Thanks to the Iraqi war, the European Union's shaky foundations have been exposed.

The EU's Spring summit was a disaster. Instead of the usual expressions of friendship and common purpose, the prevailing mood among the 15 EU heads could better be described as an icy standoff.

The goal of these summits is to find common ground among the EU's 15 member states. And, once again at the end of the summit a joint declaration was issued. And, once again it wasn't what was said in the declaration that was important -- it was what was not said.

What was not said was how the widening split in the EU would be resolved. Here's the bottom line: France, Germany and Belgium want the new, super EU to compete against American. Britain, Spain and Portugal instead want the EU to work with America (Read about it here). And, all six of these states are members of the EU's new 10-nation military alliance.

You see, the real issue now dividing this 10-nation alliance within the EU isn't Iraq -- it's America. In fact, the reason Tony Blair called for this summit was to "discuss anti-Americanism and its impact on the Union’s projects" (Read about it here).

And like I said, it's not what's being said in their summit's declaration that's important, it's what's not being said. It's not being said how this split in the EU over America will be resolved. However, a recent report may provide us with a clue.

The EUoberver is reporting that France, Germany and Belgium have decided to have their own summit now. Why? The report says it's so they could "build the 'hard core' of European defense policy" (Read about it here).

In other words, instead of attempting to heal the rift in the EU, these three member states have decided to brake away from the rest of the pack and forge their own "hard core" alliance within the EU alliance.

For students of Bible prophecy, this type of move was expected. And the question before us now is, which states will support this so-called "hard core" Europe, and which will support America?

Here's my advice: As the world's attention is focused on the ongoing Iraqi war, keep your eyes on Europe.

Things may be farther along than we think.