Operation Misery: Month 7, Week 4, Day 4.

Now that the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has ended and the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has passed a resolution on Syria's chemical weapons the hyper-politics associated with this third and final leg of Rihanna's Diamonds World Tour has eased significantly. For example the secrecy associated with Rihanna's island hopping through South-East Asia was not only intended to test out China's ability to track Rihanna's movements but also to what extent this information was being shared between China and Russia. After all Russia is the name more commonly used to describe North-East Asia. Also the concerns about Rihanna's whereabouts and welfare whilst she was in Australia put a huge degree of pressure on the Australian delegation to come up with answers during the UNGA and their presidency of the UNSC.

This easing of the pressure seems to have played a part in Rihanna putting on a very strong concert in Melbourne, Australia today. The big shock of the concert it that Rihanna took to the stage exactly on time at 21:00 (local) not even putting fans through the normal 15-20 minute delay that I actually think help adds to the excitement. Rihanna then worked her way through the usual set-list and costume changes. As always I will have to watch the videos before vouching personally for the quality of the performance but the early reviews are talking about this being Rihanna's strongest performance of this leg of the tour. There are though the usual complaints about the material not really doing the artist justice. All the information I'm working from of course comes from unofficial sources because Rihanna's CIA handlers/Live Nation (the management) are still adamantly sticking to their information blackout. This is of course being completely and commendably ignored by the Australian media who have really being putting the effort in.

The strong performance from Rihanna is actually likely to upset the management because once again they've been playing the trick of flying Rihanna from Brisbane to Melbourne just before the concert was supposed to start in an effort to unsettle her leading to a poor performance. Although on this occasion that effort has failed spectacularly it does give me the opportunity to talk about this sleep thing which I think has been in danger of getting blown out of all proportion. While if like anybody else Rihanna is forced to go for long periods without sleep it will quite quickly lead to noticeable psychological problems such as paranoia and irritability simply scheduling things like travelling, promoting new singles/projects and performing for roughly the same time everyday means that Rihanna will get into a routine where she's naturally tired at certain times of the day and naturally wide awake at others. What Rihanna does in her free time when she's wide awake is really up to her although if she doesn't get to sleep when she's tired I doubt Rihanna will be in much of a mood to do anything.

Finally Rihanna has been teasing the imminent release of "Pour it Up" as a single. The is of course the song that was meant to be released over the summer in order to trash Rihanna's reputation with her singing about how much she likes spending her fans money on getting drunk and partying while turning up late for shows and helping to tear apart much of Africa particularly Mali. Fortunately arguments with the video director delayed the release of Pour it Up as a single and things have run rather smoothly in Africa over the summer. However the rumoured release has started to put people on edge. This has been particularly noticeable in Mali where on Saturday (28/9/13) Islamists set off a car bomb outside a military base in Timbuktu marking the first Islamist attack since the completion of the fullscale combat phase of the French military operation in the country. On Sunday (29/9/13) Tuaregs mounted a gun attack on military positions in Kidal triggering fighting that is still going on. This marks the first Tuareg attack on Malian forces since the signing of a peace accord that the Tuaregs have since withdraw from.

Fortunately these all seems relatively minor at this point with the Islamist attack seeming amateurish and showing no signs of more organised Al Qaeda involvement. Also the Nigerian decision to fight their Islamists at home rather then joining the Mali peacekeeping force means that the focus of the fight against Islamists in West Africa has largely shifted to northern Nigeria rather then Mali. Although this shift has seen 50 killed in an attack on a college in Yobe state on Sunday (29/9/13) and at least 159 killed in a series of roadside ambushes in Borno state the previous week the Nigerian government is significantly stronger and more able to deal with these type of attacks then the Malian so I would say that the Nigerians and their neighbours have been very fortunate to have Goodluck Jonathan as President. Hopefully though everybody can try to remain calm and the Tuaregs in particular can refrain from combat operations at least until this Islamist problem is dealt with.

(Originally Posted) 14:55 on 30/9/13 (UK date).