Czech President Calls Warming Fears "Hysteria", Activists "Jokers", Then Calls For "Rational Debate"

[hatrack]

Czech President Vaclav Klaus on Wednesday denounced environmentalists' "hysteria" over global warming as he launched his latest book, "A blue, not green, planet," which tackles the issue. "I am raising my voice," said the politician who has characterised environmentalism as an ideology as dangerous as communism. "Can we allow certain political movements that want something else other than liberty to profit from an hysteria which has been born?" Klaus asked.

"Above all, it is necessary to determine if the impact of man on global climate change is such that it justifies this hysteria," he added. Klaus, as well as being a well known eurosceptic and a fan of former British premier Margaret Thatcher, has now lined up alongside the US sceptics in the climate change debate. During the presentation at Prague's Slavia Cafe in Prague, a favourite haunt of intellectuals, Klaus called for a rational debate over climate change.

He called on the public to "open its eyes faced with a dangerous manipulation" by those who, according to him, want to "limit free thinking and decision making." The local branch of the environmental group Greenpeace organised a protest in front of the cafe with a banner "A flat, not round, world," in parody of Klaus' latest work. "With these protesters, we can see that those who have taken up this theme are not scientists," joked the 66-year old Klaus.

Klaus, a trained economist and former right-wing prime minister, was recently invited to present his climate change views to the US Congress as a counterweight to those of former US vice-president Al Gore. During his speech, Klaus argued that environmentalism represented just as big a danger to freedom as communism. Klaus's publisher, Marek Pecinka, characterised his book as "an effective antidote against the gossip of Al Gore."

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/2007/070516145814.m6fafbfq.html

[yardwork]

1. I wonder how much money he's taken from Exxon and Co?

Every single one of the so-called "US skeptics" is heavily funded by gas and oil.

[drm604]

2. "Rational Debate"

How long do you continue to debate whether or not to call the fire department when the house is filling up with smoke?

Some people will continue to call for debate even as they're rowing through the streets of our coastal cities. :banghead:

[Nihil]

3. There are times ...

... when Borat seems a more rational leader than the ones that
certain countries have got ...

:shrug: