Operation Misery: Month 7, Week 2, Day 7.

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.