In the years since then, communications technology has changed drastically – and intelligence gathering is far easier in the digital age.
The gritty Italian precinct is just east of the severely locked down, fortresslike convention center, yet the Democrats' gathering seems far off, an exotic distraction.
In a mirror image of the pro-Morsi protests, many at the gathering seemed far less interested in swaying the Islamists than proving, to both Egyptians and the world, that their numbers were greater.
He acknowledged, answering a journalist's question, that some state workers might have been prompted to attend by their employers, but said the gathering was far too large to be attributed to administrative pressure.
As a result, Rapp, who will be stepping down from his post in the next few months, said his office and the international community was gathering evidence far stronger than for almost any previous tribunal, including those of Charles Taylor and Slobodan Milošević.
But the gathering is far from intimate: the crackling flames are a screensaver and we are sitting in a Christmas grotto in the middle of a cavernous hall at Birmingham's NEC where 1,000 of the retailer's top managers have gathered for a pre-Christmas jamboree.
But, as the Aurora-hunters will tell you, that doesn't necessarily mean that there's something else we don't yet know about gathering intelligence far above the Earth.
They tugged at his orange robes and punched him repeatedly at a gathering not far from Bangkok.
Sign up now Tuesdaythe best of VICE Canada delivered straight to your inbox.
Tuesday's gathering was far more manageable than the confrontation that erupted late on Sunday and early on Monday morning, when stores were smashed up and news crews attacked.
But these gatherings were far more than tea parties.
