DAVOS: Soros Says Russian Invasion May Have Been Beginning Of World War 3

By Donald Standeford, Correspondent - Follow -
Date Published: May 25, 2022 08:30PM UTC
Last Modified: May 25, 2022 08:30PM UTC

DAVOS, SWITZERLAND - Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros said on Tuesday that the Russian invasion of Ukraine may have been the beginning of World War Three and that the best way to preserve free civilization was for the West to defeat Russia.

"The invasion may have been the beginning of the Third World War and our civilization may not survive it. The best and perhaps the only way to preserve our civilization is to defeat Putin as soon as possible. That's the bottom line" Soros stated at Davos World Economic Forum 2022 annual meeting.

Soros also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that the invasion was a mistake and is preparing for ceasefire negotiations. "But the ceasefire is unattainable because he cannot be trusted. The weaker Putin gets the more unpredictable he becomes" he said.

He also said that Putin could potentially turn off Russian gas to Europe, which supplies the region with around 40% of its natural gas "while it really hurts". Soros said that "The invasion of Ukraine didn’t come out of the blue. The world has been increasingly engaged in a struggle between two systems of governance that are diametrically opposed to each other: open society and closed society".

He elaborated on this, saying that in an open society, the role of the state is to protect the freedom of the individual, while in a closed society, the role of the individual is to serve the rulers of the state.

He also expounded on this, saying that the 'concerns for all of humanity' such as 'fighting pandemics, climate change, avoiding nuclear war, maintaining global institutions' have all taken a back seat to that struggle, which is why he says he believes that our 'civilization may not survive'.

Soros said that after the 9/11 attacks, the tide 'began to turn against open societies' and that 'repressive regimes are now in the ascendant and open societies are under siege', adding that both Russia and China present the greatest threat to open society.

He said that artificial intelligence (AI) should be politically neutral, and can be used for good, or bad. However, in practice, the effect is 'asymmetric', and said that AI is 'particularly good' at creating instruments of control that help repressive regimes and endanger open societies.

He added that COVID-19 helped legitimize these 'instruments of control' because they are 'useful in dealing with the virus'.

Soros then addressed social media platforms, saying that these 'conglomerates' have come to dominate the world economy, and said that they are multinational and that their reach extends 'around the world' which has led to far-reaching consequences.

"They have sharpened the conflict between China and the United States. China has turned its tech platforms into national champions. The United States has been more hesitant because it has worried about their effect on the freedom of the individual" he stated.

Soros said that the different attitudes shed new light on the conflict between the two types of governance that both the United States and China represent.

Chinese President Xi Jinping collects personal data for the "surveillance and control" of its citizens more aggressively than 'any country in history', he said.

He also pointed out that both Putin and Xi Jinping are tied together in an alliance that "has no limits" and that they have "a lot in common", ruling by intimidation while making 'mind-boggling mistakes'.

Soros also said that Xi Jinping is 'bound to fail' and that giving Putin permission to launch an unsuccessful attack against Ukraine didn't serve China's best interests. He said that China should be the senior partner in the alliance with Russia, but that Xi Jinping's 'lack of assertiveness' allowed Putin to usurp the position, and that his worst mistake was doubling down on his 'Zero Covid policy'.

"The lockdowns had disastrous consequences" Soros stated and said that they pushed the Chinese economy into an economic free fall which started in March and will continue to do until Xi reverses its course, "which he will never do because he can’t admit a mistake," he said.

He said that coming 'on top' of the real estate crisis, the damage will be so great that it will affect the global economy and that the disruption of supply chains and global inflation is liable to turn into a "global depression".

Soros concluded his message by saying "we must mobilize all our resources to bring the war to an early end. The best and perhaps the only way to preserve our civilization is to defeat Putin as soon as possible. That’s the bottom line".

Regardless of where a person stands on Soros, the fact is inescapable that the consequences of the global lockdowns will be negatively affecting every country in the world for years to come.

The lock-downs did 'legitimize' tools of control and oppression on a global scale, and set many nations across the world back many years in terms of freedoms and liberties.