Soros funds fight against Bush

BILLIONAIRE financier George Soros has reiterated his determination to prevent President Bush winning the election this year, comparing his first term in the White House with George Orwell's grim political fables, and pledging to bankroll the opposition Democrat campaign.

'This is reminiscent of Orwell's famous book Animal Farm in which all animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others,' Soros said, referring to the administration's foreign policy.

The fund manager, who has already given more than $12m (£5m) to the Democratic campaign to oust Bush, said he was prepared to give more money to oppose the President. 'I am ready to put my money where my mouth is,' he said.

Soros, worth $7bn, spoke at the launch of his new book, The Bubble of American Supremacy, much of which is devoted to hammering US foreign policy under Bush. He said Bush 'uses the war on terror as a pretext to pursue a dream of American supremacy that is neither attainable or desirable'-Bush's defeat in 2004, he said, would been seen around the world as a rejection of a doctrine that holds that the US 'will not tolerate any rival globally or in any region' and that it 'has the right to engage in preventive adventures abroad'.

An electoral defeat for Bush would also give America the opportunity to 'resume its place as a powerful but peaceful nation', adding: 'The future of the world hangs in the balance.'

Although the Bush campaign has raised more than $130m to spend on the election, and aims to raise at least $170m, it believes Soros and others could help the Democrats spend up to $400m to oppose the incumbent President and criticised Soros' campaign contributions and his political ideas.

Soros said he particularly supported Vermont governor Howard Dean to be the Democratic challenger although he liked the foreign policy platforms of Senator John Kerry and retired general Wesley Clark.

He compared the Bush doctrine of pre-emption with a financial bubble that arises out of poor analysis. 'The misinterpretation is that might is right and we ought to use our dominant position to impose our will on the world,' he said.

'We can either deflate the bubble before it does any more damage or we can endorse the Bush doctrine and suffer the consequences.'

Soros, 74, donates millions to projects, particularly in Eastern Europe, that foster open societies which embrace democracy and tolerance.