For example, we learned that the European Union (EU) bailout of the Republic of Ireland has not taken the pressure off the threatened euro (as expected), nor has it stabilized nervous markets. Then we soon discovered that Spain and Portugal may have to be bailed out as well. But before we could fully absorb this fresh development, surprising news surfaced that Belgium may also be a candidate for a future bailout. When will what began with bailing out Greece finally end? Can the euro survive all these past, present and potential bailouts?

Then on the military front, we received news that North Korea had wantonly shelled a South Korean island, even inflicting civilian fatalities. The immediate allied reaction was to announce a joint American–South Korean military exercise. But we soon found out that North Korea had allegedly supplied an already very dangerous Iran with missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads that could possibly reach Western Europe. Are we seeing these so-called new "axis powers" at the sinister start of a unified effort designed to harass and harm the West?

But before we could digest all these developments and others, we learned that hundreds of thousands of American State Department documents had been leaked to the media by the website WikiLeaks—replete with embarrassing but privately intended assessments of other countries, including even prominent individuals. Alleged Chinese views of the potential unification of the Koreas (with Seoul as the capital) came to light. Regrettably, this type of unauthorized diplomatic leak may actually be a factor in tempting China to postpone pressuring North Korea to unify with the South for some time to come.

We have now entered the second decade of the 21st century. What's ahead for 2011 and beyond? For the last few years in the January/February issues, we have reviewed events of the year past and looked ahead to the future—based on the overall guidance of biblical revelation. We continue that theme below.