Cyprus’s location as a vital listening post for Turkish and Middle Eastern intelligence.

On the occasion of the renewal of its double-tax treaty with Cyprus in February, the German ambassador stated that “Cyprus has become an important EU partner for Germany.”

The strategic importance of Cyprus to the expansionist aims of EU elites is obvious to any critical observer. We wrote in the Trumpet’s August 1998 print edition, “Already there are European troops in Cyprus under the auspices of UN peacekeeping forces. As the EU moves more into Eastern Europe and the Balkans, repeating the history of the old Holy Roman Empire, it would seem inevitable, given the facts of Bible prophecy, that they will draw Cyprus into their fold as a bridge into the Holy Land.”

That latter reason is a most crucial element in the EU elites’ plan to take over the southern Mediterranean. Otto von Habsburg, the last legitimate pretender to the office of emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, died very recently. Conscious of the need for the masses to rally behind a revered symbol of European unity so as to consummate the imperial vision of EU elites, he declared in his book The Social Order of Tomorrow, “We possess a European symbol which belongs to all nations of Europe equally; this is the crown of the Holy Roman Empire, which embodies the tradition of Charlemagne.” Among the titles vested in those who inherited that crown is “king of Jerusalem.”

That title, claimed by all the Holy Roman emperors of the German Nation, needs to be viewed in the light of the EU’s push south and east into Cyprus—and beyond! (Daniel 8:9). Our editor in chief placed this into perspective when he stated in the JanuaryTrumpet:

More than one crusade has been launched from Cyprus. Will we see the last crusade launched from there as well? Is history about to repeat itself? … Are European leaders already thinking about Cyprus as a launching pad from which to protect their Jerusalem interests?You can be certain that they are thinking about how to protect the holy places in and around Jerusalem. The Europeans have thought like this for almost 2,000 years! … Is there a final crusade planned to be launched into the Middle East from Cyprus? Is that why the EU was willing to take a dangerously divided little island as a member? It would not be the first crusade launched from Cyprus!

Could this be why Pope Benedict xvi became the first pope in the history of Roman Catholicism to visit Cyprus?

Watch Cyprus very closely.

The impact of the massive explosion in Vasiliko on the already embattled Cypriot economy will accelerate Cyprus toward becoming yet another nation in crisis seeking bailout from Berlin/Brussels. The result will be dominance of that island’s economy by EU elites.

Yet that explosion was but a mere squib compared to the great conflagration that it has helped bring significantly forward in fulfillment of the prophecies for our time contained in the biblical books of Daniel and Revelation.

It really is time that you “blow the dust off your Bible,” to quote Herbert Armstrong, and prove these things for yourself!

Act now and you may be well prepared for the tumultuous events that are building in Europe and the Middle East, shortly to break out into a level of global disorder that will take your breath away.

Remember, to forestall may well invite incredible tragedy. But to be forewarned is to be forearmed (Matthew 24:21-22). Armed with the faith to see these events through to their incredible conclusion, the ushering in of a matchless period of global peace and prosperity as prophesied in your Bible (Isaiah 9:6-7).