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One of the biggest stories that we have been following recently is the slow, gradual financial collapse of certain EU nations. When this tree finally falls, it will have enormous ramifications for not only the EU, but the rest of the world. Additionally, it will, in all probability lead to the 10 kings phase. Watching developments in the EU is therefore an extremely important part of our prophecy watching.

Slow Motion Collapse In Europe Countries

Yesterday was quite a news day for the festering debt crisis in Europe.

Taxpayers everywhere learned that the IMF's new chief, Christine Lagarde, wants an extra $500 billion to help fight Europe's slow-motion collapse. Trouble is, where does the moneycome from? From nations already up to their eyeballs in... debt, evidently. Count Great Britain and the United States in that category.

No kidding? Greece's economic outlook is worsening? You don't say? So why not force private creditors to flush more money down the Greek drain and into the Mediterranean's crystal blue waters? After all, Europe's elites have a lot at stake. Why not strip creditors in a desperate effort to stave off a gargantuan failure made by those very same elites?

But wait, that's not all.

Greece's Aryan benefactors (albeit, reluctantly) have floated the idea that the EU assume controlof the Greek budget. EU bigwigs have shot down the notion of wresting the Greek budget from the Greeks. But those bullheaded Germans insist that the backroom discussions favoring an EU takeover of the Greek budget continue. One of the crack wire services reported rather drolly that Germany's proposed putsch will "likely spark controversy" in Greece. You think?

The European dept crisis is like an enormous redwood falling slowly. But the debt crisis will soon reach a point, as with the falling redwood, where gravity really kicks in and accelerates all that mass (basic physics, huh?).

Cover your ears and steady your feet. Europe's in for one dozy of a crash.

So the solution (once again) seems to be more central control, only in this instance the EU would be assuming control of a sovereign nation's finances. We are well on the way to the kind of central control we would expect to see during the Tribulation.

More below:

Here's Why A Greek Default Should Put Fear In Your Heart

It's been two years since a financial crisis erupted in the birthplace of drama, and the final act is still unfinished. A second week of talks in Athens ended Friday with no deal between the country, the European Union and private holders of Greek bonds.

Economists and investors see a Greek default as the biggest test of the world financial system since the crisis that followed the collapse of Lehman Brothers investment house in 2008.

So investors will be watching what happens this week in Athens. At the sovereign debt conference, Hans Humes, president of Greylock Capital Management, said this week could bring "the precedent-setting moment." He warned that if the banks and investment funds that hold Greek bonds take steep losses, then Portugal, Italy and other countries shouldering heavy debt burdens can be expected to follow Greece's lead.

To Colas, the deepest concern isn't how the S&P 500 reacts or whether the dollar rises if Greece drops the European currency. It's the possibility for panic, especially a run on European banks.

What if people across France and Germany crowd into banks to pull their deposits? Banks, after all, are some of the largest buyers of government debt.

"Human emotions can drive things off the rails," Colas says.

ACTA: "Would Usurp Congressional Authority", "Threaten Numerous Public Interests", A "Backroom Special Interest Deal", A "Masquerade"

We just beat back SOPA and PIPA with the web blackout.

Now everyone is talking about ACTA. But – because ACTA is complicated, and is just starting to receive coverage

We’ll give you an executive summary of what you need to know.

...we’ll explain why the procedure used is a recipe for disaster.

Why are we stressing procedure over substance?

Because, as awful as ACTA is, there are other horrible bills such as the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement waiting in the wings … which may be even worse than ACTA.

Unless we understand the rotten, anti-democratic process which is causing these bad bills to be introduced, we will be caught off-guard by the introduction of one draconian bill after another … and we will lose the fight for Internet freedom.

What we are actually seeing here, is the process around the various efforts for globalization of....almost everything.

The fastest way to understand ACTA is to look at the way in which its backers have tried to traIn the United States, for example, President Bush and President Obama hid ACTA negotiations under the veil of “National Security”, thus keeping it away from prying eyes … including Congress.

Republican Congressman Darrell Issa says that ACTA is more dangerous than SOPA:

It purports that it does not change existing laws. But once implemented, it creates a whole new enforcement system and will virtually tie the hands of Congress to undo it.

As Harvard professors Jack Goldsmith and Lawrence Lessig wrote in the Washington Post in March 2010:

...it raises the stakes on the constitutionally dubious method by which the administration proposes to make the agreement binding on the United States.

Normal constitutional procedures would require the administration to submit the final text of the agreement for Senate approval as a treaty But the Obama administration has suggested it will adopt the pact as a “sole executive agreement” that requires only the president’s approval.

behind closed doors, subject to intense but needless secrecy, with the public shut out and a small group of special interests very much involved

Over 75 law professors – some of them quite prominent – wrote a letter to President Obama in October 2010...

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