Moscow announced on June 11 that Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega had issued authorization for Russian soldiers, planes and warships to enter Nicaragua for purposes of “humanitarian aid, rescue-and-search missions in emergencies or natural disasters.”

Under Decree 10-2022, Ortega’s regime said Russian troops will also be authorized to enter the nation for “exchange of experiences and training,” and their vessels can “patrol” Nicaragua’s Caribbean and Pacific coasts.

Russian state television called Nicaragua’s decision a “most unpleasant cherry atop the democratic cake for the United States” and said Moscow should now move military assets into the Central American country as payback for U.S. weaponry in Eastern Europe. “If American missile systems can nearly reach Moscow from the Ukrainian territory,” Russia-1 host Olga Skabeyeva said, “it’s time for Russia to roll out something powerful closer to the American city on a hill.”

Ortega led Nicaragua from 1985 to 1990, and again since his reelection in 2007. In recent years, he has increasingly emulated Russian President Vladimir Putin, shutting down his nation’s media outlets, arresting political opponents, and forcing tens of thousands of his people into exile—all to prolong his reign.

He has also increasingly aligned Nicaragua with Moscow. In 2008, Ortega made Nicaragua one of seven nations to officially recognize two regions of Georgia that illegally declared independence under Putin’s patronage. In 2014, he demonstrated support for Putin’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, even making Nicaragua the first nation to open a consulate on the peninsula—despite having zero interests in the region. Most recently, he defied the U.S. and the European Union by supporting Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Clearly, Ortega’s decision this month to open Nicaragua’s borders to Russia’s military is only the latest instance of partnering with Putin.

Putin has shown his appreciation for these overtures by funding a new military training center in Nicaragua and supplying its army with T-72B tanks, ZU-23-2 antiaircraft defense systems, Mi-17V-5 helicopters, patrol boats and armored vehicles. Moscow has also donated natural disaster relief funds, wheat shipments and city buses to the Ortega regime.

Russia has also been busy forging trade deals and otherwise increasing cooperation with Venezuela and Cuba. Clearly, Moscow’s influence is deepening in the U.S. periphery, particularly around the Caribbean Sea that guards the mouth of the Gulf of Mexico. The Trumpet addressed the danger of this trend in our article “Preparing to Storm America’s Castle,” stating:

The United States is being threatened by hostile nations taking over the Caribbean Sea. Major news sources pay little attention to this region, but the Caribbean is vital to U.S. security. This sea not only connects the East Coast with the Pacific Ocean via the Panama Canal, it guards the mouth of the Gulf of Mexico. Half of America’s seaborne trade passes through the Gulf. So a foreign power that controls the Caribbean could cripple the U.S. economy by restricting its access to oceanic shipping.

This geographic reality is why Russia and China want to challenge U.S. dominance in the Caribbean. These aspiring superpowers are forging alliances with socialist governments in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. If these Latin dictatorships become staging grounds for Russia and China, a coalition of nations could potentially cut off U.S. access to the Panama Canal and seal off the Straits of Florida and the Yucatán Channel.

As inconceivable as this scenario may sound, Bible prophecy shows that such a besiegement will soon take place.

Isaiah 23:3 warns about the bloc of nations that will carry it out, calling it a “mart of nations.” Verse 1 shows that a lead nation in this trade bloc will be “Chittim.” Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry explains in his booklet Isaiah’s End-Time Vision that this is an ancient name referring to modern-day China. Another leading power in the trade bloc is “Tyre,” which Mr. Flurry explains designates “the commercial center” of modern Europe. A companion passage in Ezekiel 27 mentions ancient names for Russia (“Tubal” and “Meshech”), showing that Putin’s Russia will also play a key role in this future “mart.”

“The Bible contains many prophecies of that European power attacking America—and many other prophecies of America being besieged,” Mr. Flurry writes. Europe will carry out this besiegement in partnership with the other countries associated with the “mart of nations” of Isaiah 23 and Ezekiel 27, including Russia. “All of them are going to besiege America, Britain and the Jewish nation,” Mr. Flurry states.

“[T]he giants of Asia” will form a “brief alliance” with the European power, he writes. “Should Europe, the resurrected Holy Roman Empire, find a way to take advantage—even for a moment—of key resources and strategic holdings of China, Russia and Japan, it would have more than enough power to besiege the Anglo-Saxon nations ….

“This is why Isaiah’s prophecy of an end-time ‘mart of nations’ that includes both European and Asian powers is so intriguing.”

Mr. Flurry emphasizes the Latin American region, due mainly to its proximity to the United States. “Herbert Armstrong long prophesied, and we expect, the alliance between Europe and South America to grow extremely strong,” he writes. Europe already wields significant influence in parts of Latin America. And after Russia and China form a “brief alliance” with Europe, the power that Russia is now building in Nicaragua, Venezuela, Cuba and elsewhere in Latin America will translate into even greater European sway over the region.

Additional details about this future besiegement of the U.S. are recorded in Deuteronomy 28:49, 52: “The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand …. And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the Lord thy God hath given thee.”

Our article “Preparing to Storm America’s Castle” explains the meaning of “gate” in this context:

A gate is a narrow passage of entrance or exit. When speaking nationally, a sea gate is a narrow choke point like the Panama Canal, the Straits of Florida, the Windward Passage or the Yucatán Channel. God gave Britain and America these strategic gates and many others, ensuring that they would become economic and military superpowers. But God also warned that if America and Britain did not obey Him, then not only would these sea gates be taken away, but they would be used against them. This is about to happen.

These are sobering prophecies, revealing that America and some of its allies will soon suffer major calamity. But Bible prophecy reveals that the “mart of nations” and the conflict associated with it are designed as loving correction from the Creator, and that time of suffering will be immediately followed by an epoch of unprecedented global peace.

“[T]hat trading partnership won’t last long,” Mr. Flurry writes (op cit).

To understand more about the significance of Russia’s deepening inroads in Latin America and the hope that is connected to current events, order your free copy of Mr. Flurry’s booklet Isaiah’s End-Time Vision.