The star investor warns of the Third World War.
(Photo: Bloomberg)
davos In view of the many crises, it was foreseeable that the mood at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos would not be good. Nevertheless, the Hungarian investor George Soros managed on Tuesday evening to shake even the optimists by prophesying the downfall of human civilization.
Combating the pandemic and climate change, avoiding nuclear war, maintaining global institutions must take second place to democracy’s struggle against totalitarianism. “That’s why I say our civilization may not survive.”
As if that wasn’t enough, the 91-year-old Holocaust survivor added: “The invasion (of Russia in Ukraine) could have been the start of World War III.”
It’s not the first time Soros has warned of the end of the world. The investor repeatedly let his skeptical view of the world shine through at his annual appearances in Davos. In 2019, for example, he warned of the “mortal danger” of artificial intelligence, which would be misused by totalitarian regimes like China to suppress the population.
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The danger for Soros is now greater than ever. He has repeatedly pointed out the threat posed to open society in western democracies by totalitarian states – and has mostly been right. Russian President Vladimir Putin and China’s head of state Xi Jingping are the greatest threats to him.
Soros: Putin and Xi Jinping made extreme mistakes
According to Soros, the two autocrats made “horrible mistakes”. “Putin expected to be hailed as a liberator in Ukraine; Xi Jinping adheres to a zero-Covid policy that is impossible to sustain.”
The ongoing lockdowns in the Middle Kingdom would disrupt supply chains, which could keep inflation high around the world and trigger a global depression, Soros said. “Xi will fail with this policy. And that may cost him his third term,” Soros predicted.
Is the end of human civilization imminent? The consequences of climate change and wars are hotly debated in Davos.
(Photo: dpa)
But there was also criticism for the former Chancellor Angela Merkel. “Germany is paying a high price today for the fact that Merkel made energy deals with Russia and made China the largest export market for the German economy.”
It will take “a long time” to liberate Germany from these dependencies. Merkel’s successor, Olaf Scholz, “always seems to do the right thing in the end,” said the former hedge fund manager, whose private fortune is estimated at more than $8 billion.
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Soros is not the only prophet of doom in Davos. “There are now three R-words that worry us,” said Citibank boss Jane Fraser, for example, with a view to Russia, rates (rising interest rates) and a possible impending recession.
Can new technologies save us from the climate catastrophe?
(Photo: imago images/Jan Eifert)
“The geopolitical recession does not make solving these problems any easier,” said Ian Bremmer, head of the American think tank Euraisa Group, alluding to the growing nationalism and the declining willingness to cooperate internationally.
Maersk Chairman of the Board Jim Snabe: New technologies are the answer to climate change
But there are also optimists in Davos. One of them is the former Siemens boss Jim Snabe, who is now the chairman of the supervisory board of the logistics group Maersk. “We must not lose sight of our most important goal, the decarbonization of the global economy,” demanded Snabe.
For him, new technologies are the answer to climate change. “We will soon be able to offer these technologies at an economical price.” Many companies are already investing heavily to make their global supply chains “greener”.
“I will not leave Davos with the thought that we are entering an era of deglobalization,” the manager continued. Even the diversification of supply chains requires more, not less, international trade. It is important that there is a vision for a green economy and then enough leadership to implement it step by step.
As an example, Snabe cited the EU’s recovery fund after the pandemic, which sends the right signals with the topics of climate protection and digitization.
More: “Freedom is more important than free trade”: NATO Secretary General for decoupling from autocratic states