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At the close of the Copenhagen climate conference, the President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus, gave an interview to Fox News. Here are some excerpts: "I'm convinced that after years of studying the phenomenon, global warming is not the real issue of temperature. That is the issue of a new ideology or a new religion -- religion of climate change or a religion of global warming. This is a religion which tells us that the people are responsible for the current, very small increase in temperatures. And they should be punished." "I'm absolutely convinced that the very small global warming we are experiencing is the result of natural causes. It's a cyclical phenomenon in the history of the Earth. The role of man is very small, almost negligible." "Politicians and their fellow travelers, the media and the business community, simply understood that this is a very good topic to take on. It's an excellent idea to escape from the current reality. Not to solve the crisis, but to talk about the world in 2050, 2080, 2200. This is for them an excellent job. They will not be punished by the voters for making a totally wrong decision, a wrong forecast." "We'll be the victims of irrational ideology. They will try to dictate to us how to live, what to do, how to behave. What to eat, travel, and what my children should have. This is something that we who lived in the Communist era for most of our lives, that we still feel very strongly about. We are very sensitive in this respect. And we feel various similarities in their way of arguing or not arguing. In the way of pushing ahead ideas regardless of rational counter-arguments." I don’t think the radical measures just now suggested in Copenhagen are necessary. I’m so sorry that Al Gore and others around the IPCC succeeded in influencing so many people. "We need to bring new arguments. The real problem isn't the arguments. The real problem is to motivate people to listen to other arguments against this. This is the missing link in the current debate." Environmentalism, executed on the scale suggested by global warming adherents, is a "real way to stop progress, industrial progress ... and this is something unfair." Turning global warming into binding law would impede civilization as we know it. Klaus' message for the world: do not dictate to humanity how to live based on an "irrational ideology" which is the product of political correctness. Man's natural ingenuity can create new technologies that will lessen any impact that mankind has had on the planet's environment. "I lived in a Communist world where politicians told us what to do. I don't think politicians or presidents should suggest to firms what to do. That has always been a mistake." Vaclav Klaus was a leader of the Czech revolt against totalitarian ideology. He graduated from the University of Economics in Prague, studied at Cornell University, has received more than 50 honorary degrees, and is colloquially known in Czechoslovakia as "Mr. Professor." |
