Sadly for the US their close ally the UK who were intended to be the big winner from the operation quickly responded by calling off the police search for April Jones. For those of you who don't remember April Jones was a 5 year old girl who was abducted and presumed murdered by a paedophile on the day Chris Brown reunited with Rihanna in the toilet of that New York nightclub in October 2012. Therefore by calling off the April Jones search the UK seems to be saying that there is no longer any mystery to solve in Chris Brown and Rihanna's 'relationship.' Also as the April Jones case seems to have been inspired by the Dropkick Murphy's song "The Fighting 69th" it also seems to be an enquiry as to whether anybody else has worked out the theme song for the Boston marathon bombings. It might be painful to learn but there are some clues on my Twitter (@Sovereignaka) feed from the mayhem of Sunday (20/4/13) night. In order to drive home the point that they think the Rihanna operation is now over the UK followed the April Jones announcement with a public transport bus being gutted by fire in West Kingsdown in Kent, UK.
The really cruel thing about the US pushing Stay to the top of the Billboard chart is that it gave Rihanna the record for I think the most number of number 1's. This raises damaging questions about whether all of Rihanna's other number 1 singles are genuine successes of whether they're the result of similar chart rigging. Personally I don't think this should be much of an issue because if you like a song you like a song and well if you believe pop-charts are genuine then you are very naive. Rihanna clearly seemed a bit worried about this herself posting on Instagram/Twitter a full list of her Billboard topping singles for inspection. The main thing that seems to be bothering her at the moment though is that concert promoters Live Nation seem to be refusing to give her permission to cancel the rescheduled Boston (6/5/13) concert. This is a very big mistake on the part of Live Nation because with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's first Court appearance (a probable cause hearing) not expected to take place until May 30th (30/5/13) Rihanna's concert is going to fall slap bang in the middle of a period where things should be settling down and getting back to normal. Rihanna interfering with that through her concert is only likely to make her deeply unpopular.
All these distractions and worries didn't seem to affect Rihanna's performance in Atlanta last night. Although it was far from the strongest performance on the tour it was much improved from the extraordinarily difficult Florida concerts. Rihanna was much more confident, energetic and vocally strong as she worked her way through the standard set-list and costume changes with Act 3 "Man Down" appearing before Act 2 "Jump." The only worry was that Rihanna's voice did weaken and fade towards the end of the concert although this seems to be fatigue rather then anything more serious. It does though further underline why it would be very sensible for the US leg of Rihanna's tour to end in Brooklyn on May 5th (5/5/13) as scheduled. The concerns about Rihanna's voice did make it a little disappointing to see Rihanna going out to party in a strip-club after the show. Apart from that though I thought it was hilarious because Rihanna's professional affinity with strippers and strip-clubs is old news by now.
I should though take the opportunity to expand on something I touched on while writing up Sunday's review of Rihanna's Florida concerts - the link between marijuana use and schizophrenia. As I've mentioned marijuana functions as a cognitive dis-associative. What this means is actually quite hard to explain but it basically means that it separates your thoughts from your emotions. So rather than feeling your emotions you think about them. Every once in a while this is not a problem and can be a very positive thing. However if you're doing it every day or when you're experiencing an intense emotion experience - such as living through a terrorist attack it can lead to serious psychological problems which are most commonly labelled as schizophrenia.
Schizophrenia comes from the Greek for "Broken Soul." The human soul is often considered to be the combination of a person's thoughts and emotions so I've always thought there was a certain poetry to this. Also as the diagnosis goes back several hundred years there is not much risk of us breaking new scientific ground here. This long term understanding of the psychological effects of things like marijuana is why no-one in the business is convinced by Rihanna and Chris Brown's relationship. Due to their heavy marijuana use it's clear they're not actually experiencing genuine emotions but are instead acting out the delusion of some fantasy world they've created in their own minds rather then hearts.
This complete lack of belief in Rihanna and Chris Brown's relationship has been further evidenced today by the arrest of two terrorist suspects in Spain. While no details of the plot have been released it is strongly suspected to be Boston-style attack on the upcoming Madrid marathon. The act of further arrests being made is just another indication that Chris Brown and Rihanna's relationship will simply not be tolerated in either Spain nor France. Other European Union (EU) nations are yet to clarify their positions. The two suspects are believed to come from Morocco and Algeria and have been linked to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). This is one of the groups that are currently active in Mali. The fact that France, Spain and Portugal are well within the range of Islamic militants operating across north-Africa helps to explain why France and Spain are very opposed to Chris Brown's continuing freedom. Portugal remains small and virtuallly bankrupt.
In order to tackle the Islamist threat from north-Africa France on Monday (22/4/13) renewed it's mission in Mali. I'm not sure how long this latest extension is for but the general consensus is that the French don't expect to by out of Mali until the end of 2013. Apart from the fact this is costing them around E2million per week France's main problem in Mali was highlighted perfectly in Nigeria over the weekend - Friday (19/4/13) through to Sunday (21/4/13). While the Nigerian government itself is still trying to work out exactly what happened in Baga it appears that a poorly trained and ill-disciplined military unit were attacked by Islamist militants believed to be connected to Boko Harem. The military unit then panicked and went crazy in the town of Baga seeking revenge. So far the death toll is estimated to be around 190. As the operation in Mali has now moved from all out combat to a more asymmetric/security operation this is exactly the sort of unacceptable outrage that will help the Islamists win hearts and minds. Therefore if African troops are to be deployed in Mali they first need to be extensively trained. That training simply cannot take place while Chris Brown is still active. Oh and for extending their mission in Mali France were rewarded by having their Embassy in Tripoli, Libya blown up by quite a large car bomb.
Today's anti-terror arrests in Spain were the result of a lenghty bilateral discussion between the French and Spanish states. The exact nature of this bilateral was one of the 'sealed envelopes' that the US was investigating through last weeks Ricin letters plot. However I should say that this adds to rather than changes anything I've already written on that subject. I think that the initial arrest in the Ricin case was simply an attempt to shut down a story that had got embarrassing. Today's release of that suspect was the US throwing a tantrum in response to the Spanish anti-terror arrest. It was a very sarcastic; "Well we don't know whose committed the crime/what's in the envelopes(!)" The fact that certain sources are now suggesting that the now de-arrested suspect - Paul Kevin Curtis - had been "framed" (meaning set-up) for the crimes seems to be an attempt to reduce the 15-20 years Chris Brown will have to spend in prison for the perverting the course of justice after he was "framed" (meaning in a photograph) committing the offence. Today's discovery of a "bio-toxin" in a US mail sorting office is just an attempt to twist the knife by adding further drama.
The reason the US is in such as bad mood about the Spanish anti-terror arrests is that on Friday (19/4/13) - during the Dzhokhar Tsarnaev siege/arrest the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) very provocatively gave the Boeing 787 Dreamliner it's final test-flight and approved the technical fix to it's battery problem giving the 787 permission to fly again in the US. Today that the decision went to the European Union (EU) for approval. They too ruled that the 787 can fly again within EU airspace but only once the technical fix has been fully implemented. As that technical fix involves the problematic 'Cell 6/Chris Brown' being fully contained in a small, protective walled space similar to a prison cell this doesn't sound like good news for Chris Brown. Further reactions are of course being sought through the US' National Transportation Safety Boards (NTSB) two days of hearings on all the issues surrounding the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Also today Rihanna's record company Roc Nation announced that the DVD of her 777 Tour set aboard a Boeing 777 will be released on May 6th (6/5/13) - the same day it airs on the FOX network in the US. As this is the same day as Rihanna's rescheduled Boston concert I'd be very surprised if FOX continue.
As the UK is still playing hard to get over whether it approves or disapproves of the Rihanna/Chris Brown operation it today decided to put on a big show. This involved race horses from the Godolphin stables being banned from racing after their trainer admitted doping them with the banned anabolic steroids Ethylestrenol and Stanozolol. As my prescribed medications have frequently (and wrongly) been referred to as 'performance enhancing steroids' and I believe Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson was stripped of his Gold medal at the 1988 Seoul (south Korea) Olympics after testing positive for a mixture of Ethylesrenol and Stanozolol this looks like it's starting a whole load of conversations. However I think the main things the UK were aiming at are;
- The fact the horses are now 'retired' after being treated with a banned drug is supposed to be a reference to the recent horse meat scandal that has gripped the EU.
- The fact the horses are owned by the UAE Emir Sheikh Mohammed is supposed to be a reference particular branches of the Saudi Qatari Irregular Army (SQIA) in Syria who may now be getting shut down/turned into next week's Tesco Lasagna. However you will note that neither Saudi Arabia nor Qatar are part of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Oh and remembering the title of this very long post a small element of the Godolphin story was the UK trying to increase Rihanna's stress levels in order to encourage Chris Brown to break his NTSB hearing (temporary) ban by reminding Rihanna that her handlers view her in exactly the same way a trainer views a racehorse. Let's put it this way - they ain't f*cking pets.
17:35 on 23/4/13.
Edited at around 20:40 on 23/4/13 to tidy up a bit.
Edited again at around 21:00 on 23/4/13 to add; Yeah this is going to take ages and multiple edits.
Edited again at around 21:30 on 23/4/13 because I've put the kettle on.
Edited again at around 22:20 for what will hopefully be the final furlong.
OMG finally finished at 22:45 on 23/4/13.
There final two paragraphs originally read as follows;
This complete lack of belief in Rihanna and Chris Brown's relationship has been further evidenced today by the arrest of two terrorist suspects in Spain. While no details of the plot have been released it is strongly suspected to be Boston-style attack on the upcoming Madrid marathon. The act of further arrests being made is just another indication that Chris Brown and Rihanna's relationship will simply not be tolerated in either Spain nor France. Other European Union (EU) nations are yet to clarify their positions. The two suspects are believed to come from Morocco and Algeria and have been linked to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) who are one of the groups who are active in Mali. This further explains why France and Spain now expect a very hard line to be taken against Brown. France yesterday extended it deployment of it's troops to Mali and today's bombing of the French Embassy in Tripoli, Libya was a response to that.
Actually thinking about it Chris Brown's handlers might want to dispatch him to both France and Spain so they can exercise their annoyance by banning him for life from their respective nations before his June 10th (10/6/13) Court appearance becomes significantly more final.
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