TALKING NATO (and The Kinks)

The big rally and march is today in Chicago.  Everyone is wondering how the cops and Homeland Security are going to react.  Does Obama want another 1968 Chicago head-busting spectacle on his hands during an election year? 

I did three workshops during the two-day conference and was able to speak to many people about "missile defense".  The Global Network has been working on this issue for a long time and this NATO summit has given the issue a visibility we've not previously seen. 

Global Network chair Dave Webb (also the national chair of CND in the UK) and I have been staying at the home of friends who live in the Chicago suburbs.  It took us 1.5 hours to reach the conference each day on the commuter train and then subway.

Last night, after the conference had finished, Rick Rozoff who lives in the city and runs the No NATO list serve, took Dave and I to dinner at his favorite Middle Eastern restaurant which he has frequented for the past 32 years.  Excellent food.

Rick knows more about NATO than anyone I've ever met and I was shocked that he was not invited to speak at the conference.  Made no sense.  He is an encyclopedia of NATO history and current NATO machinations.  It's a pleasure to listen to him. (You can see Rick interviewed in the RT video just below this blog entry.)

As it turns out Rick is also a huge fan of The Kinks.  Dave is as well so we sat around the table talking Kinks music and Rick reeled off lines from many Kinks songs as easily as he spins NATO tales.  A great mixing of pleasure and pain!