Decrying the “reluctance” of Europe and the US to engage in “direct military confrontation with Russia”, he urges an EU arms buildup to simultaneously stimulate Europe’s stagnant economy and to counter the perceived Russian threat. “All available resources ought to be put to work in the war effort even if that involves running up budget deficits”, he writes.
The spearhead of the new “war effort” should be Ukraine, which should be provided with Javelin missiles and other advanced weaponry. Soros preposterously asserts against all evidence that “it is unrealistic to expect that Putin will stop pushing beyond Ukraine when the division of Europe and its domination by Russia is in sight. Not only the survival of the new Ukraine but the future of NATO and the European Union itself is at risk…”
It will be recalled that Soros’ foundation, the Open Society Institute, was instrumental in bringing pro-Western politicians to power in Ukraine in the so-called Orange Revolution of 2005. Here he may also be “talking his own book”, as they say on Wall Street - that is, promoting policies calculated to boost his investments. His detailed economic prescriptions in the article call, among other things, for European and American taxpayers rather than bondholders to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine, forestalling a potential sovereign default, and for the privatization of Naftogaz, the gas monopoly, with the market price for fuel passed on to consumers.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/nov/20/wake-up-europe/?insrc=hpss