Berlin’s Secret Pact With Moscow
In a speech given on Monday to students at Herbert W. Armstrong College, editor in chief Gerald Flurry said that Russia’s attack on Georgia earlier this month signaled the beginning of a dangerous new era in history. As columnist Robert Kagan put it, “Historians will come to view Aug. 8, 2008, as a turning point no less significant than Nov. 9, 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell. Russia’s attack on sovereign Georgian territory marked the official return of history, indeed to an almost 19th-century style of great-power competition, complete with virulent nationalisms, battles for resources, struggles over spheres of influence and territory, and even—though it shocks our 21st-century sensibilities—the use of military power to obtain geopolitical objectives.”
To counterbalance the revival of Russia’s imperialistic aims, as we have been warning over the past two weeks, look for the German-led European Union to rapidly accelerate its drive toward militaristic unity! And as we have been saying for years, this resurgence of both power blocs—called the king of the north and the kings of the east in Bible prophecy—will result in a non-aggression pact between Germany and Russia modeled after the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop agreement.
This has been the lesson of history. As my father told hwac students during his lecture, every time competition intensifies between Russia and Germany, the two historic foes form an alliance with one another. But they don’t last long. The strategic agreements are made just before the outbreak of full-scale war!
Where We Are Headed
Basing his projection on the sure word of Bible prophecy, 47 years ago, Herbert W. Armstrong said that Russia would one day frighten Germany and the rest of Europe to “lose confidence” in America’s ability to protect them from the Russian bear (co-worker letter, Oct. 23, 1961). This, he said, would result in two things: hastening the development of European unification and the establishment of a non-aggression pact between Germany and Russia.
Mr. Armstrong’s flagship publication, the Plain Truth, offered this analysis in May 1962: “When a Russo-German deal is made, you can be sure that the doom of the United States and Great Britain is on the horizon. A German-Soviet agreement—a second Rapallo—would be the greatest disaster which could befall the West.”
After Mr. Armstrong’s death in 1986, the Trumpet magazine lifted his mantle and continued proclaiming his same prophetic warning. Even before Vladimir Putin grabbed hold of Russian power and revived its imperialist goals, the Trumpetdeclared: “Russia is back, albeit economically wounded, and swallowing its pride momentarily ….”
You would be hard-pressed to find any other news source predicting the resurgent rise of Russia in 1999, when it was entangled in civil war and wallowing in economic impoverishment. The Economist, for example, wrote on Dec. 18, 1999—on the eve of Russian parliamentary elections:
Reform of Russia’s dreadful economy—smaller now than that of the Netherlands—has, for instance, barely been mentioned [in parliamentary debates]. … Cynicism abounds, especially about the corrupt new order that has replaced the coercively deadening old one. It is matched by dismay at the degradation into which Russia has sunk, even though most Russians—Communists included—know that a return to a Soviet-style past is unthinkable.
What a different take than what we had at theTrumpet.com! “With Russia looming again on the horizon across the Polish plain, Germany gets the jitters,” we wrote in June 1999.
Germany will never trust nato in a European adventure again. Apart from this, Germany has never, ever trusted Russia! So—revive the old Ribbentrop-Molotov pact! … We believe that a similar pact will soon be concluded between Russia and Germany.
Four years later, in August 2003, we wrote,
Russia currently faces a choice between a stronger alliance with the EU or the U.S. Putin is at a crossroads, but political and economic possibilities reveal which direction he will take. Now the strategic partnership between Russia and German-led Europe will further solidify both power blocs’ global weight. It will help propel Europe to superpower status.
Then, just last year, we posted an article under the headline, “Russo-German Pact Imminent.”
In April of this year, we wrote about the prophesied rise of both Germany and Russia. “Germany is conquering the Balkans, and Russia has its eye on Georgia,” we said four months ago. “As these powers compete against each other, watch for a new Molotov-Ribbentrop pact to emerge. It may be that dealings are already under way to conclude such an agreement.”
This week, my father made this statement to our hwac students: “I believe it is very likely Germany and Russia have already cut a deal.” He continued,
I believe Germany may well have been complicit in Russia’s plan to attack Georgia! If Russia formed an agreement with Germany over the Georgia situation, then Russia would know the only possible other nation it would have to be concerned about is the U.S. And Russia knew that America was too weak to do anything about it!
That was Monday. On Wednesday, Stratfor filed this prophetically electrifying report about the crossroads Germany is now at in Europe:
Berlin is now reassessing its allegiances to Washington and nato, which would keep the country locked into the policies it made as an occupied state. Or Germany could act like its own state and create its own security guarantee with Russia—something that would rip nato apart. …Stratfor sources in Moscow have said that Medvedev has offered Merkel a security pact for their two countries.
Stratfor has yet to confirm the report, but history and prophecy tells us everything we need to know, even if there is still some question about the timing.
What we know is this: Germany’s relationship with nato is nearing its end! As Stratfor notes, “[I]f Germany and Russia make some sort of deal, it will be open season on American influence in Europe.” An independent, 10-nation superpower is rising out of Europe that will soon force all American military personnel to withdraw from the Continent.
Then, the German-led Euroforce is prophesied to turn against the West, catapulting the whole Earth into a nuclear World War iii—so says your Bible!
Now understand the significance of these latest prophetic developments. Over the past two centuries, every time Germany has double-crossed the West, it has first entered into a non-aggression pact with Russia in order to shore up its defenses to the east.
What this means, as my father told our students on Monday, is that the secret non-aggression pact between Germany and Russia—a deal that may already be in place—is not a sign of peace.
It is a precursor to war!
(Gerald Flurry’s August 18 speech will be excerpted in the October print version of the Trumpet. For a free subscription to the magazine, go here.)
