Czech Government Topples, Leaving Global Warming Denier President Vaclav Klaus Stranded

onMar 24, 2009 @ 12:58 PDT

The Czech Republic’s three-party coalition government toppled today after losing a parliamentary “no confidence” vote. That leaves Czech President Vaclav Klaus – global warming denier extraordinaire – with the responsibility of forming a new government post-haste as the economic crisis continues to pummel his people. If three attempts to form a government fail, Klaus must call for early elections to let the people decide.

The Czech Republic is likely to hold onto the EU’s rotating presidency until June as expected, although with its embarassing status as “resigned government” back home.

Klaus was the keynote speaker at this year’s Heartland Institute-sponsored “International Conference on Climate Change” in New York (he spoke at last year’s Heartland fest too). Klaus said in 2007 that “Global warming is a false myth and every serious person and scientist says so.”

Serious people in the Czech Republic just let President Klaus know what they think of his leadership skills.

By Kevin Grandia

Kevin is a contributor and strategic adviser to DeSmog. He runs the digital marketing agency Spake Media House. Named a “Green Hero” by Rolling Stone Magazine and one of the “Top 50 Tweeters” on climate change and environment issues, Kevin has appeared in major news media outlets around the world for his work on digital campaigning. Kevin has been involved in the public policy arena in both the United States and Canada for more than a decade. For five years he was the managing editor of DeSmogBlog.com. In this role, Kevin’s research into the “climate denial industry” and the right-wing think tank networks was featured in news media articles around the world. He is most well known for his ground-breaking research into David and Charles Koch’s massive financial investments in the Republican and tea party networks. Kevin is the first person to be designated a “Certified Expert” on the political and community organizing platform NationBuilder. Prior to DeSmog, Kevin worked in various political and government roles. He was Senior Advisor to the Minister of State for Multiculturalism and a Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Asia Pacific, Foreign Affairs for the Government of Canada. Kevin also worked in various roles in the British Columbia provincial government in the Office of the Premier and the Ministry of Health. In 2008 Kevin co-founded a groundbreaking new online election tool called Vote for Environment which was later nominated for a World Summit Award in recognition of the world’s best e-Content and innovative ICT applications. Kevin moved to Washington, DC in 2010 where he worked for two years as the Director of Online Strategy for Greenpeace USA and has since returned to his hometown of Vancouver, Canada.

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