The United States weaponized its energy sources, Orbán believes

PM Viktor Orbán said yesterday in a 1-hour-long speech at the 31st Bálványos summer university in Central Romania that what was hurting the West the most was that it had lost control of its energy sources.

The USA introduced fracking in 2013, a new technology to mine energy resources, and adopted a strategy of “weaponising” it, he said. They have stepped up sanctions policies and “strongly encourage” their allies to buy their products, he said. The “German-Russian energy axis” is being dismantled, he said. Switching to renewable energy resources remains non-viable, he added.

“Energy and raw materials key for economic development are not in Western hands now. What they have now is capital and military power. The question is what they can do with it under these circumstances,” he said.

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Rival civilisations including the Chinese, Indian and Russian orthodox cultures have adopted Western technology and financial systems but “have no intention” to do the same with Western values, and see it as humiliating when the West tries to spread its values, he said.

Orbán said the rejection of Western “democracy export” was “understandable”, but the most painful part of the West’s losses was the loss of control over energy resources. While the US and Europe controlled 75 percent of oil, coal and natural gas resources in 1950, their share has fallen to 35 percent by now, he said. Russia has 20 percent of resources and the Middle East holds 30 percent, he said.