Klaus scores big in Big Apple

"We want the world and we want it now," sang The Doors in one of the early environmental songs. Václav Klaus went to the U.N. yesterday to claim the world by "shocking the Gore-ites" with a speech on global warming but was instead overshadowed by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Klaus said things such as, "The hypothetical threat connected with future global warming depends exclusively upon very speculative forecasts, not upon undeniable past experience and its eventual trends and tendencies." Say what? How can this hope to compete with Arnie's "what's needed is action, action, action." Klaus doesn't know how to speak in sound bites, but the Czech audience loved it anyway: Klaus didn't say anything new in NYC, but he was THE news at home. And for someone who wants to create a sense of inevitability about his reelection, this is far more important than conquering the world. [Czech Republic Strange Days Al Gore United Nations governor California New York City]