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Will the European Union displace
the U.S. in global dominance?
Will the Euro displace the Dollar?

By Ken Raggio

The United Nations was born in 1945 in the USA. In its infancy, it was funded almost in its entirety by United States citizens and entities. In that time, the U.S. has borne the lion’s share of the UN’s budget.

Anti-American voices never stop complaining that the United States does not contribute enough money to the UN. The facts remain: no single nation on earth has done more to support the United Nations and put it forward as a force for Global Governance. United States domination of the UN is coming under increasing attacks, both ideologically (in the press and on the political front) and militarily (as both terrorists and rogue nations deploy hostile forces against US “imperialism”).

In light of Bible prophecy, a worthy question needs to be asked:

WILL THE UNITED STATES CONTINUE TO DOMINATE THE UNITED NATIONS AS THE WORLD’S ONLY SUPERPOWER? Or will other nations finally rise up to overpower the U.S.?

Answering that question demands a hard look at current realities.

A revival of the ancient Holy Roman Empire appears to be underway in Europe. Biblically, it is the iron and clay feet of Nebuchadnezzar’s image described in Daniel 2:32-35. A unified Europe, conjoined with its ancient spiritual soul, the Roman Catholic Church, is now in the process of emerging as the most formidable world power in all of human history.

China, in the East, also threatens to become a superpower in years to come, but hardly wields the diplomatic muscle that Europe has. By comparison, China is a global step-child. India, with an exploding population and economy, is still a poverty-stricken, politically uninitiated entity. 

Europe is the motherland, both geographically, economically, politically and spiritually. With the enormous beefing up of NATO and its military machine, Europe will only become more formidable as a force to be reckoned with. The United States needs to pay attention.

Europe is quickly becoming the world’s second superpower. More significantly, it may soon overshadow American pre-eminence on the world stage. Europe is now beginning to rival the United States in several critical areas – 1. In the global economy, 2. In global politics, 3. In global militancy.

Over 458 million people now live under its common body of law, and over 300 million share the common currency – the Euro. Again and again, the American dollar is being devalued, and the Euro is being perceived as the currency of choice.

Prophetically, the rise of Europe at this time is almost as ominous as the resurrection of the nation of Israel was in 1948.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Europe was fractionated and incoherent. World War I shattered the German empire, the Austrio-Hungarian empire, the Ottoman, and the Russian empires. The old world order, characterized by several European monarchies, was destroyed.

Following WWI, Fascism emerged in Italy, Nazism in Germany. Communist revolutions wreaked havoc on Russia in the North, and on China in the East. Imperialism possessed Japan. Britain and the United States remained as the dominant forces for Democracy on earth.

When Adolf Hitler invaded Poland, and Japan invaded China, the whole world went to war. Six years later, much of Europe lay in ruins, Japan had been nuked twice. Over fifty million people were killed on battlefields around the world.

Two superpowers emerged: the United States and the Soviet Union. The “cold” war ensued – East versus West, Communism versus Capitalism. Then in 1991, the U.S.S.R. broke up. The Soviet Union dissolved. The Berlin Wall fell, and Communism appeared to melt like a wicked witch.

The United States appeared to be the world’s last superpower.

In the intervening years since WWII, the US has asserted itself on all fronts. Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger parlayed American influence in China. Ronald Reagan appeared to play political one-upmanship with Mikhail Gorbachev. And lately, George W. Bush has strong-armed Coalition forces throughout the Middle East. In the past fifteen years, international charges of American “imperialism” and “fascism” have escalated exponentially.

At the United Nations, the United States declared its intention to invade Iraq in the presence of rabid opposition from all quarters. Again and again, the US has played its veto trump card in the UN Security Council to maintain and put forward American agendas. Anti-American voices are screaming their objections to perceived hegemony and imperialism.

BUT AMERICAN SUPREMACY IS BEING BOLDLY CHALLENGED.

Europe’s disconnected nations first began to consolidate in the 1950s when veteran diplomat Jean Monnett proposed the formation of a European Coal and Steel Community. It was the pre-cursor to the European Common Market.

A common market is almost always a staging area for future supranational federalism. In the absence of the political will to unite, Monnett introduced what would latter be referred to as “federalism by stealth” – forcing independent nations into supranational trade agreements that would bind them to one another in a de facto federation. That was only the beginning.

The Common Market evolved into European Economic Commission (EEC), then the European Union.

Here is a lesson to be learned in global governance. All the world has watched the nations quarrel and bicker behind the podium of the United Nations. In spite of the billions of dollars that have been soaked into the UN, observers often express their doubts that the UN will ever weld the nations together in genuine cooperation.

But the European Union illustrates how the UN can and will finally unite: on the basis of common markets.

U.S. Ambassador to the European Union, Rockwell Schnabel, observed that supranational trade agreements result in “integration taking place below the radar of most political discourse, and in some cases even contrary to the long-range aims of national leaders”.  

What does that mean? Trade agreements are the forerunner of federalism. The rules and restrictions in trade agreements comprise the germ form of international law. Once nations become obligated to each other through trade agreements, they are being governed by something other than their own sovereign national parliaments and legislatures. They are being governed from outside their own governments.

Meaning? Whether this takes place at the level of the United Nations or the European Union, any time nations sign international agreements (such as NAFTA, GATT, CAFTA, WHO, etc.) supranational governance is evolving.

A recent FORTUNE magazine cover story depicts this concept: “Government Broke Down. Business Stepped Up.” When government agencies failed to deliver assistance to American victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in a timely matter, businesses like Wal-Mart, FedEx and Home Depot stepped in and helped those communities recover.

In the same way, national and international governments are being predicated by money deals. When Washington fails to negotiate with Bejing, giant corporations like Wal-Mart and Microsoft step in and save the day. Once these monster corporations get their tentacles into the Chinese government, our
 economies and cultures become inextricably linked. From that day, we begin to be governed by one another.

When China, Taiwan, North Korea, France, Britain, the U.S., and countless other nations cannot reach consensus on matters of politics and militarism, big business steps in and makes trade deals. Once these powerful trade agreements are signed, whole nations become obligated to each other in more ways than most people will admit.

The more entwined nations become in their trade agreements, the more imminent the political and military agreements are. Common markets always lead to more common governance.

Now the facts demonstrate that Europe is entering into more and more powerful agreements with its neighbors than the U.S.

While anti-American sentiment is raging around the world, people like Javier Solana, (EU’s Foreign Minister in-waiting) are hopping around the globe winning friends and influencing people. Russian President Vladimir Putin has recently had high level meeting with EU officials, hammering out deals on economic and energy issues.

POINTS YET TO BE MADE:

EU will dominate the global economy via the EURO.  As the Middle Eastern nations convert their OIL BOURSES to  Euro-based currency and abandon the US Dollar for a currency of exchange, the US is dead meat. The US cannot sustain the loss of dollar-based oil trading. It will crush the American economy flat.

EU will dominate in global politics, especially in the Middle East. Arab and Muslim nations hate American diplomats. They love European diplomats. What else needs to be said?

EU will dominate in global militancy via NATO. NATO is already displacing US forces in Afghanistan, Pakistan, all the Balkans and eastern block nations. Don't think NATO won't be the global army in days ahead.

EU will dominate in Western / Muslim alliances. The Roman Catholic Church is about to make its last stand before Islam takes over the EU.

THE IRON AND CLAY KINGDOM will rule until Jesus Christ comes and destroys it.  Shortly before He comes, the Roman Catholic Church will be squashed, and Islam will likely rule Europe.

Jesus Christ will face this convoluted mess at Armageddon, and set everything in order for the first time in the history of the world since the Garden of Eden.

Written June, 2005