In roughly three hours Rihanna is supposed to be taking to the stage in Manila, Philippines
to preform the third concert in the final leg of her Diamonds World
Tour. Unfortunately the US is still enforcing its information blackout
so there has been no confirmation that Rihanna has even arrived in the
country.
This is a particular problem in the run-up to Rihanna's Australia
concerts because by refusing to make this information publicly availible
any of Australia's new MP's who are still interested are being forced
to rely on the Australian civil and intelligence services to find out
details of Rihanna's movements. In turn the Australian civil and
intelligence services are themselves quite reliant on their UK
counterparts for information. So by forcing Australia's MP's to interact
with these apparatus of state on the issue Rihanna is increasing the
pressure on them to show their loyalty to the UK by lashing out against
her. In short Rihanna is building a rod for her own back.
This is hugely frustrating to watch because Rihanna and her core tour
party are clearly acting out of the fear that if they deviate from the
handlers plan they will be punished not realising that punishment is the
handlers plan.
10:00 on 19/9/13.
Edited at around 18:45 on 19/9/13 to add;
Amid a vicious argument about the information blackout being imposed by
the CIA handlers/concert promoters Live Nation Rihanna flew into Manila in the Philippines
at around 17:00-18:00 local time (09:00-10:00 GMT) some three hours
before she was scheduled to appear on stage. Fortunately Rihanna wasn't
held up in local traffic so was able to make it to the venue in order to
take to the stage only some 30-45 minutes late. Rihanna went on to
perform the standard Diamonds World Tour set-list although due to the
blackout I am unable to comment on the exact running order or the
quality of Rihanna's performance.
I am though able to tell you that throughout the performance Rihanna
wore a white, mesh outfit comprising of loose fitting shorts, a loose
fitting jacket, a tight fitting T-shirt and a white headband/hat. This
was of course intended to be a reference to the traditional Islamic
men's outfit of a loose fitting tunic, loose fitting trousers and a Kufi
cap. Unlike the Galabiyya outfit that Rihanna referenced in Denmark (4/7/13)
which is traditionally Arabic the tunic, pants Kufi outfit is much most
closely associated with Islam itself. In fact in places like Africa and
South-East Asia an increase in the number of the men dressing in this
style often indicates an increase in the activity of militant Islamist
terrorist groups. Rihanna's tight fitting but bulky T-shirt was
reminiscent of a bullet-proof vest and a reference to concerns about
Rihanna's safety in the Philippines due to the fighting between the
Filipino government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) that's
currently going on around the city of Zamboango. Therefore Rihanna's
outfit was supposed to promote discussion about Filipino attitudes
towards Islamic terrorism. This effort was so clunky I like to think
Rihanna only agreed to wear the outfit in order to mock the effort.
As for the information blackout the handlers/Live Nation are now trying
to take it to the ridiculous extent of banning people who are attending
Rihanna's concerts from using photographic equipment such as mobile
phones. Quite apart from the political aspect this is simply bad
business. Although it is extremely unlikely that security at any venue
would be stupid enough to enforce such a rule creating the belief in
concert goers minds that they are going to be searched for and ejected
if they're found to be using their cellphones makes the whole experience
much more like visiting a prison then attending a fun night out.
Therefore a lot of people are likely to think twice about going to a
Rihanna concert again. This ban on photographic equipment was something
that the handlers/Live Nation trialled during the European leg of
Beyonce's "Mrs Carter Tour." Unfortunately neither the handlers or Live
Nation got what is considered in the business a 'friendly' hint when
Beyonce was attacked on stage by a fan in Rio, Brazil on Sunday
(15/9/13).
On the plus side the US State Department has implied in the strongest
possible terms that it wants this information blackout to end. So far
that instruction appears to be being complied with but obviously once
you've gone so far down the wrong road it takes time to get back on the
right path. If there are any further problems with the flow of
information I strongly recommend that the State Department dispatches a
representative from the US Embassy in which ever country Rihanna is in
to her hotel to explain to all members of the tour party what is
required of them. A major way that the CIA handlers are enforcing the
information blackout is by tricking Rihanna into thinking that her
non-compliance will lead to her being stripped of her right to
work/remain in the US. Putting Rihanna in direct contact with the people
who actually make that decision will go a long way to reducing
Rihanna's stress levels on this tour. Also by formally taking control of
Operation Misery the State Department makes it much harder for the CIA
to ambush them with it.
No doubt citing security concerns Rihanna left the Philippines at around
18:00 (GMT) some two hours after the end of the concert heading for
Singapore. This is yet another suicide move on the part of the
handlers/Live Nation because in order to preserve her sanity Rihanna
will have to be granted a couple of days of before her performance on
Sunday (22/9/13). With Rihanna out of the public eye backstage gossip
about what she is up to will be at a premium. The host nation Singapore
will of course have access to all this information and due to its
membership of the UK Commonwealth will be under a great deal of pressure
to pass it on to the UK. As a fellow member of the UK Commonwealth
Australia will also be under a lot of pressure to seek out this
information from the UK.
Obviously you would think that Australian politicians would have more
important things to worry about than Rihanna but due to an advertising
blitz in the country to promote Rihanna's recently launched River Island
clothing collection Rihanna is proving rather difficult to ignore. So
not only are the handlers/Live Nation helping the UK to increase it's
level of control in Australia they are also giving the Australians great
incentive to dislike and distrust the US. This rather undermines the
US' "Pivot towards the Pacific" policy.
(Originally Posted on 19/9/13)
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