COUNCIL OF FOREIGN RELATIONS ISSUES WARNING ABOUT CHINA
Steven Collins
April 11, 2008
In the January/February issue of Foreign Affairs, published by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), there is an insightful article entitled “The Rise of China and the Future of the West.” While the article is couched in diplomatic language and includes urgings to China to join the “Western Order” or the “International Order,” the article contains a not-so-subtle warning to the Western nations that China poses a growing military threat to not only the USA but also to the entire global system of the “Western Order.”
The article is written by G. John Ikenberry of Princeton University, and it asks the question: “Will China overthrow the existing order or become a part of it?” It warns that “…as China gets more powerful and the United States’ position erodes…China will try to use its growing influence to reshape the rules and institutions of the international system to better serve its interests…” That is actually a benign option for the future. The article also states a more dire possibility. It cites a “realist scholar John Mearsheimer” as writing: “The United States and China are likely to engage in an intense security competition with considerable potential for war.” The article practically pleads with China to join the globalist world system, but it candidly acknowledges the worst option (war between China and the West) is a “realist” possibility.
This article is not written by some “scaremonger.” It is a serious examination of the growing military threat that China poses to not just the USA, but to the entire western world and the global international order. However, the article clearly is trying to convince Chinese leaders to “join” not “fight” the globalist order. It cites (quite accurately in my view) the existence of nuclear weaponry as a “mechanism” which will hopefully avoid such a war with China. I recommend the entire article to those who wish to read it. I searched the CFR’s website (www.cfr.org) to see if I could find a link to the article, but could not locate it at this time. Since it is in a recent issue, it may be archived at the CFR’s website in the near future.
While it was no doubt done unknowingly, this article strongly affirms biblical prophecy in secular language. Revelation 18 prophesies that in the latter days of our age, a globalist political/economic system will come into being which will dominate “all nations.” Revelation 18 calls this globalist system “Babylon the Great,” and it foretells that this system will attain globally-dominant status just prior to its complete collapse at the end of our age. This prophecy has been fulfilled as the western world’s global political/economic system does, indeed, dominate the globe. That it is called “Babylon” in Revelation 18 affirms that its economic roots must be found in ancient Babylon. Ancient Babylon invented the modern banking system which is at the heart of the western world’s global economic system. The global banking system governs the financial activities of Russian and Chinese companies as well as those located in western nations, so the biblical term Babylon the Great” is an especially accurate description of modern geopolitics. For more information on the Babylonian origins of modern globalism, see my article “What Kind of Captivity?” available at the articles link at this website.
Ezekiel 38 prophesies that a large bloc of nations will militarily revolt against the western world’s global system at the very end of this age, seeking to overthrow it and replace it with one of its one making. In other words, the “worst case” option cited in the Foreign Affairs article is what biblical prophecy states will occur in the years ahead of us. The nations identified as leading this military attack against the world’s globalist system will be Russia, China, Iran, etc. (the Bible refers to them as Gog, Magog, Meshech, Tubal, Gomer, Persia, etc.). Russia, China and Iran are now openly allied in their anti-western actions and renewed militarism, so a fulfillment of Ezekiel 38 draws ever nearer. The target of their attack will be the nations of the modern house of Israel, identified in the author’s books and articles as the USA, UK, and many nations of NATO as well as their European and Asian allies. The modern Israelis/Jews (called “Judah” in biblical prophecies) aren’t even mentioned in Ezekiel 38. Many Christians mistakenly think all of Gog’s alliance will descend on the tiny Jewish state in the Mideast because it is called “Israel.” This is incorrect. If the Israelis were targeted, Ezekiel 38 would have used the word “Judah,” not “Israel.” The target of the Gog-Magog attack are the USA, the EU and all their global allies.
The internet and the world’s media are replete with evidence that Russia, China and Iran are developing the military means to launch a coordinated surprise attack against the West and its globalist political/economic system. Many previous blogs at this site confirm that fact, and these fulfillments confirm that the Bible accurately foretells what will unfold in the future of the earth’s nations. Once one understands which modern nations are referenced in the Bible by their ancient names, the Bible’s prophecies become strikingly harmonious with modern geopolitics.
I’ll list a few more modern preparations for the age-ending World War III prophesied in Ezekiel 38-39. The first link below discusses Iran’s efforts to build a long-range missile which will be able to strike Berlin, Paris, Zurich, London and other European targets. It doesn’t take a “rocket scientist” to realize that Russia and China (Iran’s allies in its nuclear and weapons programs) are likely providing technical help to Iran. The second link documents the increasing Chinese and Russian cyber-attacks against the USA and the American efforts to resist those attacks. This link openly discusses China’s preparations for a “‘Pearl Harbor’ surprise attack” against the USA, and these concerns were aired in a forum sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), which also published the article about China examined above in this blog. The fact that the CFR is prominently and openly discussing the growing military threat posed by China confirms that all the globalist leaders of the USA, NATO, the EU, Japan, India, etc. all now are aware of the threat posed by China (and its allies Russia and Iran). Do not expect this danger to be discussed in the establishment media as it would “upset the shoppers” on which Babylon the Great’s multinational corporations depend to buy all their goods and services (Revelation 18:11-15). However, the CFR’s now-public concerns about Chinese militarism confirms all the thinkers in the modern globalist system are worried about this development. They should be worried. Ezekiel 38 prophesies that China (with Russia, Iran and many other nations) will seek to militarily destroy the western world’s global system and seize all its wealth (Ezekiel 38:10-12).
The third link below confirms that Russia and China are strengthening their military alliance for “strategic coordination” in the future. For those who have the willingness to see it, God has already shown in Ezekiel 38 what the Russian-Chinese “strategic goals” are. The final two links below further detail the growing vulnerability of US aircraft carriers to coordinated Russian-Chinese submarines in a future war. Previous blogs at this site have examined the growing vulnerability of US carriers to Russian-Chinese-Iranian missiles. I very much hope that the USA has adequate defensive systems against Russian and Chinese submarines and cruise missiles; however, unless the USA has defensive systems which are both deployed and secret, US aircraft carriers are looking increasingly vulnerable. I wish that fact were not true, but we have to look at the facts as they are, not as we wish them to be.
One final thought. Revelation 12:9 prophesies that “a great dragon” will be filled with great wrath at the end of this age. While this verse is obviously referring to Satan, the “great dragon” in the spiritual realm, there can be concurrent parallels between events in the spiritual and physical realms. When one realizes what increasingly-bellicose and powerful nation is symbolized by the “dragon,” one can easily think of a modern connection.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article3724048.ece
http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2008/ea_china0041_04_10.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/07/asia/AS-GEN-China-Russia.php
http://www.upi.com/International_Security/Industry/Analysis/2008/04/08/defense_focus_subs_vs_carriers_–_part_1/2317/
http://www.upi.com/International_Security/Industry/Analysis/2008/04/09/defense_focus_subs_vs_carriers_–_part_2/4677/
