Germany has been turning a lot of new pages with Middle Eastern countries recently. “Turkey’s Erdoğan Hopes to ‘Turn Over New Page’ With Germany in State Visit” was Deutsche Welle’s headline on September 27. Reuters reported on September 26, “Saudi Arabia, Germany Agree to Turn Page After Diplomatic Row.”

These new pages are not coincidences. Put them alongside the flurry of visits Chancellor Angela Merkel made to countries across the Middle East over the last few months, and you see a concerted effort by Germany to forge a crucial new alliance in the region.

The new page with Turkey is the most visible. Germany hosted a state visit last week by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who said the September 27-29 trip was “extremely successful.”

Last year, Germany and Turkey had a falling out. Germans were taking to the street to protest Turkey’s treatment of German journalists, and Erdoğan was calling German officials “Nazis.” His visit last month was unpopular with many Germans and was greeted by protests. But the fact that the German government greeted Erdoğan with full military honors shows that German politicians value the relationship between the two countries. Even at the height of tensions, the two never broke off relations completely. Now, Erdoğan said, the two “need to focus on joint interests, leaving aside some recent differences of opinion.”

This renewed friendship between Turkey and Germany is especially remarkable in light of Turkey’s recent break with the United States. The U.S. has placed economic sanctions on Turkey, but Germany is counteracting America’s actions. Germany is actually debating how to help Turkey survive those sanctions—directly working against U.S. policy on Turkey.

German-Saudi relations have also been through a remarkable turnaround. Saudi Arabia’s fight against the Houthis in Yemen is unpopular in Germany. On September 26, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas lamented that “our relations have witnessed a misunderstanding which stand in sharp contrast to our otherwise strong and strategic ties with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”

“We sincerely regret this,” he said.

His statement came after Germany approved the export of weapons (four artillery positioning systems for armored vehicles) to Saudi Arabia, despite the fact that the government’s coalition agreement promises not to export arms to any countries involved in fighting in Yemen. Germany also approved the sale of parts for a ship-to-air defense system to the United Arab Emirates—which is also involved in Yemen.

A lot of this cooperation revolves around Syria, where Germany is also looking to get more involved. At the beginning of September, Russia asked for a meeting with Turkey, France and Germany on the future of Syria. On September 28, Chancellor Merkel said talks between the four were “urgently” needed. As Trumpet contributor Brent Nagtegaal wrote, it looks like Russia wants to get Europe more involved in Syria.

In Russia’s view, involving the Europeans is a win-win. They want to stop the flow of refugees caused by the Syrian civil war. They also want to send migrants who are already in Europe back to their home countries. With these goals in mind, financing the rebuilding of Syria could help to partially solve Europe’s migrant problem. Russia, on the other hand, wants to bolster Syrian President Bashar Assad’s power. Rebuilding Syria’s economy would help with that.

German businesses are already looking at getting involved in Syria. “Enterprises from 48 countries, including Germany, participated in Syria’s September 6–16 Damascus International Fair.” The German Chambers of Industry and Commerce stated that there have been “a series of cautious inquiries” about doing business in Syria during its reconstruction. According to a German-Foreign-Policy.com article, Green Party politician Antje Hermenau is working on establishing a German Business Office in Damascus. German-Foreign-Policy.com reported that rebuilding Syria after the war could involve $250 billion to $500 billion:

In Berlin, it has long been assumed that Russia cannot possibly raise that much, alone. Moscow desperately needs to rely on help from third parties. In principle, Germany has earmarked funds for Syria, but Berlin insists on having its say in how the country will be restructured, in exchange. The new quartet is now supposed to make this possible.

Next door, Germany is stepping up its involvement in Iraq. The German press reported that on August 11 approximately 400 German military personnel began directly training Iraqi troops. Germans have previously only trained Kurdish forces in Iraq, with the goal of helping the Kurds fight the Islamic State. The threat from the Islamic State has now diminished, yet Germany is now expanding its training to the forces of Iraq’s national government.

What is Germany’s objective? Here is a clue: Iraq has many pseudo-governmental militias that notionally assist its official military. But Germany refuses to train any of these militias that ultimately report to Iran.

Deepening its connection with the Iraqi government and military allows Germany to keep a closer eye on Iran’s activities in Iraq, and to perhaps begin working against Iran’s influence there.

Since 2014 Germany has poured more than $1.1 billion into Iraq. German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen visited Iraq on September 15 to discuss German military assistance.

Another underreported story is that German Chancellor Angela Merkel went on a tour of the Caucasus region in late August. She visited Azerbaijan, to which Germany is considering selling weapons, according to the German Ministry of Economics. Although Azerbaijan has been under an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (osce) arms embargo since 1992, German-Foreign-Policy.com reported that German company Rheinmetall has begun negotiations to sell weapons to that country. Meanwhile, the EU is also making headway after years of negotiations on a Strategic Partnership Agreement with Azerbaijan.

Merkel toured West Africa from August 29–31, visiting Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria, which have high levels of youth unemployment that contribute to Europe’s migrant crisis. According to one poll, nearly half of Senegalese want to leave their country, 74 percent of Ghanaians and Nigerians feel the same way, and 40 percent of respondents in each of these countries have made plans to leave. Heavy migration from this region would worsen Europe’s migrant crisis, so Germany is keen to deal with the situation before it gets out of hand.

In Nigeria, Germany is getting more involved in the fight against radical Islam by sending military advisers. German-Foreign-Policy.com reported:

According to reports from the troops, German military advisers in Nigeria are not only organizing comprehensive medical care from the field hospital to the rehabilitation center for soldiers injured in the war against Boko Haram in the northeast of the country. They also instruct Nigeria’s military in the use of ground radars, which Berlin has provided to the country for tighter border controls. In addition, Berlin has financed patrol boats to enable the Nigerian Navy to stop petroleum theft and smuggling in the Niger Delta. Nigeria was Germany’s fourth-largest oil supplier by 2015, but then had to reduce exports due to escalating battles with smugglers and militias.

Germany’s effort in Nigeria is smaller than some of these other initiatives, but it is still significant that Germany is forging links with Nigeria’s military at a high level.

On September 17, Merkel visited Algeria. German companies have helped supply the government there with vehicles and weapons to patrol its 4,000-mile land border. Algeria is an important source of oil and gas for Europe and a vital partner in stopping migrants moving north into Europe.

At the same time, Germany is talking about improving its own military. The German government published a new “capability profile” for the Bundeswehr in early September. This paper details what the German military hopes to accomplish over the next five years or so. The document itself is secret, but a few fragments have been leaked. Those fragments call for several costly weapons platform projects: new tanks, fighter jets, warships and even space warfare projects. One excerpt from the paper describes the need for Germany to use its strengths to “actively shape the global order,” including through its military.

This means more military spending. Germany is already spending nearly $47 billion on its military this year and has budgeted to increase that to nearly $51 billion by 2022. This new report says that fulfilling the proposed “capability profile” will require Germany’s military budget to increase to $70 billion.

All this busy diplomacy ties into a very important Bible prophecy. Daniel 11 describes an end-time confrontation between two power blocs called “the king of the north” and “the king of the south.” Our free booklet The King of the South will prove to you that the king of the south refers to radical Islam led by Iran, and the king of the north refers to a German-led European power. “And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over” (Daniel 11:40).

The term “whirlwind” is very revealing. It tells us a lot about Germany’s strategy for confronting the Iranian threat. It also tells us about how Germany is preparing right now for this future confrontation with Iran.

Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote in a July 2013 article titled “The Whirlwind Prophecy”:

Think about the keyword in Daniel 11:40. The verse talks about an attack from the king of the north, but the emphasis is on the strategy of this military attack.

If you’re in a whirlwind, it whirls all around you. It whirls you away! Look at the map … and you can see the German strategy: to surround Iran and its allies.

The Iranians are so focused on conquering their own objectives that they don’t see what the Germans are doing. They don’t recognize how Germany is planning for the bigger war to come! No one but the Trumpet recognizes it! But the facts are visible for anyone to see.

Germany has expected to clash with Iran, and it has been working on a strategy for a decade or more. That strategy is almost complete. Germany has surrounded Iran. …

The king of the north couldn’t come like a whirlwind unless it surrounds Iran and its allies. That is being meticulously planned right now! Germany is busy preparing to execute a whirlwind strategy to rush upon and overflow Iran.

If you study what is happening in the territory surrounding Iran today, you already see Germany all over it. Daniel 11:40 is already in the early stages of being fulfilled! Iran and its Islamist allies are caught inside a whirlwind! That’s what the prophecy is all about. …

How, exactly, has the king of the north surrounded the king of the south? Its troops haven’t encircled Tehran. It doesn’t have bases and aircraft carriers dotting Iran’s borders. But it has made some very intelligent, very strategic deployments and deals that give it a presence all the way around Iran’s sphere of influence.

In the last two months, Germany has increased its involvement in Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Algeria, Nigeria, Senegal and Ghana. Notice the common denominator between these countries: They all surround Iran and other hotbeds of radical Islam. Germany is strengthening its influence in these nations. To what end? To eventually encircle Iran like a whirlwind. As Mr. Flurry said later in the article, “Iran and its allies are in the middle of a deadly circle!“

After a November 2015 terrorist attack in Mali left more than 20 people dead, Lt. Col. André Wüstner, chairman of the German Federal Armed Forces Association, said that an Islamic “ring of fire” extends “from Afghanistan via Yemen, Syria and Iraq to Africa.”

Germany sees Iran’s ring of fire, and it is lighting its own ring of fire around it. That is why these underreported German news stories are important to keep an eye on. They show Germany developing its whirlwind strategy around Iran. Ultimately, these news events are setting the stage for the fulfilment of pivotal end-time prophecies, such as Daniel 11. This is yet another piece of Bible prophecy that is leaping out of world news.

You can read much more about this subject in our free booklets Germany’s Secret Strategy to Destroy Iran and The King of the South, by Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry. We are more than happy to send these booklets to you or you can read them online. Read these booklets to see just how much today’s news reflects Bible prophecy.