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"It's déjà vu all over again with one big change - the dominant ideology in the world now is nationalism," said Soros. "It's the EU that's the institution that's on the verge of a breakdown. And Russia is now the resurgent power, based on nationalism."I wasn't surprised to read his prediction about the European Union. His condemnatory tone against Russia - which he has accused of hacking his emails in 2016 - was no surprise either. The West's demonization campaign against that country has even led to accusations that it 'hacked' the Oscars, so these days anything is to be expected in that respect.
I was intrigued, however, by his comments about nationalism - an 'ideology' against which he pledged to "fight back" as he announced that he's remaining chairman of the Open Society Foundations (OSF) for another five years. Last October Soros transferred $18 billion to the organization - apparently as part of his bid to 'stop nationalists' worldwide.
In this 2014 CNN interview, Soros went a bit further in explaining his problem with Russian nationalism:
ZAKARIA: You have been very pessimistic or - or gloomy about Europe. Um, do you think that in this Ukraine situation, you're seeing another aspect of the tragedy of Europe, the lack of collective action?
SOROS: Unfortunately, Europe is very weak. It's preoccupied with its internal problems, which are unresolved. The euro - the euro crisis is no longer a financial crisis, is turning into a political crisis. And you're going to see it in the elections. And - and Putin...
ZAKARIA: Explain what that means. It's going to be - you're going to see it in the elections because you're going to see the rise of nationalist, anti-European forces?
SOROS: Yes. And interestingly, they are supported by Russia and pro-Russian. So Russia has emerged as an alternative to the European Union. Putin has sort of come out of the closet in - in Ukraine with an ideology that is Nationalist based on ethnic nationalism. You could call it Russism...
ZAKARIA: Right.
SOROS: - that's a new word to describe it, because I don't want to call it Nazi, because it is very similar to what you had in the interwar period... fascism. You know...
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