“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen”.
— Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, Russian Revolutionary and first Premier of the Soviet Union
The last few weeks have proved Lenin’s statement true. Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine has shaken the world. With war and a humanitarian crisis on the doorstep of Europe, decisions and actions are being taken that have accelerated geopolitical shifts of decades to just two weeks.
In reaction to Putin’s thrust into Ukraine, nations have made strategic changes that otherwise would’ve taken years. NATO, whose purpose and contemporary value has been questioned in recent years, is flush with unity and purpose, confidently affirming that they will defend every inch of their member nations’ territory from Russian aggression. Such has been the galvanising effect of Putin’s war, that we are experiencing stunning firsts in military policy. It was quite a moment when Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, announced that for the very first time the European Union would be sending military equipment to Ukraine. And Germany, whose post-war policy of banning all exports of lethal weapons to conflict zones, shockingly broke with the past and announced they’d also deliver weapons to Ukraine. In addition, the Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, was met with applause when he told the Bundestag he would raise military spending to more than 2% of their GDP, hitting £85 billion, making them the highest defence spenders in Europe. The significance of this watershed moment should not be underestimated. Adding to the precipitous strategic shifts across Europe, even Sweden moved away from its long-standing neutrality, to commit anti-tank weapons to Kyiv. In an echo of Lenin, von der Leyen said the EU defence policy had moved forward more in “the last six days than in the last two decades”[1]. These are momentous times!
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission
As for the trigger of all this change, the war has its origins in the mind of the Russian President. Putin has had Ukraine in his sights for some time, and with a US President whose actions have led many to think the age of American policing is ending, Putin has seized the moment. He wants Kyiv to lean to the East, not the West—Putin’s expressed goal to “demilitarise” and “denazify” the country, would no doubt come with the establishment of a pro-Russian government. But it’s more than that: Putin has been grieved for some time by NATO’s eastward expansion, not wanting Western forces on his borders. The bottom line is, Moscow doesn’t like Western power structures and institutions. He (along with China) wants a new balance of power; a new order to the world.
The irony may well be that Putin’s war has set in motion the emergence of that very thing he most wants to choke off: a strong, militarised Europe, a Western superpower on his doorstep—a beast, of sorts.
From a prophetic standpoint, consequences are no coincidence. Events happen for a reason, in some cases even when the instigators had not intended them. The irony may well be that Putin’s war has set in motion the emergence of that very thing he most wants to choke off: a strong, militarised Europe, a Western superpower on his doorstep—a beast, of sorts.
This is a moment of truth for Europe, “a defining moment”[2], as von der Leyen put it in her speech at the European Parliament on the Russian aggression against Ukraine. She continues, almost prophetically, “How we respond today to what Russia is doing will determine the future of the international system… our own fate also lies in the balance”[3]. This is certainly a defining moment. Whatever damage to the Union that Brexit may have caused, this war has brought purpose and unparalleled unity to the EU. Yet, merely uniting member states may not be the only outcome.
Emmanuel Macron, somewhat of an EU zealot, has expressed a desire an EU military force, and the assault on Ukraine has given this proposal more serious consideration. On March 10th, at a summit in Versailles, EU leaders met to discuss plans to pool military resources, including a discussion on a plan for a 5000-strong EU rapid response force. “We cannot let others defend ourselves; whether on land, at sea, under the sea, in the air, in space or in cyberspace”, Macron said last week, “Our European defence must take a step forward”[4]. A defining moment, indeed! A step forward due to America taking a step back—Macron and others can see that the EU cannot rely on the US alone for military support and bailouts. Certainly, when it comes to this crisis, the EU has been leading, with the US following on behind. As one journalist puts it, “Putin’s aggression has achieved the seemingly impossible and turned the EU into a military power”[5]. Harbour no doubts: the EU has always had their eyes lifted in this direction. Back in 2017, Jean-Claude Junker, said in his State of the Union speech, that “by 2025 we need a fully-fledged European Defence Union. We need it. And NATO wants it”[6]. His wish may come true early!
Beast described in Revelation 13
Throughout the Bible, there are descriptions of creatures or combinations of creatures that are prophetically symbolic. Such fearsome and repulsive monsters are referred to as “beasts”. These are a depiction of Satan’s attempt to gain control over humanity and persecute God’s people through the means of political-military power (Rev 13:7-8). Revelation 13 gives us a representation of such a beast. With 7 heads and 10 horns, this composite of parts of a leopard, bear, and lion (v, 1-2) gives us a symbolic historical rundown of political-military rule over the people of the Earth until the very end of the age when Christ will return and dramatically intervene destroying the beast and bringing world peace.
“There are moments when the tectonic plates of history shift beneath our feet and Europe is violently remade,”[7] writes BBC’s Kevin Connolly. This happened in 1914 and 1939, and now we stand on the precipice of a “new era”[8] as Chancellor Scholz exclaimed. A new era that comes with a challenging choice, “Whether we allow Putin to turn back the clock, or whether we mobilise power to set boundaries for warmongers such as Putin”. Could this mobilising of power and setting of boundaries create a beast out of Europe, as a world-dominating superpower that will be an echo of its historical self—a geo-political giant, with a military to rival the likes of the US and Russia, and the infrastructure to control and coerce?
Olaf Scholz at the Bundestag
In 2004, a pop-art collage was mounted in a tent outside the European Commission that appeared to suggest so. It displayed 50 years of EU history, but also, in an almost prophetic manner, projected future events on an 80-yard canvas predicting the 21st century will be a “European Century”[9], and that the EU is poised to overtake America to become the premier superpower, dominating world affairs with its vast “legal and moral reach”. And the title of the art show? ’Roman Empire Returns’.
The Roman Empire has been something of an ideal for many historical European leaders. Europe has had a long history of rulers desiring a united, powerful, militarised Europe (often achieved with help from the Pontiff). Time will tell if the EU resurrects as an incarnation of the Roman Empire (…some say, we’re already there). Whatever the future of the EU, one thing is clear, the past few weeks have accelerated the next iteration of this ‘beast’, revealing its military teeth. The EU is said to be a “peace project,” but behind human peace is always a strong military. It is a bitter irony that it’s the only mechanism Man has ever found that can bring about peace (that is, if one defines peace as the absence of conflict).
But there’s something else this war is all making us feel. In the West, for the past 70 years, we’ve been lulled into a false sense of security, a sense that peace can come from our treaties, economic policy, and sheer will. This war has woken us up from such a delusion. And it’s making us feel fragile, maybe vulnerable. And not just to what lies beyond Europe’s eastern borders, but what lies within each of us—our baffling inability to make real, lasting peace. That’s why God had to act on our behalf—that’s why Jesus Christ had to come the first time. And that is why He promised to return to Earth.
God through Jesus is the only one who can give us true and lasting peace. “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you;” Jesus said, “not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’” (John 14:27-28, NKJV). We do well to heed this, to not be afraid, because He is returning—soon! And when He has returned, “The kingdoms of this world [will] have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” (Revelation 11:15)
Whatever beast may arise in Europe, accelerated by Putin’s war, we need not be troubled. God will intervene in world affairs, to put an end to mankind’s mis-government and to set up the government of God. That is the way to peace, to justice, and to joy in every corner of the world.
[1] https://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/albania/111921/speech-president-ursula-von-der-leyen-european-parliament-plenary-russian-aggression-against_en
[2] https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/speech_22_1483
[3] Ibid
[4] https://www.politico.eu/article/macron-says-he-will-remain-in-contact-with-putin-despite-ignoble-war/
[5] Jonathan Shaw, Daily Telegraph
[6] https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/api/files/document/print/en/speech_17_3165/SPEECH_17_3165_EN.pdf
[7] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-60622772
[8] https://www.ft.com/content/ffc46030-51c6-4d87-b81b-457a31fbcdc9
[9] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/1471722/Art-show-sees-Europe-as-new-Roman-Empire.html
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