Hi John and Doves,
 
Just trying out a little research here. It's a big subject so I'm hoping that other Doves may have given this line of thinking some thought! So to speak! I'm obviously researching oil companies and their influence (nightmare) and have decided to focus on the 'Beast of the Sea' from Revelation. If this is the correct way to go, we have to really 'look' at the description of the Beast and try and tally it with our current reality. Here is a list of European monarchies:-
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarchies_in_Europe
 
The monarchies in the Middle East:- Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordon, Morocco, Oman and Saudi Arabia.
 
Other than these, Japan is the only other country (that I can think of, outside of Europe or the ME), that have a monarchy
 
Rev:13
 
    And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
    And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as [the feet] of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
    
And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, [and] over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God
 
If we were to take this literally, the Beast has 7 countries which encompass 10 monarchies. The seven 'heads' are countries which are not Christian. They have an entirely opposite faith and that faith is what unites them. The 10 monarchies (crowns) have joined with the 7 blasphemous (Muslim?) nations to create one large, terrifying Beast. The 6 empires of the past were:- Syria, Egypt, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. Who would the 7th country be? It is my understanding that 'Rome' represents the current EU. Medo-Persia encompasses Iran, Iraq and Turkey. If we are to follow this in a literal fashion, the 7th 'head' must also be a 'blasphemous' nation. Not only that - they have to be a pretty powerful nation too. If the name of 'blasphemy' is given to Islam, then this 7th country country has to be of the Muslim faith. Or some other religion that our LORD would deem equally as blasphemous. I did an exhaustive search on Russia's major religion and came up with a mish mash. Totally confusing. VERY few Russians attend the Eastern Orthodox church. A wiki answers page told me it was 'sklajen'. I could find nothing on this bizarre answer! The biggest minority religion is Islam. I guess the Russian lack of interest is blasphemy in itself. Japan's religion is blasphemous as well - however, I fail to see Japan regaining her former might after the recent quake and tsunami. Would Japan be a major player in end time prophecy now?
 
I hope other Doves may have further insight. In the meantime, please look at this article. It is exceptional. Did you know that the Germans got their 'Aryan Race' stuff from ancient Persia (Iran) !! This article is a brilliant piece about Iran in Bible prophecy. It gives great clarity into the history as well. A must read:
 
http://focusonjerusalem.com/iraninbibleprophecy.html
 
YSIC
 
Fay