I’ve seen all sorts of protests around Chicago–and in other places I’ve lived–but this was the first one I’ve seen relating to Russian aggression. These protesters were hanging out smack dab in downtown Chicago protesting Russia’s invasion of Georgia.

It wasn’t a huge crowd but it was bigger than the Oak Park war protests–and that’s saying something as Oak Parkers are not fans of war!

Anyway, I found it fascinating that this crowd was so concerned about what’s happening in Russia–but from the sounds of the accents I’d say there were many Russian immigrants who happened to have strong feelings about their home country’s behavior. I thought it was interested and snapped a couple of photos.

Just a half block away this new statue stands where the moose statue once stood (the moose has been moved back). Dale was very unhappy with the new statue but I kind of like it. And, weirdly, the word “czar” came to mind–perhaps because we’d just walked away from the Russian protesters? Eh, who knows. Just thought I’d share. UPDATE: The statue is King Lear (of course!) and he is quite the fierce and angry king! I should have guessed, what with all those Shakespeare classes I took.

We spotted these exciting things on our way to the air show–which I will post about in the very near future!