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‘Civilization May Not Survive’ War With China and Russia

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Billionaire hedge fund manager George Soros used his platform at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week to repeat warnings that tensions with China and Russia could erupt into a third world war.

Soros said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could have already started the war, and that the West should act to decisively defeat Russia now to prevent further bloodshed later.

“The invasion [of Ukraine] may have been the beginning of the Third World War and our civilization may not survive it,” Soros said at Davos.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin said that the United States was using Ukraine to threaten Russia through NATO enlargement and that Moscow had to defend against the persecution of Russian-speaking people located in the eastern regions of Ukraine.

Ukraine and its Western allies reject such claims as baseless pretext to invade and conquer, as Ukraine was not under consideration for NATO membership and could not qualify anyhow due to the fact that it does not control its easternmost territories in the Donbas and Crimea.

Soros’ comments demonstrated a commitment to the latter view, and a doubling down on the position being espoused by some, that Russia must suffer a humiliating defeat in order to be dissuaded from further conquest.

“The best and, perhaps, only way to preserve our civilization is to defeat Putin as soon as possible,” Soros said. “That’s the bottom line.”

‘Open’ and ‘Closed’ Societies in a New World War

The comments echoed similar statements Soros made in a March op-ed. This time around, he framed the deepening partnership between Russia and China against the West as a battle between authoritarianism and open democracy, saying that the world was locked in a war between democratic “open societies” and authoritarian “closed societies.”

“Repressive regimes are now in the ascendant and open societies are under siege,” Soros said. “Today, China and Russia present the greatest threat to open society.”

Soros’s comments focused on the partnership between the Kremlin and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which has grown since February when Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping announced a “no limits” agreement between their respective countries.

Since that time, the CCP has drawn international condemnation for its refusal to condemn the war in Ukraine, as well as its refusal to accept multilateral financial sanctions against Russia as legitimate. The CCP also does not refer to the war in Ukraine as an “invasion,” and heavily censors negative talking points about Russia within the mainland.

There have also been reports that China conducted a cyber attack on Ukraine the day before Russia’s invasion and that it was considering sending military support to Russia, though it is unclear what the initial sources for such intelligence were.

To that end, intelligence leaders in the United States have expressed the belief that the partnership between the Kremlin and the CCP will only deepen over the next decade.

A Good War?

To that end, Soros said that he believed Putin would soon attempt to negotiate a ceasefire, though Putin has previously stated the war, which he refers to as a “special military operation,” is going according to plan.

Soros suggested, however, that the West should reject such a peace.

“But the ceasefire is unattainable because he [Putin] cannot be trusted,” Soros said. “The weaker Putin gets the more unpredictable he becomes.”

Soros’ comments go against the Biden administration’s apparent search for ways to give Russia an off-ramp to end the war quickly and without risking further escalation or needless blood and death.

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger expressed support for such a search earlier this week, during his own speech at Davos.

Kissinger said that Ukraine should cede its lost territory in the east to Russia in order to bring about a swift end to the war. If the West were to seek a crushing or humiliating defeat of Russia at all costs, Kissinger said, Putin would become more likely to engage in extreme or desperate acts, such as the use of a tactical nuclear weapon.

“Negotiations need to begin in the next two months before it creates upheavals and tensions that will not be easily overcome,” Kissinger said. “Pursuing the war beyond that point would not be about the freedom of Ukraine, but a new war against Russia itself.”

Rise of the ‘Dragonbear’?

Soros’ suggestion that the world was locked into a new world war, and Kissinger’s rebuke of the idea, demonstrate the contentious arguments currently in play as to how to best prevent the rise of what some experts refer to as the “Dragonbear.” That is, an economically and militarily united China and Russia that could present the United States with a security crisis the likes of which have never been seen.

At the heart of the issue is how the West might prevent such a situation from rising. Some, like Soros, say that the complete and early defeat of Russia is key. Others, like Kissinger, lend credence to the idea that the West’s current efforts to wholly excise Russia from the international order will only push it further into China’s open arms.

For Soros, the problem was not complex. The “dragonbear” already exists and cannot be prevented.

“The two dictators, Putin and Xi, [are] now tied together in an alliance,” Soros said, and then added that the two were “bound to fail.”

Andrew Thornebrooke

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Andrew Thornebrooke is a reporter for The Epoch Times covering China-related issues with a focus on defense, military affairs, and national security. He holds a master’s in military history from Norwich University.



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