Europe’s Broken Fence

For three days last week, tens of thousands of migrants stormed the beaches and fences of Ceuta, Spain’s tiny North African enclave. By the time the surge crested, in 72 hours nearly as many people had crossed as live in the city itself.

[BRIEF]

• Around 60,000 migrants crossed into Ceuta between Wednesday and Friday, the largest such crisis in the enclave’s history.
• At least 72 people are dead, drowned in the strait or crushed against the breakwater trying to reach Spanish soil.
• 3,000 to 5,000 migrants remain in Ceuta as of this week, with the city’s two reception centers entirely overrun.

Remember, this went on in America for years. There were 6.7 million encounters on the southern border during Joe Biden’s time in office. That’s one Ceuta every two weeks—for four years straight.

• The arrivals were more spread out both geographically and chronologically, and America worked harder to “welcome” them. They were fed, given free phones in many cases, and put on planes and buses and sent throughout America.
• Spain reacted differently: Even with its socialist, migrant-friendly government, it did not shift the migrants into mainland Spain. It didn’t even provide them with food. With shops closed, tens of thousands of migrants left again due to pure hunger.

This was an invasion. Morocco’s “normally efficient forces,” as the bbc put it, allowed these migrants through: 50,000 people don’t just wake up on a Thursday morning and say, Let’s all swim over to Spain simultaneously. This was an attack on Spain and all of Europe.

Europe is waking up to this invasion from the Middle East. Spain is part of the Schengen Agreement, which allows free travel between participating European Union nations—no visa or passport checks required. When migrants arrive in Spain, they can travel freely. To stop this:

• Italy suspended its free-travel arrangement with Spain for one month.
• Germany “temporarily” reintroduced border checks at many of its border crossings in September 2024. They were scheduled to expire next month, but they have been extended.
• France increased its police presence on its border with Spain fivefold.

Many American commentators are criticizing “soft touch” Europe. But the Continent won’t keep that soft touch for long. This invasion is stirring leaders and populations across Europe. It comes the same week that a Lebanese man drove his van through a crowd in Berlin.

A strongman is coming—one who will fly against his Middle Eastern enemies “like a whirlwind” (Daniel 11:40). Europeans must act, and the strongman who will help them do so will be here soon.

The Americans Are Backing Out of the Middle East

On Saturday, President Donald Trump again backed out of his threats to resume bombing Iran, claiming progress in negotiations and deference to the influence of Saudi Arabia. Negotiations are scheduled to continue today.

• International media claim the U.S. and Iran have reached a “compromise” agreement where the U.S. has accepted Iran maintaining some level of control over merchant shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Whether Iran will use this to implement a tolling system and the U.S. would allow this remains uncertain.

The U.S. is also nearing a “full withdrawal from Iraq,” including Iraqi Kurdistan, Al-Monitor reported Friday, stating that U.S. Patriot missile batteries have already been removed. All U.S. forces are scheduled to leave Iraq by September 30.

Seventy percent of Americans believe “negotiating a permanent ceasefire with Iran” is an extremely or very important goal, an Associated Press/University of Chicago poll released on July 30 suggests.

• The same poll suggests only a third of Americans believe the Iran war was worth fighting.
• Such numbers are surely informing President Trump’s decisions leading up to November’s midterm elections.

The U.S. is starting to give up on the Middle East. President Trump has wanted to exit the Iran conflict for months, but he has held out for some kind of gain he can portray as a victory. It looks like he is now abandoning even that hope, and Americans are unwilling to continue the fight.

When President Trump contemplated a similar move in Syria, the Trumpet wrote in “America Is Back … ing Out” (March 2019):

While some may rejoice over America’s withdrawal from the Middle East, the Bible reveals that its absence portends the most destructive period this war-weary region has ever seen.

America’s decline in global influence is one of the most important end-time prophecies you can watch, particularly for what will rise to fill the void.

Liechtenstein Financial Haven Breached by Cyberattack

Liechtenstein, one of the world’s smallest, wealthiest per-capita countries, suffered a major cyberattack last week. Its government announced over the weekend that the attack from Wednesday into Thursday compromised the data of around 31,000 people in Liechtenstein’s register of beneficial owners.

• The country, located between Switzerland and Austria, has a population of only 40,000, but it has established itself as a financial hub. The recent attack challenges its reputation for security.

The hacked database lists the names of the people behind companies, foundations and trust structures. The government maintains these lists to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, but hackers and others can use them for extortion and manipulation.

Cyberattacks: a growing danger: Also on Thursday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Environmental Protection Agency in the United States issued a joint warning that cyberattacks are targeting infrastructure in the U.S.

• Attacks on Internet-connected programmable logic controllers used by water and wastewater utilities have caused pressure loss, flooding and other disruptions. While damage was minor, the hacks reveal another vulnerability hackers can target.

AI attack multiplier: In April, Anthropic warned that its latest artificial intelligence models can “surpass all but the most skilled humans at finding and exploiting software vulnerabilities.”

Last Thursday, it announced that three of its AI models—Opus 4.7, Mythos 5 and an internal research test model—broke out of their testing environments and hacked into other organizations on three separate occasions. OpenAI has announced that a similar incident occurred two weeks ago.

• Cybersecurity is growing in importance every day, but the advantage currently lies with the attackers, Anthropic warned in April.

Last week’s attacks were minor compared to what is possible. But those attacks show the vulnerability of our financial systems and infrastructure, along with the incredible advances in AI capacities. With the attack multiplier of AI-coordination, cyberattacks are increasingly becoming a threat to entire nations.

While all nations are at risk, the U.S. superpower, especially, has put great trust in technology. But what if its greatest strengths suddenly become its greatest vulnerability? This isn’t a mere hypothetical. Bible prophecy indicates that the world’s number one superpower will be crippled by unprecedented cyberattacks.

IN OTHER NEWS

Japan fires first Tomahawk missile from warship: Japan marked a major military milestone Wednesday as its Maritime Self-Defense Force test-launched the advanced U.S.-made Tomahawk cruise missile from a warship for the first time. It will soon have 400 Tomahawks, which can accurately strike and destroy heavily defended targets up to 1,000 miles away, and it is believed to now have eight vessels capable of launching them. Japan continues its “march toward militarization.”