Spain requesting EU bailout.

[rondaben]

That just raises the hair on the back of my neck-

Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer

[saulteux]

Christoph Pauly and Christoph Schult, writing in Der Spiegel

Listening closely to Chancellor Angela Merkel in recent weeks has revealed just such a change in tone. It has been a careful shift, extremely nuanced. But it has become clear that her well-known melody is now a new one.

"We need a so-called fiscal union," she said during an appearance on German public broadcaster ARD last week. "Which means more joint budgetary policy." Up to that point, Merkel had merely repeated that which she always demanded. But then came the new tone: "More than anything, we need a political union," she said. "That means that we must, step by step through the process, give up more powers to Europe as well and allow Europe oversight possibilities."

Merkel is carefully preparing the public for the possibility that great changes are coming and that established certainties are no longer valid. Her message is that Europe only has a future when the Germans too give up large portions of their national sovereignty. That is the extent of her message, but it is plenty nonetheless.

For the eschatological amongst us, this is rather significant.

[PyratePrincess]

For the eschatological amongst us, this is rather significant.

Yeah. but there's more than 10 members in the EU.....

[rondaben]

Yeah. but there's more than 10 members in the EU.....

A side note...

2:40 And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all [things]: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.

2:41 And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.

2:42 And [as] the toes of the feet [were] part of iron, and part of clay, [so] the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.

2:43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.

The Final Kingdom referred to here has several characteristics:

1. It is not united ("the kingdom shall be divided"), so no United States of Europe.

2. It will be constituted of strong and weak parts---a Union but not of equals. The actual word implies "frail" or "weak".

Note that the toes--which are commonly used to come up with the 10 nation hypothesis--indicate that there are additional nations which are not amongst the count of the "toes". "Some" of the toes are iron, some are clay. That would indicate that there are others that are present in the union that would not be in key leadership roles.

If you look at a list of strong and weak nations in the EU it might look something like this:

Strong--Iron (Economically/Politically/Military)

Germany
France
UK
Italy

Iron-like (second tier)

Belgium
Netherlands
Denmark
Finland
Austria
Luxembourg
Poland
Sweden

Weak

Spain
Bulgaria
Greece
Cyprus
Czech republic
Estonia
Lithuania
Latvia
Hungary
Ireland
Malta
Portugal
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia

It wouldn't be too far fetched to have a union of many member states, and a core leadership (vote wise--look at member populations) that would look like this:

Germany
France
UK
Italy
Spain
Poland
Romania
Netherlands
Portugal
Belgium

[Godwit]

A side note...



The Final Kingdom referred to here has several characteristics:

1. It is not united ("the kingdom shall be divided"), so no United States of Europe.

2. It will be constituted of strong and weak parts---a Union but not of equals. The actual word implies "frail" or "weak".

Note that the toes--which are commonly used to come up with the 10 nation hypothesis--indicate that there are additional nations which are not amongst the count of the "toes". "Some" of the toes are iron, some are clay. That would indicate that there are others that are present in the union that would not be in key leadership roles.

If you look at a list of strong and weak nations in the EU it might look something like this:

Strong--Iron (Economically/Politically/Military)

Germany
France
UK
Italy

Iron-like (second tier)

Belgium
Netherlands
Denmark
Finland
Austria
Luxembourg
Poland
Sweden

Weak

Spain
Bulgaria
Greece
Cyprus
Czech republic
Estonia
Lithuania
Latvia
Hungary
Ireland
Malta
Portugal
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia

It wouldn't be too far fetched to have a union of many member states, and a core leadership (vote wise--look at member populations) that would look like this:

Germany
France
UK
Italy
Spain
Poland
Romania
Netherlands
Portugal
Belgium

Only 17 of these countries are in the Eurozone. Many on your list are not.

[rondaben]

Only 17 of these countries are in the Eurozone. Many on your list are not.

Right.

They are members of the union, not necessarily the eurozone.

http://europa.eu/about-eu/countries/index_en.htm