Billionaire and political financier George Soros has handed over control of his influential organization network to his son To Alexander Soros that is, for Alex.
In this story, we reveal what kind of man Alex Soros, who is emerging as a significant power user, is.
Alex Soros was elected chairman of the board of the Open Society Foundations (OSF) network founded by his father already in December, says The Washington Post.
However, there was no news about it until last weekend, when the generational change was the first to be reported The Wall Street Journal. A spokesman for Soros confirmed the matter to the news agency Reuters.
Father Soros is known for the fact that, through OSF, he has supported liberal political goals such as criminal justice and drug policy reforms, climate action and supporting refugees.
92-year-old George Soros had previously said that he does not want any of his five children to become the head of OSF.
However, he changed his mind. The elder Soros told The Wall Street Journal that Alex had earned the position.
“More political than his father”
Alex Soros is the older of George’s two sons by his second wife by Susan Weber with.
Poika-Soros grew up in the prosperous village of Katonah, north of the big city of New York. His childhood friends told The Wall Street Journal that as a child, Alex was introverted, overweight and ashamed of his family’s wealth.
Later, Alex Soros was known as a rich playboy who billeted with models, NBA basketball players and music influencers, says a British tabloid Daily Mail.
According to friends, Alex is enthusiastic about American football, philosophy and politics. He started working part-time at the Soros Foundation in 2004. The job became full-time in 2015.
The younger Soros has a doctorate in history from the University of California. He sits on the boards of several organizations and universities. The man has also worked as a film producer.
37-year-old Alex Soros describes himself as a center-left political thinker.
Open Society Foundations operates in more than 120 countries. The organization distributes approximately 1.5 billion dollars annually to groups that support human rights and democracy in different countries. The foundation also finances universities.
The son plans to expand his father’s liberal goals to include supporting voting and abortion rights and gender equality. He told about his plans in an interview with WSJ.
In addition, Alex Soros plans to continue supporting left-leaning US politicians. He described to The Wall Street Journal that he is “more political” than his father and more interested in domestic politics.
The younger Soros told the newspaper that he was worried Donald Trump’s a possible return to the White House. He hinted that Soros’ organization would play a significant role in the US presidential election next year.
– I would like to get money out of politics, but as long as the other side continues to do it, we have to do the same, he told the newspaper.
The younger Soros says he is a supporter of freedom of speech. In his opinion, expression of opinion has been restricted too much in universities, for example.
In the United States, university campuses have become one of the arenas of the culture wars, where activists seek to prevent speech they find objectionable.
Social media in possession
Alex Soros shares his opinions on social issues and international politics in opinion pieces for various media. He is also an active social media user.
The man’s Instagram account is full of pictures where he poses with influential people from different countries.
For example, in April, Alex Soros published a picture of himself standing with the President of the United States Joe Biden with. As an accompanying text, he had written “Ridin with Biden”, or freely translated into Finnish, “Biden’s sled”.
In June, the younger Soros appeared in a photo of the former prime minister of Finland by Alexander Stubb with the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank meeting in Stockholm. The Soros Foundation finances the think tank, reports The Washington Post.
Recently, Alex Soros has met, among others, representatives of President Biden’s administration, the Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau and the President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to lobby for the causes of their organizations, says The Wall Street Journal.
Isä-Soros is the mastermind of the Hungarian government
Hungarian-born George Soros has been criticized by his right-wing opponents for years because he supports liberal goals.
Sometimes the criticism has anti-Jewish undertones. The Soros are Jews. Especially the extreme right has spread anti-Semitic conspiracy theories related to George Soros and his organizations.
However, during Father Soros’ period, OSF did not really pursue the interests of the Jews. Instead, OSF has funded organizations that have criticized the policies of the Israeli state.
Alex Soros, on the other hand, has visited Israel several times and celebrates Jewish holidays, which his father has not cared about, reports The Wall Street Journal.
The Hungarian government has portrayed George Soros as a malicious scoundrel who wants to fill Europe with immigrants. OSF has financed organizations that support refugees.
Even now the prime minister of Hungary Viktor Orbán was among the first to comment on the generational change of the Soros Foundation.
Orbán wrote “Soros 2.0” on Twitter and attached a video of a scene from the movie The Godfather, where the crime boss kisses his son.
It has already been claimed in the media supporting the Hungarian government that Alex Soros is more radical than his father “in issues related to world government, forced vaccinations and abortion”, reports the AFP news agency.
Sources: AFP, AP, Reuters