Billionaire philanthropist George Soros has painted a bleak picture of Russia ’s invasion of Ukraine, warning that it could spark World War III and ultimately end civilisation as we know it.
The 91-year-old Hungarian-American was giving his traditional dinner speech at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland where he addressed the large group of attendees at Davos 2022.
He said the West’s only hope was to “defeat (Vladimir) Putin as soon as possible” and that the war had “shaken Europe to its core”.
“The invasion may have been the beginning of the Third World War and our civilisation may not survive it,” said the Budapest-born Soros, who is said to be worth around $8.6 billion.
“We must mobilise all our resources to bring the war to an early end.
“The best and perhaps only way to preserve our civilisation is to defeat Putin as soon as possible.
“Even when the fighting stops, as it eventually must, the situation will never revert to where it was before.
“Other issues that concern all of humanity – fighting pandemics and climate change, avoiding nuclear war, maintaining global institutions – have had to take a back seat to that struggle and that's why I say civilisation may not survive.”
He did commend Ukraine for battling for the West’s values, adding: “I think Ukraine today is rendering a tremendous service to Europe and to the western world and to open society and our survival, because they are fighting our fight.
“They have a really good chance of winning and we must give them all the support that they ask for.”
Soros criticised Germany, though, and most notably former Chancellor Angela Merkel, for their “special deals” set up with Moscow for Europe’s reliance on Russian gas.
“Europe’s dependence on Russian fossil fuels remains excessive, due largely to the mercantilist policies pursued by former Chancellor Angela Merkel,” he added.
“She had made special deals with Russia for the supply of gas and made China Germany’s largest export market.
“That made Germany the best performing economy in Europe, but now there is a heavy price to pay.”
Soros did praise Merkel’s successor, Olaf Scholz, saying that although he was elected to continue Merkel’s policies, he “always seemed to do the right thing in the end”.
The nonagenarian, founder of the Open Society Foundations, which financially supports groups around the world, said he also feared for open societies due to the threats that Russia and China pose.
“Repressive regimes are not in the ascendance and China and Russia present the greatest threat to open society,” he remarked.
“In an open society, the rule of the state is to protect the freedom of the individual – in a closed state, the role of the individual is to serve the rulers of the state.
“They rule by intimidation and as a consequence they make mind-boggling mistakes.”
Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also told the World Economic Forum that Europe’s heavy reliance on fossil fuels from Russia was “wrong” and “dangerous”.
“Freedom is more important than free trade,” said the former prime minister of Norway.
“The protection of our values is more important than profit.
“International trade has undoubtedly brought great prosperity, but we must recognise that our economic choices have consequences for our security.”
