Bill Ackman, a billionaire hedge funder has stated that “WWIII” has probably already begun and that it is possible for a wider military conflict to develop with Russia after Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Ackman is a long-standing proponent of alarmist prediction, even when he bets against the markets. He tweeted his dire predictions in a lengthy series of tweets Saturday.
“In January 2020, my nightmares were about a possible pandemic. Everyone thought that I was crazy.” He said that they are having identical nightmares right now.
CNBC’s Ackman made a famous appearance on March 20, 2020, when he declared that “hell was coming”, and demanded a national lockdown for 30 days.
Later, it was revealed that Pershing Square Capital made $2 Billion by placing bets against stock that fell as Pershing Square Capital delivered his doomsday forecasts.
Ackman says that although WWIII is likely to have already begun, we are still slow in recognizing it.
Bill Ackman is a multi-billionaire hedge funder who claimed that WWIII had likely already started and suggested that an even larger military conflict with Russia might be inevitable
“Putin invading Ukraine has not gone well for Russia,” he said.
“The Ukrainians are putting up an amazing resistance. NATO is refusing to join the war but NATO members as well as most other countries have started an economic war and are providing Stingers and anti-tank weapons and intelligence.
‘Putin today declared these actions acts of war against Russia. Ackman said that we have much to do before we go into a heated war with Russia.
Ackman urged for an international embargo of Russian oil from the West, which is something the White House is currently considering.
He said the US should give Ukraine “our best weaponry” and added that fears that Putin would provoke them into nuclear war was tantamount of appeasement.
We say that Russia is a nuclear power, and Putin is madman. Therefore we won’t be intervening in Ukraine. How do we respond to Putin’s demands for more? Ackman agreed.
‘The nuclear threat is no different when he takes his next country, whether it is part of NATO or not, and by then we are strategically worse off. He made public his ambitions,’ he said.
We let Putin take over Crimea and Georgia without much resistance. His aspirations only grew because we didn’t do anything to stop him,” wrote Ackman.
Russian forces invaded Irpin on March 7, 2022, causing heavy fighting. Residents fled Irpin via a collapsed bridge. Russia keeps its attack on Ukraine’s main cities.
In Zhytomyr (Ukraine), a civilian trains to fire Molotov cocktails at the city to defend it, while Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues.
‘We let Putin occupy Georgia and Crimea with little pushback. His aspirations increased because we didn’t do anything to stop him,” the billionaire said.
“Shall we allow Putin to take control of the Ukraine? Putin has global ambitions. We are just in the beginning. He is encouraged to do more with each victory. He is testing us, and we are failing the test each time,’ he added.
Ackman then called for the imposition a no fly zone above Ukraine. This step is facing bipartisan opposition in Washington and has been rejected by NATO.
To enforce a no fly zone, Russian planes would have to be shot down. Putin stated explicitly that any country trying to enforce the no fly zone will be considered a part of the conflict.
Ackman suggested that Putin is being given carte blanche by the West for invading and subjugating other European nations, such as Sweden, Finland or Ireland.
Hedge funder took the argument to extremes and compared Putin’s incursion in Ukraine with Adolf Hitlers systematic genocide on Jewish people.
‘What if instead of using rockets to kill civilians, Putin used gas chambers? Does that affect our willingness to act? What should be the difference between civilian deaths and military weapons in order to decide whether or not to intervene? He said so.
One woman is seen walking in front of the burned cars along a bridge in Irpin on March 7, 2022. This was in Irpin in Ukraine. For the moment, the Ukrainian army resists the Russian heavy siege in its cities.
A wheelchair-equipped ambulance transports an elderly lady to Irpin (Ukraine) on March 7, 2022.
Ackman indicated that he could only see a way for a larger conflict to be avoided if China was involved and negotiated a settlement.
“It seems that Putin was given the go-ahead by China to strike Ukraine. Putin has a lot of respect for China, and may even fear it. China can elevate itself on the world stage by helping to resolve this crisis,’ he wrote.
Ukrainian officials stated Monday that Russian aircraft struck a bakery in Northern Ukraine, killing 13 civilians. However, there was little to no progress between Moscow and Kyiv on resolving the conflict.
According to United Nations statistics, the strike at Makariv factory, west of Kyiv capital, occurred as refugees fled across the borders from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
On the eleventh day, the Russian forces continued to bomb and sieve Ukrainian cities. Under regular bombardments, hundreds of thousands of civilians were trapped in the southern port city Mariupol.
This afternoon, Russian and Ukrainian officials were part of peace talks held in Brest, Belarus. From left: Ukraine’s second minister for foreign affairs Mykola tochytskyi; minister of defense Oleksiy Resnikov; head of Davyd Arakhamia’s Ukrainian servant of people faction Davyd Arakhamia; adviser to Mykhailo Podoliak. On the Russian side, from left to right, Russian Ambassador to Belarus Boris Gryzlov, chairman of the Russian State Duma’s International Affairs Committee Leonid Slutsky, presidential aide and the head of the Russian delegation Vladimir Medinsky, deputy minister of defence Alexander Fomin, and deputy foreign minister Andrei Rudenko
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, President of Ukraine said that they were “bombing everything that’s moving”
Although it wasn’t possible immediately to confirm the attack on the bakery, local emergency personnel reported that the bodies of 13 people were found in the rubble.
From the thirty people who were believed to have been present at that time, only five of them had been rescued. Russia denies targeting civilians.
Zelenskiy spoke on zoom with an American Jewish group and said that the bakery had been closed. The same thing is occurring in many other cities.
The police in Kharkiv said that 10 more people were killed during the day. That brings the Russian bombardment death toll to 143 since the beginning of the invasion. The death toll could not be verified.
A third attempt was made to end the violence in Belarus by talks. However, the Ukrainian negotiator stated that while some progress had been made on logistics, the situation remained relatively unchanged.
‘As at now, there is no result that significantly improves the situation,” Mykhailo Podolyak declared in a video. Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky told journalists that talks are ‘not difficult’.
He said, “We hope that these corridors will finally function from tomorrow,”
According to Leonid Slutsky, Russian negotiator, a fourth round will be held very soon.