It could very well be, but the point would still remain: The USA is not a small country (a "little horn") in comparison to any ten others, and Kenya lacks the necessary cultural connections.
He says the apostasy is anarchy, a general breakdown of the rule of law. The restrainer is government . . .
I don't think so. The Adversary's angels are shown to be behind the world's governments (Dan. 10), so why would they be restraining the AC? In addition, there have been many periods of anarchy or unrestrained government fiat in history and the final AC has yet to show up.
I'm of the opinion that the Restrainer is Michael the Archangel, whom God placed as the "prince" of Israel to protect her when He withdrew His Sh'khinah from the Temple (in Ezk. 10). Michael first drives the Adversary from Heaven (Rev. 12) and then "stands" still during the Great Tribulation (Dan. 12) in preparation for the "hand off" to Israel's proper King.
Shalom.
Agreed.
This part of Daniel is a bit more specific. It says that the AntiChrist will come from the people who participated in the sack of Jerusalem. Since we're talking about the Roman army, we would have to include Rome and any of its territories.
Dan 9: 26 After the sixty-two 'sevens,' the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. 27 He will confirm a covenant with many for one 'seven.' In the middle of the 'seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him."
FWIW, I've always viewed the 'little horn' as a person based on Dan 7 where it was clearly so.
Da 7:8 - "While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth that spoke boastfully.
Rome and its territories included the Near East, Persia and Chaldea along with northern Africa. Rome had a policy as did Greece under Alexander to incorporate or at least tolerate the religions and political structures of its territories as long as they recognized the deity of the Emperor and the rule of Rome. That is why the Antichrist (the little horn) could be a product of the synthesis of Near Eastern/Western cultures commanding the respect of both cultures.
“I don't think so. The Adversary's angels are shown to be behind the world's governments (Dan. 10), so why would they be restraining the AC?”
Bruce derives his authority from Rom. 13:1-3 and Titus 3:1, that government is of God to restrain evil. The evil it restrains in 2 Thessalonians is anarchy (lawlessness) and in suppressing it (see the fourth beast Dan. 7:7) the leader (little horn) of the government is unmasked as the tyrant Antichrist with absolute earthly power.
“I'm of the opinion that the Restrainer is Michael the Archangel”
I don’t see how it can be. Michael is Israel’s protector and it would not make any difference or be of any comfort to the Thessalonians, a young gentile church, to know that Israel’s protector was being removed. They would not even be aware of the removal. What they would be aware of and find comfort in in the midst of the severe persecution they were experiencing is if the restrainer was the Holy Spirit and on His removal, by necessity, the church would have to be removed since He indwells and empowers the church. That would remove His residence, as is now in the age of grace, but not His presence during the tribulation period since He is God.