George Soros warns World Economic Forum ‘Ukraine conflict could lead to World War III’

GEORGE SOROS, the 91-year-old billionaire philanthropist, told the World Economic Forum’s annual ‘Davos’ meeting that the conflict in Ukraine could turn into World War III.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, Hungarian-American George Soros told the world elite at Davos 2022 that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could ‘spark World War III and lead to the end civilisation as we know it.’

Giving his traditional dinner speech on Tuesday, May 24, he said: “The invasion may have been the beginning of the Third World War and our civilisation may not survive it.

“We must mobilise all our resources to bring the war to an early end. The best and perhaps the only way to preserve our civilisation is to defeat Putin as soon as possible,” he said.

He continued: “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. Let me define the difference as simply as I can. 

“In an open society, the role of the state is to protect the freedom of the individual; in a closed society, the role of the individual is to serve the rulers of the state.

“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.

He added, again: “That’s why I say our civilisation may not survive.”

Soros was joined by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez at this year’s Davos Forum and he took the opportunity to invite the leaders of both Finland and Sweden to the NATO summit in Madrid next month.

Mr Sánchez said that his intention at the Madrid summit is to strengthen the ties between the EU and NATO.

He also announced his desire to speed up the NATO membership process of Finland and Sweden, whose integration into NATO must first be approved by the parliaments of each of the member countries.

“It is something very important for the stability of the European Union and the future of NATO,” he said about the future incorporation of the Nordic countries.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also spoke at the WEF event and reiterated Sánchez’s stance on Finland and Sweden.

Speaking about Finland and Sweden’s applications to join NATO, Mr Stoltenberg called their decision to apply for NATO membership “historic”.