The Mediterranean Union Arrives
by Michael G. Mickey
(7-14-08)

In case you haven't heard yet, Nicolas Sarkozy's dream of a Mediterranean Union became a reality yesterday, 7-13-08. As the photo above demonstrates, the French president is beaming with joy. Not only that, the photo also points toward a new hope that seems to have been brought to the troubled Middle East that peace may soon become a reality.

The question on my mind at this point? Could the formation of the Mediterranean Union be groundwork for the advent of the Antichrist to occur? Time will tell but, on the surface, this certainly seems to hold a great deal of potential.

I've bookmarked a number of news items on this development for my readers to review. Below are the headlines and some content descriptions for consideration.

France's Kouchner hails 'time of hope' for Mideast peace - French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner is hailing 'Club Med' as "a collective project of economic development, of peace, of rule of law and solidarity", adding that a "new wind of dialogue is blowing around the Mediterranean." "A dream is about to come true," Kouchner told foreign ministers who met ahead of the Paris summit held to birth the union.
Mediterranean, EU nations to boost ties with grand union - French President Nicolas Sarkozy and more than 40 leaders opened a summit on Sunday to launch a new union of Mediterranean nations amid hopes it could bring fresh impetus to Middle East peace efforts. "The entire world is watching you," Sarkozy said. And the question they were asking, he added, was this: "Is this generation of political leaders up to the challenge of peace?"
Mediterranean union launched with Mideast peace hopes - French President Nicolas Sarkozy and more than 40 leaders on Sunday launched a new Union for the Mediterranean, hoping to inject momentum in Middle East peace efforts.
The new forum brings together the 27 countries of the European Union with states from north Africa, the Balkans and Arab nations with Israel to foster cooperation in one of the world's most volatile regions. If one looks at a map of the old Roman empire, the addition of the nations brought into open parnership with the rising revived Roman empire is striking!
Nicolas Sarkozy puts peace first at his 'Club Med' summit - Sarkozy is quoted in this article as saying, ""The goal of the summit is that we learn how to love each other in the Mediterranean, instead of continuing to hate and wage war.
"Everyone will have to make an effort, as the Europeans did, to put an end to the deadly spiral of war and violence, that, century after century, repeatedly brought barbarity to the heart of civilisation."
"We will build peace in the Mediterranean together, like yesterday we built peace in Europe. The world is watching."
Sarkozy beaming at birth of Mediterranean Union - The project – under its official name Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean – regroups 43 states, including all EU members, and will be co-presided over by one EU and one Mediterranean country – currently Egypt's president, Hosni Mubarak, and Mr Sarkozy himself.
The goal is to boost ties between the EU and its southern neighbours, while the aim of the co-presidency will be to "improve the balance and the joint ownership" of the Union, reads the final declaration adopted by the 43 leaders.
Is it just me or does the last news item read as though the 27-nation strong European Union is subtly, in its typical soft-spoken manner, setting the stage to lay claim to some "joint ownership" of the nations signing up as members of the Mediterranean Union? If that doesn't seem to be the case, trust me when I say my suspicion is it eventually will.

In March, I highlighted how Sarkozy's vision of a Mediterranean Union wasn't allowed to become a brand new idea, even though it is being hailed as such. In contrast, the powers that be in the revived Roman empire permitted Sarkozy's "grand union" to come into existence as an upgrade of EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana's Barcelona Process.

This is old hat for the EU, which commonly markets the same idea under a new name until, finally, everyone decides to play along. The Barcelona Process is now the Mediterranean Union and vice versa, for example. And the defeated EU constitution? Today, it is essentially being peddled as the Lisbon or EU Treaty which is slowly but surely gaining approval among EU member nations.

I wrote the following on 3-15-08 in anticipation of today:

So, now it appears that what we have moving forward is Nicolas Sarkozy's conceived Mediterranean Union coming into existence as an upgrade to EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana's Barcelona Process.

The Barcelona Process was initiated in 1995 when, as Javier Solana noted in a 2005 letter, "a solution of the Middle East conflict looked close at hand."

While reading Solana's 2005 letter will give one a decent understanding of the Barcelona Process, I found a letter written by Ana Palacio Vallelersundi in 2004 to be an easy-to-read explanation of the Barcelona Process that, in my mind, demonstrates how the European Union hopes to utilize the Barcelona Process to influence the stability, partnership and prosperity of the Mediterranean region through soft power (diplomacy and economic cooperation and integration) as opposed to strong power (military threat or sanctions).

As we look at Bible prophecy, the image of the revived Roman empire/new world order initially gaining power in the region in a gentle manner like that seems perfectly in line with what Bible prophecy seems to tell us is going to lead to the advent of the Antichrist through the confirmation of a seven-year covenant of peace in the Middle East between Israel and her enemies "with many" supporting him in achieving that seemingly unattainable goal by today's standards. (Daniel 9:26-27)

Palacio, a former Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs from July 2002-March 2004, is currently, according to Wikipedia, serving as a member of the international advisory board of the Council on Foreign Relations which is, as most who are actively watching for a new world order to emerge will tell you, a leading organization striving to bring that goal about.

That Palacio played a prominent role in the "evolution" of the Barcelona Process, within the framework of which the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership was born, has been brought into the fold of the Council on Foreign Relations may prove quite telling, particularly if Sarkozy's Mediterranean Union is simply the latest spin on the part of the revived Roman empire of Bible prophecy to broaden its span of control en route to becoming the global Beast government of Antichrist we know is eventually going to devour the whole earth, tread it down, and break it in pieces. (Daniel 7:23)
We all know that, sooner or later, a prince (or leader) of Roman descent is going to confirm (or make strong) a seven-year covenant of peace "with many." (Daniel 9:26-27)

The following excerpt from a Breitbart.com article shows us we have no reason to suspect we're anything other than closer to that becoming a reality as a result of the Mediterranean Union's birth yesterday:

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says Israel and the Palestinians have "never been as close" to a peace deal as today.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas says both sides are "serious and want to achieve peace."

The leaders were speaking together Sunday in Paris, where they were having joint talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Keep looking up!
..................................................benny

Yes his ego is growing at an alarming rate.

an interesting observation, Angela Merkel fought very hard (but did not succeed) to have God included in the now defunct European Constitution. As well she was in opposition to Nicolas Sarkozy on the issue of the Mediteranean Union.

Angela Merckel is from the german generation that has truly learned from the past.

I live in a country that has been invaded by all the three mighty ones around us: Britain, Germany and France.
Yet we still exist, like a David surrounded by three Goliaths. We will not budge an inch.

Two and a half cheers for the Mediterranean Union
By Chris Patten
25.07.2008 / 11:21 CET
Despite himself, the French president pulled off the re-launch of the Barcelona Process. Now we need to make it fly.
Maybe it is time to be a bit more generous to French President Nicolas Sarkozy and look at the outcome of what he does rather than the way that he does it.

The original launch of the Mediterranean Union almost sank the whole enterprise. Appearing to speak without giving the issue much thought, Sarkozy initially proposed a club of European and mostly Arab states along the Mediterranean’s shore. It would have been in essence a French-run enterprise that the rest of Europe would have paid for. This did not go down well, particularly with the Germans.

There was also a strong suspicion that the French were trying to find a way to buy off Turkey with a relationship falling well short of European Union membership.

An idea, grounded
So the auguries for an attempt to revitalise Europe’s relationship with its Mediterranean partners were not good. But by the time of the grand Paris summit in July to send the new club on its way, the initial suspicions had largely been overcome. Sarkozy bowed to his European critics and enjoyed a diplomatic triumph. We shall soon see whether there is substance to the initiative, or whether it is just a coat of fresh paint on an old and tired idea.

The original Barcelona Process, launched in 1995, was an excellent scheme. Intended to provide an economic and political backdrop to peace-making through confidence-building in the Middle East, it was an admirable recognition of Europe’s historical, commercial, cultural, and political ties with its neighbours to the south of the sea which has brought us all together over the years.


Europe has to decide how serious it is about all the admirable stuff on pluralism, civil society, the rule of law, and democracy
There were aspirations for a free-trade area by 2010. There were pledges of political integration based on shared values. There were people-to-people links. There was a forum where Israelis and their long-term Arab foes could sit together and discuss other matters than the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. There was a development budget. And there were meetings. So many meetings.

The effort was far from worthless. Development projects were funded through grants or cheap loans, and these have probably played at least some part in increasing the attractiveness of the Maghreb and the Mashraq to foreign investors. There was some lowering of agricultural and other tariffs by the EU. Dialogue on political reform, and euros to support it, helped further the process in some countries, notably Morocco and Jordan. There was some co-operation on common problems like drugs and illegal immigration.

But, as a significant component of Europe’s policy toward its most crucial neighbours, the successes of the Barcelona Process were modest: a great idea on the launch pad had difficulty getting off the ground.

How to make the idea fly
So Sarkozy deserves at least two and a half cheers for trying to revitalise it. But if the Mediterranean Union is to achieve more than was managed in its first manifestation, a number of things will need to happen.

First, Europe is better at talking about free-trade areas than delivering free trade. For example, there are still too many barriers to agricultural trade between the North and the South. And guess which country leads the opposition to any significant opening up of European agriculture. Step forward, France, and take a bow.

Second, however slow we have been in opening up a real Mediterranean market, the barriers to freer trade between Arab League countries are just as great.

Third, it was excellent that in Paris Sarkozy began the process of bringing Syria in out of the diplomatic cold. We must also hope that his attempts to act as a peace-broker between West Bank Palestinians and Israel are blessed with success.

But the truth is that Europe, for all the gallant efforts of Javier Solana, has been absent from serious politics in the Middle East. We have not dared to cross America. A largely non-existent European policy toward the region has been dictated by the absentee monopolists of policy in Washington.

Europe should get more seriously involved, even at the risk of occasionally irritating America, which may be less likely to happen once the Bush administration is history. For a start, we should recognise that there will be no political settlement in Palestine without including Hamas. What would incredibly have been former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s first visit to Gaza in his first year of peace-making had to be cancelled recently because of security concerns. Enough said.

Finally, Europe has to decide how serious it is about all the admirable stuff in the Barcelona Process on pluralism, civil society, the rule of law, and democracy.

Is Europe serious that a shared concept of human rights should be one of the foundations of our Mediterranean partnership? If so, what are we in Europe proposing to do about it? If this is just blah-blah, better not say it. We discredit ourselves and important principles when we say things that we do not mean.

............................................................................
It will take three global shocks, before the world is humbled enough to agree to a one world government.1,The Rapture of millions of christians.
2.The war of Isaiah 17;1......3.Ezekial 38

............................................benny