'Green shackles'

Environment: A charismatic skeptic of global warming is out to expose the new shade of tyranny | Mark Bergin

Climate-change alarmism has its Al Gore and Hollywood activists, characters whose appeal and personas transcend the issue to popularize green behavior. But where are the personalities of global warming skepticism? Outside the voices of conservative talk radio, whose scope of influence rarely extends beyond a static niche, the call for cool-headed environmental policy lacks star power.

An unlikely source is out to change that. Czech president Václav Klaus will release this month the English translation of his book Blue Planet in Green Shackles (Dokoran, 2008), which connects the devices of modern climate hysteria to past tactics of totalitarian regimes.

Klaus has all the makings of an anti-establishment icon: an impressive resumé, a maverick streak, a propensity for scandal, and an insatiable appetite for attention. He recently admitted to his third known bout of infidelity with a flight attendant, all of which have only raised his status in a country where a mistress is perversely viewed as a symbol of manhood.