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When Eschatologies Converge: Religious End-Times Beliefs as Drivers of Geopolitics

Professor Jiang Xueqin - Geo-Strategy Update #7 - August 1, 2025​

Executive Summary​

In this comprehensive geopolitical analysis, Professor Jiang Xueqin presents his most ambitious thesis yet: that eschatological beliefs (religious end-times prophecies) are the primary drivers of contemporary geopolitics. Moving beyond conventional analysis of state interests and economic factors, Jiang argues that unconscious coordination through shared religious scripts explains major global conflicts and alliances. He examines six major eschatological traditions, identifies their convergence points, and uses these to predict a dramatic reshaping of world order over the next 10-20 years, culminating in Putin's potential replacement of the Anglo-American Empire through religious-geopolitical alliance building.

Core Thesis: Eschatology Drives Geopolitics​

The Power of Religious Scripts​

Fundamental Argument:

"The argument I want to make to you today is that eschatology drives geopolitics."

Why Eschatologies Are Compelling:

"Eschatologies are compelling because they are narratives that capture the human imagination. They answer three fundamental questions. Where do we come from? What are we doing here? Where are we going? It's a complete story on to itself."

Scripts for Unconscious Coordination:

"You can think of eschatologies as scripts really scripts that have a momentum of their own. Scripts that allow for unconscious coordination, scripts that present roles for individuals to audition for. So just by participating in a script, you are helping the eschatology progress forward."

Game Theory and Religious Coordination​

The Universal Law of Success:

"Please remember the universal law of game theory... the formula that tells us who wins a game is mass times energy times coordination."

Why Conspiracies Fail vs. Religious Scripts Succeed:

"Conspiracies, there are plenty of conspiracies, but they're not that effective... because it's very hard to maintain secrecy. You can't maintain possible deniability. And because everyone has an ego, it's hard to maintain cooperation because everyone's fighting for his or her best self-interest. But with an unconscious coordination which is what an eschatology provides... that allows for secrecy, possible deniability and frictionless cooperation."

Material Benefits of Religious Commitment:

"It's not what you know, it's who you know. To succeed in life you have to be able to work with others in a secretive unconscious coordinated manner in order to achieve certain goals and that's what eschatology provides. So when you describe to eschatology when you commit to an eschatology others will help you achieve wealth and power."

The Six Major Eschatological Traditions​

1. Zoroastrianism: The Original Framework​

The Cosmic Battle:

"In the Zoroastrian tradition there's the world is divided into good and evil. The light and the darkness, the truth and the lie. And at the end of the days there'll be a final battle between these two cosmic forces. And as humans, we must choose which side to fight for."

2. Judaic Tradition: The Messiah of War​

Jewish Eschatological Vision:

"Because Jews have been persecuted for thousands of years they believe that eventually a Messiah of war will come to them and he will lead the Jews to victory against all the enemies. He will reconstitute the nation of Israel and bring back all the Jews from the diaspora. He will build the third temple and he will usher in the messianic age of peace, prosperity, truth, justice."

3. Christian Zionist/Protestant Tradition​

Conditions for the Second Coming:

"The protestants believe that the Messiah is Jesus and he's already come. So in order to usher in his second coming certain conditions have to be met. First condition is the nation of Israel has to be reconstituted and it was in 1948... then the third temple has to be built and there has to be a war of Gog and Magog. The antichrist has to appear."

The Rapture:

"When Jesus returns, there will be a rapture where all Christians will immediately ascend to heaven."

4. Islamic Tradition​

The Great Unifier:

"The Muslims believe that after an age of tribulation when the world has turned its back on God when the world is divided a great leader will come to unify the people and lead the people to victory in the war of Gog and Magog."

5. Orthodox Tradition: Moscow as Third Rome​

The Destiny of Moscow:

"The orthodox tradition believes that Moscow is a third Rome. It has a destiny to restore the Byzantine Empire and to achieve this destiny Moscow will fight a war with Turkey. It will destroy Turkey and then return the Greeks to Constantinople thus restoring the Byzantine Empire and thus unifying the Orthodox Christian world."

Alexander Dugan's Master Plan for Putin​

The Geopolitical Framework​

Dugan's Importance:

"There is a geopolitical theorist named Alexander Dugan who's turned this eschatology into a master plan for Vladimir Putin to implement... he's probably the most important geo strategic thinker we have today."

The Eurasian Strategy:

"What he understands is that for the longest time whoever controls the seas controls the world because most trade was done through sea. But in a time of nation states, in a time of railways, if one power can unite the Europe and Asian continents into the Eurasian continent, then that power can negate sea power and become the global hegemon."

The Three Axes:

"To unify the Eurasian heartland what Moscow needs to do is first of all create the Berlin Moscow axis to reconcile itself with Europe. It must also create the Moscow Tokyo axis to reach out to Southeast Asia and also to create the Moscow Tehran axis to control the resources of the Middle East."

Historical Precedent:

"By building this alliance, what Moscow is doing is not only restoring the Byzantine Empire, but it's also restoring the Pax Mongolica, the Mongol Empire. So Moscow see itself as the heirs to both the Byzantine Empire as well as the Mongolian Empire."

Destroying the Anglo-American Empire​

Internal Chaos Strategy:

"For Dugan, what's important is to create internal chaos and dissent and conflict within America and within Britain to destroy the Anglo-American Empire. And that's already happening right now because you have Brexit in Britain and now you have this mass immigration which is threatening the British identity in America. You have Donald Trump who is proposing America first. So all is going to plan."

Putin as the Katechon:

"In Dugan's terms Putin is the katechon... the katechon is Greek word meaning the force that restrains the antichrist... For Dugan Moscow has responsibility to be the force for civilization for good for God."

Why China and Turkey Aren't Threats​

China's Vulnerabilities:

"I can tell you as someone who lives in China for many many decades, China is not going to survive an economic catastrophe. It's not going to survive an ecological catastrophe... China is overpopulated, has very little resources and it imports one-third of its food. It imports most of its oil."

Environmental Suicide:

"These vanity industries, EV, AI, rare minerals, they're all contributing to massive ecological destruction in China... you can say it's unsustainable but you can also say these economic policies that destroy the environment it's really suicidal."

The Catholic Church: The Hidden Empire​

The Church's Conspiratorial History​

Origins and Capabilities:

"We have to remember the origins of the Catholic Church. It started out as a secret conspiracy against the Roman Empire and it succeeded... the Catholic Church is very good at conspiracies. In fact, it really developed the world's first intelligence agency, first global intelligence agency."

The Conspiracy of Silence:

"If you go online on Twitter, on social media, everyone's talking about the deep state, everyone's talking about the Jews, everyone's talking about the city of London, but no one's talking about the Catholic Church. That's really weird."

Historical Impact:

"I would think that the most powerful, wealthiest, and most secretive organization in human history for the past 2,000 years, they would have a much greater impact on human history than the Jews."

The Lost Golden Age​

The Millennium That Was:

"Before the Anglo-American Empire, they were the empire... They had a thousand years from the fall of Rome until the rise of the British Empire when they were in charge when they were the de facto power in the world. And for many they believe that was the messianic age that was the millennium that was the most perfect age most glorious age in human history."

Strategic Position for Global Catastrophe​

Readiness for Collapse:

"The Catholic Church... really are the most powerful non-state organization in the whole world. They have a global network. They have 1 billion followers. If there is a global catastrophe, they are the most ready to rebuild the world after it collapses."

The Three Enemies of Catholic Empire​

Targets for Destruction:

"The first major opponent of course is the Anglo-American Empire. And the Anglo-American Empire represents of course enlightenment principles, neoliberalism, materialism, capitalism, Protestantism... Second opponent is the nation state... the third major opponent is really modernity itself the cult of the individual which celebrates materialism, hedonism, pleasure, multiculturalism."

Signs of the Catholic Plan​

Institutional Penetration:

"The current vice president of the United States, JD Vance, he is a recent Catholic convert. The new pope is an American... I don't think these are coincidences... six of the nine Supreme Court justices are Catholic."

CIA-Vatican Alliance:

"The CIA was founded with the help of the Vatican... there have been so many CIA directors who are Catholic that the CIA has been nicknamed Catholics in action or the Catholic intelligence agency."

Demographic Warfare:

"All those immigrants that are coming to America, half of them are Catholic... Catholics have more children than Protestant families. So the demographic trend looks very good for the Catholic faith."

Civil War Strategy:

"If there's American civil war, a second civil war, and the institutions of authority are destroyed, the American Catholics are in the best position to capture an American state. And if they are able to capture the American state, then they would control the world."

Eschatological Convergence Points​

Major Areas of Agreement​

World War III in the Middle East:

"The first convergence point is that there will be a major conflict in the Middle East that will suck in the whole world. It will be World War III."

America's Absence:

"Second convergence point is that America will not be involved in this war. And that's very interesting because America is right now the global hegemon... It could be because they launched a ground invasion of Iran, it failed and they were forced to retreat. It could be the civil war going on in America."

China's Ecological Collapse:

"The third convergence point is that China is not involved in this war either. And I suspect that it's because China is facing an ecological catastrophe. It doesn't have enough water. It doesn't have enough food... China's is having a hard time keeping itself together."

The Antichrist's Emergence:

"The fourth convergence point is that the antichrist will emerge and different traditions understand the antichrist differently... they all believe that this powerful force will emerge who is charismatic and who will unify the world."

Israeli Dominance:

"Israel become the dominant power in the Middle East presumably after America leaves the Middle East... all of America's military infrastructure CENTCOM will merge with the greater Israel project thus creating the Israel empire."

The Third Temple:

"The Dome of the Rock will be destroyed and thus provoking the Muslim world to take arms against Israel and possibly initiating the war of Gog and Magog."

Predicted Future Scenario (Next 10-20 Years)​

The American Collapse​

Iranian War Failure:

"The United States launched a ground invasion of Iran. Iran is supported heavily by Russia. United States after a few years of fighting, they give up and they retreat... the American Empire retreats back into the western continent. But this triggers a civil war in America."

European Upheaval and Russian Victory​

The Last Stand at Odessa:

"In Ukraine, NATO decides Odessa will be the last stand. So Russia encircles Odessa and lay siege to it. All NATO is brought in to defend Odessa... France, Britain, Romania, Poland, all the NATO countries are brought in. Turkey is brought in as well. And it's a stalemate."

European Revolution:

"The Europeans don't understand why they're fighting this war. The European people revolt. And this causes civil war in France, in Britain. It caused a political upheaval in Germany. It causes a political revolution in Turkey."

Byzantine Restoration:

"After these civil wars and these revolutions, Europe becomes more pro-Russian, allowing for reconciliation between Putin and Europe. Turkey is destroyed in this process. Putin allows the Greeks to return to Constantinople, restoring the Byzantine Empire and thus unifying the Orthodox world."

The Greater Israel Project​

Empire Building:

"After the United States leaves the Middle East, the Greater Israel project becomes the Empire of Israel. The Empire of Israel in order to restore the Davidic Kingdom... they destroy the Dome of the Rock to build the third temple."

Global Anti-Semitism:

"This causes anti-Semitism to explode throughout the world, thus compelling Jews to return to Israel."

Islamic World Revolution​

Leadership Crisis:

"The entire Islamic world wants vengeance against Israel, but their leadership, their political elite have been co-opted, compromised by the Anglo-American Empire and by the Israeli empire. And so this forces revolutions and civil conflict around the Islamic world."

Putin as Islamic Savior:

"At this point there are certain elements within the Islamic world who see Putin as the great savior... in the Islamic eschatology the name for Putin is Dhu al-Qarnayn which is the same concept as the orthodox idea of the katechon... The one who stops antichrist from emerging."

Putin's Global Unification​

The Grand Alliance:

"Putin will initiate reconciliation between Islamic world and the orthodox world. There'll be an alliance between the Orthodox and the Islamic world and at this point Putin can now seek reconciliation between the Islamic Empire so the Islamic world and the Israeli empire. He can also seek reconciliation between the Orthodox world and the Catholic world and thus unifying the world under him."

The Ultimate Failure and Age of Tribulation​

Human Limitations​

Why Putin Will Fail:

"Do I think this will actually happen? Do I actually think that Putin will replace the Anglo-American Empire? He thinks he will succeed, but I don't think he will succeed. And the reason why is because he's human."

Historical Parallel:

"Once he dies, then civil conflict will rise within this Grand Alliance... this is no different from what happened in about 650, 600 common era when Muhammad was this great charismatic figure who were supposed to unite all the supposedly unite the entire world and he would have if he lived another 10 years. Unfortunately he died and this created civil conflict within the Muslim world."

The Dark Future:

"This civil conflict will lead to catastrophe after catastrophe after catastrophe. It will be the age of tribulation. Many many people will die in this age of tribulation. So the outlook for humanity is not that great."

Why the West Cannot Respond​

The Baby Boomer Problem​

Lack of Strategic Response:

"Given that this is public domain knowledge, why doesn't the Anglo-American Empire respond strategically to this? Why doesn't the Anglo-American Empire have counter measures and counter strategies? Why isn't the Anglo-American Empire intent on its own self-preservation?"

The Generational Explanation:

"The answer is because the people who control the Anglo-American Empire today don't care because be dead in 10, 20, 30 years time. All they want to do until they die is enjoy their life. And they don't care what the world what will happen to the world after their death. These people of course are called the baby boomers."

Western Decline:

"They're the one to control all the political power, the financial power, the influential power in America, the cultural power in America and in the West today. And that's why the West is dying."

Modern Warfare: The 91% You Don't See​

Hybrid Warfare Explanation​

Why WWIII Seems Absent:

"Some of you in the comment section have been asking me why World War III has not started, why the conflict between the United States and Iran has abated. The answer is because modern warfare is hybrid warfare. 91% of warfare you will not see."

The Invisible War:

"So much of warfare nowadays is informational controlling the media narrative, electronic cyber warfare, psychological weakening the will of the people to fight you and covert ops economic sabotage imposing sanctions trying to assassinate the leaders of Iran."

Iran Strategy Example​

Water Infrastructure Sabotage:

"Right now their main strategy is to decrease the legitimacy of the regime in Iran. And the best way to do that is to decrease the capacity of the state to deliver basic services for example water... you can bet good money that the Israelis and Americans will take advantage of that to engage in economic sabotage."

Resistance Building:

"The irony of that is that by engaging in this economic sabotage the Iranian people will develop a greater resolve to resist. And once the resolve, once the will to fight has been increased to a certain level, then the Iranian government can close off the straight of Hormuz, which would compel an American ground invasion."

Assessment and Implications​

The Validation Framework​

Proof of Concept:

"If things happen the way they do then it's because of eschatology and that gives us proof compelling proof that it's really eschatology that drives geopolitics."

The Grand Thesis​

Religious Scripts vs. Material Interests: Jiang's analysis represents a fundamental challenge to conventional geopolitical thinking, arguing that religious end-times beliefs provide the unconscious coordination necessary for massive historical changes that purely material or rational actor theories cannot explain.

The Power of Narrative: His framework suggests that shared eschatological narratives create self-fulfilling prophecies by providing scripts for coordinated action across vast networks of believers, making these religious visions more powerful than traditional conspiracy theories or state-level planning.

Predictive Framework: By identifying convergence points across six major eschatological traditions, Jiang offers a unique lens for understanding current conflicts and predicting future developments based on the intersection of religious belief and geopolitical strategy.

This analysis positions eschatological beliefs not as peripheral cultural phenomena, but as the primary drivers of major geopolitical transformations, suggesting that understanding religious end-times narratives is essential for comprehending contemporary global conflicts and future world order changes.