Nicosia—Russia was smart off the mark to offer around €2.5 billion to bail out Cyprus, currently at risk of defaulting on its debts. But it has since become apparent that Cyprus needs additional “bailouts” beyond the approximate level previously offered in loans from Russia.

It now appears that the three world powers—the European Union, Russia and China—may be sources for Cyprus to obtain loans of another €6 or €8 billion to aid in the survival of its economy.

The two main Cypriot banks are currently at risk of failure due to leverage to Greece to the amount of about €20 to €25 billion. To all intents and purposes, Cyprus is fully and irretrievably bankrupt as a sovereign nation, as can be readily seen by comparing its gross domestic product with its national debt load.

Considering that Cyprus’s gdp is only about €24 billion, these large loan sums—in addition to national debt of about 100 percent of gdp, wanton runaway private consumer debt, a real-estate bubble that is bursting, an almost-dead building industry, sagging tourism and rising unemployment, with a huge proportion of the population in the country illegal immigrants—clearly herald a catastrophe for Cyprus financially.

This divergence of loan sources for Cyprus’s bailouts really complicates Cyprus’s position geopolitically. It stands to be pulled three ways—between the EU, Russia and China—in terms of its national allegiances. That is an untenable situation in which to develop a coherent foreign policy for a nation that stands at the edge of perhaps the hottest geopolitical spot on the globe—the vital crossroads between Eurasia and the Middle East!

Of course this is Cyprus’s perennial problem, historically having been torn apart by foreign powers and their conflicting vested interests over the island nation’s geostrategic location. China is biblical Kittim (of Japheth), the very nation that anciently gave its name to Cyprus. This fact bears significantly on the role these nations play in fulfilling current-day Bible prophecy.

But there are another two players in this grand game for ultimate possession of this crucial Mediterranean listening post—Israel and Turkey.

Cyprus is allied with Israel over its offshore oil and gas deposits. This fact, together with these big players (the EU, Russia and China) having blossoming vested interests in Cyprus, is no doubt playing to the chagrin of Turkey.

Exacerbating Mediterranean relations, recently Turkish fighter jets have been chasing Israeli fighter jets out of Cypriot airspace, both sides deploying fully armed aircraft. Such events are arising continually, but are not reported in the media in Cyprus.

Local reaction within Cyprus indicates that the populace is beginning to really feel the pressure as this situation unwinds economically in daily life and with many institutions and individuals concerned about their economic survival.

Watch Cyprus closely. As we have observed previously in relation to this strategic little nation, prophecy indicates that despite competition between the three powers—the EU, Russia and China—for control of this Mediterranean island as a bridgehead between Europe and the Middle East, Bible prophecy indicates that it will be the northern power, the EU—more specifically its leading member, Germany—that will win out.

Read our booklets Nahum: An End-Time Prophecy for Germany and Russia and China in Prophecy for more information on this subject.