We must defeat Putin – the fate of civilisation depends on it | George Soros

"Since the last annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, the course of history has changed dramatically. Russia invaded Ukraine, shaking the European Union, which was established to prevent war from returning to the continent, to its very core. Even when the fighting stops, as it eventually must, the situation will never revert to the status quo ante.

Indeed, the Russian invasion may turn out to be the beginning of the Third World War, and our civilisation may not survive it. The invasion of Ukraine did not come out of the blue. The world has been increasingly engaged over the past half-decade, or longer, in a struggle between two diametrically opposed systems of governance: open society and closed society. Let me define the differences 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 humanity – fighting pandemics and climate change, avoiding nuclear war, maintaining global institutions – have had to take a back seat to this systemic struggle. That’s why I say our civilisation may not survive.


I became engaged in what I call political philanthropy in the 1980s, a time when a large part of the world languished under Communist rule. I wanted to help people who were outraged and fought against oppression. I established one foundation after another in rapid succession in what was then the Soviet empire. The effort turned out to be more successful than I expected.

Those were exciting days. They also coincided with a period of personal financial success that allowed me to increase my annual giving from $3m in 1984 to more than $300m three years later".