Operation Misery: Month 13, Week 4, Day 2.

Back in the summer of 2013 the US government dispatched Rihanna to the European Union (EU) for a series of concerts on her Diamonds World Tour.

This was done in the hope that it would make the US expert in the internal politics of the EU. The idea being that if any nation disapproved of the US they would express this disapproval by lashing out against Rihanna and her tour party. In order to find the best way to lash out against Rihanna a nation would be forced to turn to the UK for advice. The UK is of course the US' man in Europe although sadly the Republic of Ireland is now in turn the UK's man in Europe. As it turns out this plan was so transparent that it failed miserably and nothing at all actually happened. This failure was called into sharp focus over the winter of 2013/14 when the US funded and directed extreme nationalist and neo-Nazi groups to protest against the Ukrainian government. It was only after the Ukrainian government had been overthrown that it slowly dawned on the US that the EU wasn't in fact actually that keen on accepting Ukraine as a member.

Obviously it didn't occur to the Americans that maybe their plan had failed because it wasn't a particularly good plan to begin with. So they decided that all they needed to do was re-run the same plan in 2014 and it would work. The problem was that due to a lack of interest efforts to extend the Diamonds World Tour had already failed. So they decided to attach Rihanna to Drake's tour instead. Again this was so transparent it was mocked - at length - throughout the Olympic ceremonies. In fact the main theme of the para-Olympic closing ceremony was the contrast between American low pop/hip-hop culture and European high culture.

Presumably because I failed to explain it in time this seems to have gone straight over the heads of the Americans. So pretty much as I was writing my Monday's (24/3/14) post on the subject Rihanna dutifully returned to the UK to rejoin Drake's tour. At almost exactly the same time US President Barack Obama arrived in the Hague in the Netherlands for a global nuclear security summit. Following that two day summit Obama headed to Brussels in Belgium for a one day summit on US/EU relations. Obama has since travelled on to meet the Pope in the Vatican and is currently in Rome, Italy.

In a break from the nuclear security summit Obama's Dutch hosts treated him to a tour of the Rijksmuseum which holds paintings by the so-called Dutch Masters including Hals, Vermeer, Steen and Rembrandt. In fact Obama was allowed to give a press conference in front of Rembrandt's "The Night Watch" which is considered one of the greatest ever works of Dutch art and portrays militiamen preparing to deploy into battle.

In Belgium Obama was first invited to tour a World War One cemetery near Flanders. This of course invokes memories of that horrible conflict but also the beauty of the World War One poets such as Siegfried Sasson, Wilfred Owen and the Canadian John McCrae who wrote "In Flanders' Fields." Later Obama was given a tour of the BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts which is home to the National Orchestra of Belgium and hosts exhibitions in all forms of fine art from across the EU including painting, sculpture and cinema. Eventually at BOZAR Obama gave a speech in front of an assembled audience that seemed to treat him with the amusement with which a professor treats a know-it-all student.

This evening sees the last of Drake UK concerts so tomorrow provides us with an excellent opportunity to see if the US has learnt it's lesson. Either Rihanna will be forced to continue to join Drake on the rest of his tour to act out a plan that is clearly doomed to failure or she will be set free to get on with the repair work that her career, and well, life so desperately needs.


15:40 on 27/3/14 (UK date).