Nearing Midnight: Is America about to Get Fired as the Leader of the Free World? – Todd Strandberg – http://www.raptureready.com/rap16.html

This month will likely go down as the worst ever for diplomatic relations between America and the rest of the international community. The Obama Administration has presided over an endless series of financial and intelligence missteps.

We started October with a deadlock over the federal budget, which made several nations nervous about the safety of holding dollar denominated securities. The Chinese, with $1.3 trillion of our debt, made the rare occasion of openly criticizing Washington D.C. for allowing the financial crisis to take place. Xinhua News Agency, China’s leading government-controlled news outlet, said the rest of the world should start to “de-Americanize” away from U.S. financial dominance:

“The world is still crawling its way out of an economic disaster thanks to the voracious Wall Street elites. Such alarming days when the destinies of others are in the hands of a hypocritical nation have to be terminated.”

Thanks to the standoff, President Obama was forced to cancel a trip to the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation). What resulted was an incredibly embarrassing picture of all the world leaders standing on a stage at the meeting, and the U.S. only represented by John Kerry-who was forced to stand in the back row-and far off to the side. Beforehand, the person representing America was always front, and center.

Some of the worst diplomatic bad blood resulted from revelations that America has been spying on some of its closest friends. There is a general understanding that allies, spy on each other. What is unforgivable is allowing this information to get into the public. Four times last week we had nations calling our ambassadors and other representatives onto the carpet for invading the privacy of their citizens.

1. A French newspaper reported that the NSA had swept up 70.3 million French telephone records in a 30-day period. The French government issued a formal complaint and put the issue of personal data protection on the agenda of the European Union summit.

2. In Italy, major media outlets reported that a parliamentary committee was told the U.S. had intercepted phone calls, emails and text messages of Italians. Premier Enrico Letta raised the topic of spying during a meeting with the U.S. Secretary of State.

3. Germany was shocked to learn from data provided by NSA leaker, Edward Snowden, that the mobile phones of German Chancellor Angela Merkel had been a target of the U.S. government. Merkel called President Barack Obama to confront him on the matter, saying it would be “A serious breach of trust” if confirmed. The White House refused to admit it had been eavesdropping on Merkel’s calls, but promised it wouldn’t happen in the future.

4. In Mexico, it was made known that information NSA collected to fight drug traffickers was also used to spy on the emails of two Mexican presidents: Enrique Pena Nieto, the incumbent, and Felipe Calderon. The Mexican government called the targeting of the presidents, “unacceptable.” Pena Nieto has demanded an investigation.

The most troubling rift in U.S. diplomatic relations occurred with Saudi Arabia, and it had nothing to do with spying. The Saudis have come to the point where they are unhappy with the alliance between Washington and the kingdom.

Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi intelligence chief, told European diplomats that the United States had failed to act effectively against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He also said the kingdom was unhappy with Washington growing closer to Tehran, and its failure to back Saudi support for Bahrain when it crushed an anti-government revolt in 2011. Prince Bandar promised there would soon be a “major shift” in relations between the kingdom and the United States.

If it gets to the point where the Saudis decide to move away from the petrodollar monopoly, it will be disastrous for the U.S. economy. Over a trillion dollars’ worth of Middle East oil is transacted in US currency. A switch to a new system would collapse the dollar and cripple our standing on the world stage.

There can be little doubt that America is well on its way to being fired as the leader of the free world. The only wonderment in my mind is why it has taken this long for America to be given the boot.

America’s absence from Bible prophecy would seem to confirm that our dominance will continue to fade. Since the Antichrist is predicted to become the undisputed leader of all inhabitants on earth, our decline may indicate how close we are to the Tribulation hour.

“And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8).

“And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by [the means of] those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by the sword, and did live” (Revelation 13:14).