Europe
Germany should take over leadership of nato, Matthew Whitaker, the U.S. ambassador to nato, told the Berlin Security Conference on Nov. 19, 2025. “I look forward to the day when Germany comes to the United States and says that we’re ready to take over the Supreme Allied Commander position,” he said. “I think we’re a long way away from that, but I look forward to those discussions.”
German Lt. Gen. Wolfgang Wien said the statement left him “a little bit astonished.” In wartime, the supreme commander controls the deployment of hundreds of thousands of troops and perhaps even nuclear weapons. Since U.S. troops and equipment form the backbone of these forces, the supreme commander has always been American. Whitaker is suggesting that nato get a new backbone. Herbert W. Armstrong warned for decades that Germany, with U.S. help, would once again dominate Europe.
Does Germany want to keep the war in Ukraine going? It’s a question many asked as the European Union tried to torpedo a U.S.-led Russia-Ukraine ceasefire. While the terms of the deal are up for debate, there is another reason the Europeans are opposing it. Former German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said in a Focus Online podcast posted on April 23, 2025, that if a peace deal is reached, Germans will return to prioritizing pensions over defense spending. Germany’s Tagesspiegel gave another reason on April 11: “The war in Ukraine is also an experimental field for testing weapons systems under real operating conditions.” European leaders may not mind the conflict continuing if it provides them a rationale for unifying and militarizing while resisting the U.S. For more, read Gerald Flurry’s article “Germany Is Arming for World War III.”
Fear of Russia is motivating European militarization. On Dec. 5, 2025, the German government passed a new law designed to lay the groundwork for reintroducing conscription. This came days after France’s President Emmanuel Macron announced on November 29 a new 10-month military training program, mostly for ages 18 and 19. He claimed that the younger generation has a “thirst for engagement” and that young people are “ready to stand up” for France. Around the same time, Fabien Mandon, chief of staff of the French military, told the Congress of French Mayors that the nation must accept the possibility of “losing our children” to “protect what we are.” European minds are being conditioned for combat.
NATO held large naval exercises in the Baltic Sea from Nov. 24 to Dec. 4, 2025, involving 5,000 personnel, 20 ships, and aircraft from 11 nations: Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland and the United States. The exercises focused on securing infrastructure, clearing mines, and defending against amphibious landings. The drills were largely organized by Finland, which joined NATO in 2023.
On December 4, Germany’s Air Force announced that it will move “several” Eurofighters from Nörvenich Air Base in Germany to Malbork Air Base in Poland, a response to recent Russian airspace violations. The deployment, which will last until March, includes about 150 pilots, technicians, security guards, military police and other personnel.
The first tank of a new Leopard 2A8 series was presented to German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius in Munich on Nov. 19, 2025. The last new build of the Leopard 2 was in 1992; the 2A8 is among the world’s most advanced designs. The Bundeswehr has ordered 123 units and plans to order an additional 75. Spiegel asked, “Does Germany Really Need So Many Battle Tanks?” Little do they know what Germany is planning.
Cyprus assumed the European Council’s rotating presidency on January 1. President Nikos Christodoulides visited Germany on Nov. 14, 2025, and soon after his government announced a $1.4 billion purchase of weapons under the EU’s Security Action for Europe program, equivalent to almost three times its annual military expenditure. Christodoulides said he wants to use his presidency to cement Cyprus as Europe’s bridge to the Middle East. Watch our interview with Cypriot politician and lawyer Nicolaos Komnenos at theTrumpet.com/go/Cyprus.
Middle East
Iran still has enriched uranium, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Director General Rafael Grossi told journalists on Nov. 5, 2025, that “most, if not all the uranium enriched at 60 percent—but also at 20, at 5 and at 2 percent—is here.” Israel and the United States bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities in June 2025, and President Donald Trump claimed Iran’s nuclear program was “completely and totally obliterated.” Grossi’s report indicates this is an exaggeration. Read “Why the Trumpet Watches Iran’s Pursuit of Nuclear Weapons.”
French President Emmanuel Macron hosted Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas in Paris on Nov. 11, 2025, the first such visit since France recognized Palestine as a sovereign state in September. Macron greeted Abbas this time as “president of the state of Palestine” and announced “a joint committee for the consolidation of the state of Palestine.” Macron said this process would “contribute to drawing up a new constitution, a draft of which President Abbas presented to me.”
Abbas is an undemocratic leader of a pseudo-terrorist group, Fatah, which has sent payments to families of incarcerated terrorists, actively educates schoolchildren to become terrorists and murder Jews, and sent its al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade to join Hamas’s frenzy of torture, rape and slaughter on Oct. 7, 2023. France elevating such a faction to a “state” is extremely troubling.
A prophecy in the Psalms states “the Philistines,” today’s Palestinians, will ally with “Assur,” modern Germany. France, which comes from the Israelite tribe of Reuben, isn’t mentioned, but it is collaborating with Germany and acting as a major sponsor of the Palestinians, which could contribute to this prophecy’s fulfillment. Read more at theTrumpet.com/go/Psalm83.
On Nov. 30, 2025, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requested a preemptive pardon from President Isaac Herzog, a highly unusual request since Netanyahu has not yet been convicted on allegations of corruption. Herzog’s office said the pardon request “is clearly provoking debate and is deeply unsettling for many people in the country, across different communities. I have already clarified that it will be handled in the most correct and precise manner. I will consider solely the best interests of the State of Israel and Israeli society.” Israeli opposition figures continue waging lawfare against Netanyahu, the nation’s only strong leader.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists released a “Damascus Dossier“ on Dec. 4, 2025, previously unpublished photographs of the torture victims of former Syrian dictator Bashar Assad. Thousands of images show the naked, skeletal bodies of human rights activists and others, some of whom are only identified by numbers. The document also contained information about one source of funding for Assad’s oppression: the United Nations. Between 2014 and 2024, the UN paid $11 million for security services to Shorouk, a front company for Assad’s General Intelligence Directorate, despite the fact that UN officials reportedly knew it was a “high-risk” contractor. This marks another shameful chapter in the UN’s abysmal history.
Asia
Chinese Communist Party official Xue Jian posted on X on Nov. 8, 2025, that the prime minister of Japan, Sanae Takaichi, should be beheaded for saying Japan may militarily intervene if China tries to seize Taiwan. China’s Foreign Ministry told the Japanese government to “stop crossing the line and playing with fire, retract the wrongful remarks and deeds, and honor its commitments to China with real action.” The Chinese government advised its citizens against visiting Japan. Though China-Japan tensions are worsening, the Trumpet forecasts that the two will eventually lay aside their differences and join forces in an alliance biblical prophecy calls “the kings of the east.” To understand why, read Russia and China in Prophecy.
The social media platform X implemented a feature on Nov. 22, 2025, that reveals account locations, confirming what some users have long suspected: Many of the most popular and polarizing Americans on the platform are not Americans. Numerous seemingly American accounts, including “maga Nation X,” which has 400,000 followers, were found to be based in “non-EU Eastern Europe,” which means they are located in Russia or in nearby nations known to host Russian troll farms. Others posing as Americans were exposed as living in Bangladesh, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkey or Southeast Asia. The goal of this campaign is to influence more Americans to support Russia and allow it to overturn the postwar order and reconquer its Eastern Europe neighbors. The accounts also seek to make right-leaning America appear more extreme and dangerous than it actually is to provoke alarm and push left-leaning audiences into more radical positions, further dividing and weakening the nation.
Meanwhile, Russia is hosting more than 13,000 Chinese companies, Russian government representative Boris Titov said at the Russian-Chinese Business Forum in China on Nov. 25, 2025. He said the two nations are preparing more than 80 joint projects worth $200 billion, adding that “new opportunities for business are expanding.” About 95 percent of transactions between Russian and Chinese businesses use either Russian rubles or Chinese yuan, bypassing Western sanctions and also the U.S. dollar. Days earlier, China was found to be using a “shadow fleet” to import vast quantities of Russian liquefied natural gas. This provides Russia an economic lifeline as Western powers seek to isolate it. Bible prophecy says these countries will continue to strengthen their alliance.
Anglo-America
An election for the mayor of New York City on Nov. 4, 2025, showed that America’s political divisions are worse than ever. For the first time in history, citizens elected a self-avowed socialist. Not only is Zohran Mamdani a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, but he is also a Ugandan Muslim who adheres to the Shia Twelver sect, meaning that it took about one generation after the September 11 terrorist attacks for New York City to vote in a Muslim socialist who regards the leader of Iran as a spiritual authority.
One exit poll showed that a huge share of Mamdani voters either were not born or were living elsewhere when New Yorkers were falling to their deaths and the World Trade Center towers collapsed on Sept. 11, 2001. The election vividly illustrates the results of university indoctrination and open borders. Isaiah 3:1-4 warns that when a nation rejects God, He curses it by removing strong, male leadership.
On Nov. 26, 2025, an Afghan immigrant brought to the U.S. during Joe Biden’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan shot two members of the West Virginia National Guard, about two city blocks from the White House. Sarah Beckstrom succumbed to her injuries on Thanksgiving Day, while Andrew Wolfe was critically wounded. The suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, worked in Afghanistan with the CIA before coming to America as one of more than 190,000 Afghans resettled in Operation Allies Welcome and Enduring Welcome.
President Donald Trump responded to the attack by pausing immigration from Third World countries. Hosea 7:9 says that “strangers” will devour the strength of end-time Israel. The 190,000 unvetted Afghans that Biden let into America, plus the 10 million illegal immigrants he let in and the millions who came before, are doing just that.
During the federal government shutdown that began on Oct. 1, 2025, and lasted 43 days, cyberattacks on the United States increased 85 percent. According to the American Security Project, “[W]eekly cyberattacks on U.S. infrastructure have increased 56 percent year-over-year.” In September 2024, U.S. utilities suffered a 70 percent increase in cyberattacks compared to September 2023. Hostile states are responsible for much of this increase, with CrowdStrike reporting that China’s attacks increased 150 percent in 2024. Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote in 1999 that Ezekiel 7:14 is a key end-time prophecy describing a time in the U.S. when “they have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goeth to the battle.” A devastating cyberattack is one way enemies could attack America while its critical infrastructure is down.