Global Watch

D THE MEDITERRANEAN UNION

historically believed that the Antichrist will come from the people of the old Roman Empire (represented today in Western Europe). Yet to salvage their theory, some proponents of the Byzantine theory supporters say that the Roman army included conscripted soldiers from Syria, so the Antichrist will be of Syrian origin and come from the Byzantine side of the Roman Emperor. But this is nonsense to claim that, somehow, conscripted soldiers who are merely following orders represent the Roman Empire. However the valuable contribution of the Byzantine Theory is that it highlights the importance of understanding that the ancient Roman Empire was not just a European empire but one which also assimilated some of the countries of the Middle East. CHALLENGES OF ARAB SPRING CREATES OPPORTUNITY FOR MEDITERRANEAN UNION The diffusion of innovations, resulting from the current and continuously evolving informational revolution has directly impacted socio-cultural living standards, and has influenced structural-sectoral shifts in the economy. These 'shifts' can be smooth or can create crisis and renewal, a process which Joseph Alois Schumpeter (8 February 1883 – 8 January 1950) an Austrian-American economist and political scientist called, "creative destruction." The present popular uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa give witness to the power of knowledge and technology and diffusion within a growing globalized society and its tremendous influence these have also, on political change. Twelve years ago, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu in a speech at CPAC February 17, 2001 at the Ronald Reagan banquet, astutely observed and predicted, "It is the information revolution that is beginning to collapse the totalitarian regimes of our time. This is the first real change that is producing not only economic changes, not only social changes, but enormously important political changes. Because up to now, technology has really been at the service of dictatorships... "The greatest service that dictatorships have received in the 20th century was this thing, the microphone. And the microphone would give a single dictator the ability to control the minds and hearts of millions of people, to tell them who is the enemy, who are the well poisoners of the earth, who are the cancer that has to be excised. That's how Israel was referred to in the Middle East. That's how the Jewish people were referred to in the heart of Europe by the Nazis. It is the power of the microphone, the power of mass communications, controlled from above, that was the greatest threat to freedom in the 20th century." "We are witnessing the breakup of that monolithic control. Because you now have, or very soon will have, millions of people, tens of millions, hundreds of millions of people, ultimately billions of people, who can access networks of information and communication from below, who can become their own broadcasters, or narrowcasters and that is fundamentally eroding the power of dictatorships." The Biblical Prophet Daniel received the prophecy over 2500 years ago that there would be a remarkable increase in knowledge and technology in the last days: "But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase." Daniel 12:4 Daniel also received prophecy about the empires of the world (Daniel Chapter. 2 and 7) and he prophesied that the last world empire to rule before the Messiah's everlasting reign would be a (revived) Roman empire. Prophecy teacher Jack Kelley writes this warning in his study of Daniel's prophecy of 70 weeks, "A ruler who will come from the territory of the old Roman Empire will confirm a 7 year covenant with Israel that permits them to build a Temple and re-instate their Old Covenant worship system. 3 1/2 years later he will violate the covenant by setting up an abomination that causes the Temple to become desolate, putting an end to their worship. This abomination brings the wrath of God down upon him and he will be destroyed." 14