The European Union launched its Operation Atlanta in December 2008 with the intent of contributing to the protection of shipping from attack by Somali-based pirates, which had been mounting an increasing threat to shipping off the Horn of Africa. The European Council has since extended this operation till 2014.

The maritime region within the Indian Ocean off the shores of the Horn of Africa currently has one of the heaviest of foreign naval presences of any global sea patch. In addition to the EU Operation Atlanta, a substantial international presence involves the U.S.-led, multinational group termed the Combined Maritime Forces. nato also operates a mission, in addition to which naval vessels from India, Japan, Russia and China, among others, also patrol the waters.

Operation Atlanta itself sports a force of around 1,500 military personnel including around 550 soldiers. Naval force concentration varies within a typical year from between five and 10 surface vessels deployed off the coast of Somalia and in the Indian Ocean. Auxiliary ships and patrol and reconnaissance aircraft add to this mix. The operation’s military units hail from a core group of 13 contributing countries. These include EU member nations France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom. Non-EU countries such as Norway, Croatia and Ukraine also occasionally contribute to the operation.

Germany presently contributes one frigate—the combat support warship Berlin—and 291 of Atlanta’s combined total of around 550 soldiers to Operation Atlanta. This comparatively small presence belies the influence that German military and defense elites have on the operation.

Consistent with Berlin’s historic postwar policy of being content with other nations bearing the brunt of such operations, the German senior defense and military cadre continue to bide their time waiting for the moment when it will appear that they are being pressured into a more significant role in European defense. This, notwithstanding the political posturing of politicians on all sides decrying any increase in Germany’s involvement in such missions as Operation Atlanta, let alone the now mooted extension of the operation’s brief to allow for land-targeted combat missions.

As reported by Spiegel Online, the EU has approved a strengthening of Operation Atlanta’s mission. “Last week, the European Union agreed to expand its anti-piracy mission to include land-based targets in Somalia. Spiegel Online has learned that air attacks up to two kilometers inland will be allowed. … The operations will be limited to air strikes against targets such as storage tanks, boats and radio facilities” (March 27).

In consideration of this latest extension of Operation Atlanta’s mission, it is interesting to note that, of all nations contributing to the operation, Germany’s force structure is the most ideally suited to hitting land-based targets.

“Germany is one of the few contributing countries that has helicopters on board its ships which could be used to attack targets along the coast of Somalia from the air. Military experts argue that such attacks should ideally be carried out with cannons mounted on helicopters, to hit the targets as accurately as possible and avoid civilian casualties. The helicopter cannons are considered particularly accurate, and the gun operators also have the advantage of having the target directly in front of them” (ibid).

One can see the forward-thinking nature of Germany’s military High Command in second guessing the future extension of Operation Atlanta into a land-based combat component in addition to maritime operations.

The real reasons for this becomes apparent when one is attuned to German defense and military elites’ plans for strengthening the EU presence in the crucial sea gate of the Gulf of Aden. This is part of the longer-term thinking of German strategists to ultimately surround the main Middle Eastern thorn in their side—Iran.

Take a look at a map of the region.

Germany has a military presence in a number of key locations around Iran. The German military is represented currently in Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia, Sudan and in the Mediterranean off the coast of Lebanon. In addition to these crucial toeholds surrounding Iran, Germany is rapidly currying favor with key Gulf states, in particularly the most powerful military state in that region and confirmed enemy of Iran, Saudi Arabia.

Between now and when Germany’s participation in the extended mandate of Operation Atlanta is debated in Germany’s parliament, there will be much publicity given to a hue and cry against it. But it will be approved. German elites will see to that, just as they saw to it that the Luftwaffe was involved in air missions during the Balkan wars, yet leaving the bulk of ground missions to nato forces. The upshot was the colonization of the Balkan Peninsula by a German-dominated EU.

The superior intelligence that reveals Germany’s hand in moving toward a strengthened presence in the nexus between the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea comes from a Bible prophecy that predicts a northern power moving “south and east,” ultimately into “the pleasant land,” a term for the region that has generally been called Palestine (Daniel 8:9). This prophecy should be read in tandem with that of Luke 21:20, which speaks of a near future time when Jerusalem will be encompassed by an international military force. This, in fact, will be the final consummation of the ongoing (though presently stalled) Middle East peace process.

In fact, for a detailed exposé of Germany’s African and Middle Eastern strategy, read our booklet Daniel Unlocks Revelation. It exposes the German elites’ whole plan to counter the Iranian nuclear threat and move aggressively into a position of dominance in the Middle East and North Africa.

But more than that, it will give you a true vision of the much better world that will arise from the ashes of the surprisingly sudden war that these moves by German elites will soon trigger (1 Thessalonians 5:3).