The excerpt below originally appeared on The Center for Public Integrity blog Paper Trail under the title, "Auditioning to be the Anti-Gore," by Nikola Horejs.
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Climate change deniers in search of their own, Al Gore-like figurehead have an unlikely candidate: Vaclav Klaus, president of the Czech Republic, who is touring the United States this week.
The author of such anti-global warming treatises as Blue Planet in Green Shackles; What is Endangered: Climate or Freedom, Klaus has given the keynote address at events sponsored by The Heartland Institute and the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Both think tanks vigorously deny the existence of global warming and, according to an upcoming Center report both were financed by ExxonMobil until 2006. (Klaus himself is no stranger to oil money: Lukoil -- the Russian oil giant -- paid for the printing of Blue Planet in Russian earlier this year.)
Klaus has used his platform, initially as his country's first post-communism prime minister and now as its president to gain attention for his views on climate change. Klaus is a conservative economist, but has not done environmental research himself, "I don't think he [talks about climate change] for money. He truly believes what he says," said Vojtech Kotecky, campaign director of Friends of Earth Czech, a Prague-based environmental group.
In his speeches Klaus uses his experience guiding the country away from its communist past as a reference point when talking about the efforts of climate change advocates.
"I spent most of my life under the communist regime which ignored and brutally violated human freedom," he told the National Press Club in May. "In the past, [this was done] in the name of the Marxist or the proletariat. This time, in the name of the planet ... It is very similar."
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So, Grist readers, do you think Klaus deserves the heavyweight title of "Anti-Gore and Climate Skeptic Sweetheart"? Perhaps someone else? Vote below or sound off in the comments.
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Comments View as Flat
WWAGD?! Posted 9:58 am
01 Oct 2008
They Know Freedom
Who knows better about fighting an oppressive ideology than the former Iron Curtain countries?
Global Warming is new Stalinism.
Let Hydrogen flourish, and let real scientific inquiry begin.
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Glauke Posted 6:06 pm
01 Oct 2008
Klaus vs Gore
My father was vehemently anti-communist in the sixties in the left-wing town he studied. He always taught me that people who do not want you to know the facts (as above) are a danger.
It is sad that one of the most prominent dissidents has now gone over to the dark side of fact-deniers. And really really bad.
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Annimal Posted 8:23 pm
01 Oct 2008
Vaclav Claus is a shame
As having roots from Estonia , that was occupied by the Soviets for over 50 years I must say that Claus crusade against environmentalism is a shame.
In Estonia the fight against the Soviets were also carried out by environmentasts that were opposed for example to the very polluting phosphate mining.
Another dissisent , former Soviet naval office Pasko , was imprisoned in a labour/ prison camp for highlighting the Soviet Pacific's Fleets radioactive dumping. His case was fought by Amnesty International.
Now Pasko is working as an environmental journalist for Norwegian NGO Bellona. He is opposed to Russian oil and gaz giant Gazprom , that must have connections with Lukeoil ( from which Claus has received money) .
Pasko is an environmentalist that has written pieces like " The descendants of Gulag" and been awarded by " the Journalists without Borders" prize.
Read more about him on my blog :
http://annimal.bloggsida.se/diverse/the-pasko-case-the-en ...
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