We recently noted a new book by Ian Bremmer (president of Eurasia Group) entitled Every Nation for Itself: Winners and Losers in a G-Zero World. He writes on the very same theme that we covered in our latest book of some three years ago, Global Financial Apocalypse Prophesied. An even earlier article that was written in January 2009, “10: The Magic Number of Endtime Post-Globalism” specifically dealt with the prophetic significance of just such a development. While these topics may sound a little dense — i.e. just what is post-globalism? — they really deal with the clear-cut stages in the geopolitics of the last days. In our view, given the developments that we are observing, the world definitely seems to be hurtling towards the final stages of geopolitics and politically economy according to Bible prophecy.

Let’s do a short review before we turn our attention to the foretold choices of the modern geopolitical world of mankind. Contrary to popular opinion, globalism is not the final power organization of an end time world. Many promote the idea of a one-world government. This is not so much wrong as it is an imbalanced and incomplete view. Quoting a section from the above-mentioned article:

“To be clear, the Bible clearly does prophesy that globalism will take place in the last days. God often pronounces his last-day judgments upon all the nations collectively, as they are all engaged in rebelliousness; are pursuing similar ideologies; and together rise up against Israel. For example, “Come near, you nations, and listen; pay attention, you peoples! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, the world, and all that comes out of it! The LORD is angry with all nations; his wrath is upon all their armies” (Isaiah 34:1-2).”

From prophecy we can deduce that the world would have forums such as the United Nations and global media networks that would be representative of world opinion and consensus. When Balaam prophesied, “For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations” (Numbers 23:9, KJV), this presumed that the world, or collectively “the nations,” was united in not “reckoning” Israel. As it happens, that state of affairs exists today.

Most certainly, Bible prophecy tells us in advance that the world’s nations will all choose to oppose God and in this they will remain unified. In this sense, the world will retain its globalism. However, its power structure will be superseded. How so?

To answer, we must study the stages of Ruler Kings that the Bible mentions in Daniel and Revelation. (Please see our current 4-part series entitled “Prophecy: Wrong- or Right-Headed” for a detailed exposition of these views. It will be published first in Midnight Call magazine, beginning with the July issue.) A 10-king phase follows the 6th Ruler King (this being of Roman heritage in our opinion). From among these 10 kings rises the final leader, the Antichrist. Three phases apply to the Roman era (See Daniel 7:24).

As such, there are yet two regimes that come after the present one — minilateralism and autocracy — with the latter being a form of government in which the political power is held by a single, self-appointed ruler. Both forms yet lie ahead.

But what is minilateralism? This is a term coined several years ago by MoisésNaím, the well-known former Editor-in-Chief of Foreign Policy magazine and former executive director of the World Bank. While it is not a term that has attracted common usage, it can be seen to convey a concept of which the Bible prophecy has foreknowledge. This is further explained in the following quote:

“When was the last time you heard that a large number of countries agreed to a major international accord on a pressing issue? Not in more than a decade […] These failures represent not only the perpetual lack of international consensus, but also a flawed obsession with multilateralism as the panacea for all the world’s ills. It has become far too dangerous to continue to rely on large-scale multilateral negotiations that stopped yielding results almost two decades ago. So what is to be done? To start, let’s forget about trying to get the planet’s nearly 200 countries to agree. We need to abandon that fool’s errand in favor of a new idea: minilateralism. By minilateralism, I mean a smarter, more targeted approach: We should bring to the table the smallest possible number of countries needed to have the largest possible impact on solving a particular problem. Think of this as minilateralism’s magic number.4”

Cutting to the nub of Mr. Naím’s argument: Today’s multilateral “globalism” is ineffective as there is no accountability and no power to enforce change. He is saying that a small group of powerful nations — not the global, toothless forum such as the United Nations with its 192 members or the G20 — should therefore dictate global agendas.

Though he may not realize it, he strikes upon a very important eschatological issue. His recommendations fit hand in glove with Bible prophecy, but not necessarily in the way popularly thought. He is talking of a world that is moving to a post-globalism state. That is minilateralism. That could be the reign of 10 nations getting together to form what we have called a Global Power Coalition. This would not be globalism or multilateralism but would be a powerful group of opportunist nations taking things into their own hands and dominating the world.

To review, what we see is that the prophetic fulfillment of ten kings first requires an age of multipolarism and multilateralism. This is a world power arrangement balanced between many countries and not dominated by one or more powerful nations. It is the late stages of this development that is playing out today, the era of the 6th head shown on the beast of Revelation 17. This is the G-zero world that Ian Bremmer describes in his book.

Says Bremmer in a recent conference presentation: “If not the West, the rest, or the institutions where they come together, who will lead? The answer is, no one. Neither the once-dominant G7 nor the unworkable G20. We have entered the G-Zero, a world in which, for the first time since the end of World War II, there is no single power or alliance of powers ready to take on global leadership.”

After this would come minilateralism as we have already explained — what we see to be the 10-nation coalition that then gives its authority over to the Antichrist. He represents that last state of world governance before the Millennium period — autocracy.

Again, says Bremmer: “The G-Zero is not the new normal. It can’t last, because it will create too many problems that demand cooperative solutions. We have to look beyond this era of transition and to consider what will come next. Who will provide leadership in the post G-Zero world?” The Bible provides the answer.

Recent European financial tremors add to the maelstrom. Frankly, there is no way of knowing just which nations might exit the Eurozone, or in fact, the European Union. Frankly, it is possible that a group of 10 nations will emerge from the financial wreckage of Europe at some point. Says Helen Wallace, a leading EU scholar at the London School of Economics, “In looking for sticking plasters and ways that will stabilize today, the temptation to do it with a smaller number of member states becomes greater and greater.”

Recently, Jean-Claude Piris, a top EU lawyer and highly influential figure in Brussels, published a book arguing also for a smaller Europe but with more complete monetary union. All in all, it is obvious that we are living in a time where things can change…and quickly.

Will all of the 10 final nations come out of Europe? There are other possibilities as to the final make-up of the “minilateralist” ten nations as we have laid out before. Time will tell.

In conclusion, quoting from our book Global Financial Apocalypse Prophesied: “It will take at least one more big crisis, if not many more, to bring about the prophesied globally coordinated condition of ten kings. In fact, it is not unreasonable to think that an even greater crisis than the GFC must occur. It need not be a new crisis. It could simply be the second stage of the GFC that is shortly ahead. Therefore, please note that the probabilities are very high that a much bigger crisis could still occur before the Tribulation period begins.”

We wrote this more that 3 years ago. Indeed, the Global Financial Crisis continues to morph, impacting the entire world, lately most explosively in the European Eurozone. A seemingly uncontrollable and unforecastable crisis will eventually give rise to the 10-nation stage of minilateralism.

Listening to popular opinion, the mainstream media, some politicians and most certainly the shills for the false optimism of Wall Street, you would never know that a massive financial and economic crisis has been welling up over recent years. Like the rolling, dark storm clouds that warn of a coming deluge, the continuing financial tremors we see around the globe today point to a greater bout of difficult consequences ahead. Unprecedented developments are unfolding in every direction but very, very few people that have a solid understanding of these things are willing to speak out.

The fact that this is the case is indeed a tragedy. It is also not unusual. We apologize for once again quoting this comment from John Kenneth Galbraith’s book entitled The Great Crash: 1929. It is so apropos that we must use it again.

“Even in such a time of madness as the late ’20s, a great many men in Wall Street remained quite sane. But they also remained very quiet. The sense of responsibility in the financial community for the community as a whole is not small. It is nearly nil. Perhaps this is inherent. In a community where the primary concern is making money, one of the necessary rules is to live and let live. To speak out against madness may be to ruin those who have succumbed to it. So the wise in Wall Street are nearly always silent. The foolish thus have the field to themselves. None rebukes them.”

Were the late Dr. Galbraith still alive today, no doubt he would venture the same observation about current conditions in the broader financial community. The difference today, as compared to the 1920s, is that this “collusion of silence” is of a greater global scope; the possibility of disaster and suffering is much larger.

But surely things could not be that dire. Things just do not seem that bad, a reader may say. Indeed, many people may not identify with the difficulties that are unfolding. But that does not obviate what is happening to other people, families and societies…indeed, entire countries. In North America’s case, society has moved towards a two-tier level while the middle class becomes progressively squeezed. Well-off households face no concerns. The prices of luxury goods, art and collectibles, along with the revenues of luxury goods companies, are all firm and rising.

On the other end of the spectrum, many households are now forgoing things that they consumed in the past as income levels stagnate and even decline in real terms. Youth unemployment is soaring around the developed world to unprecedented levels (see the chart on the front page), including in the United States. Food stamp usage also continues to climb, showing no signs of decline (see Chart #2 on this page.) These are hardly harbingers of coming peace, prosperity and contentment in the future. We therefore observe that one part of the population is almost completely insensitive to unfolding financial stresses.

But back to the reality…or rather, the “soon-coming” reality for the majority of the population. Even here, people seem oblivious to the scope of disaster, theft and wealth destruction. In North America, for example, few seem to realize how much of their future retirement lifestyle has vanished. When investment returns and interest rate levels collapse, it annihilates the future value of pensions and retirement savings. As we write, interest rate levels around the world are falling to unprecedented, never-before-seen levels (long-term rates in the U.S. now at 220-year lows!). If one were to fund one’s retirement by investing in a 10-year treasury bond, one would need three times the savings today than was required five years ago to afford the same given retirement lifestyle. In other words, the cost of retirement went up three times and more in terms of required savings. That’s a form of hyperinflation though few economists would recognize this as such.

For the average middle class family, a comfortable retirement is the largest single purchase they will make in their lifetime — even greater than the cost of the average home (supposing people wish to retire as early as age 65). The impact of this massive decline in prosperity still lies ahead.

Another observation to note is that the unfolding crises today are global in scope. These involve many countries, each with different characteristic imbalances or causalities. The sufferings manifest in different ways. Consider that the unemployment rate for the entire work force in Spain today is over 22%! This is a major European country! Its unemployment rate is as high as and greater than that during America’s Great Depression of the 1930s. Is this not significant? “We’re in a situation of total emergency, the worst crisis we have ever lived through” said the former premier of Spain, Felipe Gonzalez, recently.

Japan has different manifestations again, especially as it has a rapidly-aging demographic. Italy’s economy in real terms has not grown in over ten years; it is stagnating, burdened by excessive debts and deficits. Greece, China…we could list many more and provide a more detailed analysis. The bottom line is that the world’s economies, financial systems, and imbalances are extreme and shaky. As such, money has begun to panic and take flight from Greece…even from China. Ominously, increasing numbers of protests by citizens have erupted and major political shifts have begun to take place. Consider the political tides of Greece and France, of late.

Around the world, the hunt is on for safe haven…namely, financial safe haven. In fact, people are so worried about losing their money that they are paying for storage costs. How so? In a number of countries, interest rates have become negative for short-term deposits and bonds. For example, Swiss 2-year interest rates recently dropped to minus 0.26%. Similarly, interest rates have fallen to negative levels in Germany. These are all record lows. In effect, investors are paying Germany, Switzerland and others to borrow their money. Sound crazy? All of this is evidence of how distorted and precarious financial systems have become.

What we see is that policymakers are fighting the financial deteriorations with straw structures, playing the ruse of building potential pools of rescue funds – i.e. those of the International Monetary Fund, the European Stability Mechanism and others – hoping that this capital can be used to rescue and rebuild confidence in banks and financial systems. But there are problems. There are ever-less financially-sound countries from which such capital can be raised. In the end, it is still money that must be borrowed.

If over-indebtedness and liability imbalances were the major causes of the still-unfolding Global Financial Crisis, then more debt is not the solution. Reflecting this conviction, Bundesbank president Jens Weidmann recently stated, “Just like the ‘Tower of Babel,’ the ‘Wall of Money’ will never reach heaven. If we continue to make it higher and higher, we will, in fact, run into more worldly constraints, which might include setting incentives that lead to new problems in the future.”

The ultimate outcome is clear: More monetary malfeasance on a massive scale…more lying and stealing like never before.

Admittedly, it is much easier to be optimistic and try to ignore the facts as long as possible. To “tell it like it is” in the financial world does not win congeniality contests. However, we do not think that our opinions are the product of hysteria and imagined risks. Long-time readers can attest to our record of consistent analysis, one that has been confirmed by subsequent events and developments. That is not to say that we are infallible or prophets. Hardly.

Our perspectives require little more than common sense. If that were not the case, then why are so many learned economic and financial strategists shockingly and consistently wrong? All their training and sophisticated knowledge was of little use. On the other hand, plain and common sense thinkers have realized for many decades that the world was on a path headed for ill consequences. That path now indeed is meeting with truth and consequences.

While money is looking for safe havens, where is yours? A cleft in the rock…a strong tower? These are some of the terms that the Bible uses for a spiritual haven of rest and peace. We may not be able to find such an oasis in the financial world anytime soon. Financial markets are treacherous and are likely to become more so as conditions become even more desperate. Nothing is sure and nothing is completely safe, including gold. If we have our destiny and fate sealed by the promises of God, at least we can be without fear, although living frugally and humbly.