Don't Blame Me: Taylor Swift's influence attracts conspiracy theories

WASHINGTON - A Fox News host suggested this week that Taylor Swift is a "front for a covert political agenda," echoing disinformation that has percolated in right-wing circles for months -- and which experts say will likely get worse before the 2024 US election.

The Jesse Watters segment warning Swift could be a "Pentagon asset" offered the latest conspiracy theory exploiting the singer-songwriter's fame and her past support for Democrats such as President Joe Biden.

Attacks targeting Swift in recent months have ranged from personal barbs to accusations of witchcraft and speculation about her political involvement.

"Have you ever wondered why or how she blew up like this? Well, around four years ago, the Pentagon psychological operations unit floated turning Taylor Swift into an asset during a NATO meeting," Watters said Tuesday, resurfacing a clip from a 2019 summit by NATO's cyber defense hub.

But the video's only mention of Swift comes during a presentation on how social influence could counter misinformation, when a researcher unaffiliated with NATO cited the singer as an example of a popular celebrity.

"As for this conspiracy theory, we are going to shake it off," Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh told AFP, referencing one of Swift's hits.

Watters also brought up a reported traffic surge on Vote.org in September -- immediately after Swift posted an Instagram story encouraging fans to participate in National Voter Registration Day -- to posit that someone "got to her from the White House or from wherever."

Reached by AFP, Swift publicist Tree Paine pointed to the nonprofit CEO's response to Watters's claims.

"Our partnership with @taylorswift13 is helping all Americans make their voices heard at the ballot box," Andrea Hailey said on X, formerly Twitter. "Not a psy-op or a Pentagon asset."

Watters -- whose primetime show is the second-most watched cable news show in the United States, drawing an average audience of nearly 2.5 million viewers -- conceded later during the segment that he "obviously has no evidence" for the claims.

Fox News declined to comment on the record for this story.

- Exploiting celebrity -

GETTY/Getty Images via AFP/File | JAMIE SQUIRE

Already a megastar, Swift's stature grew in 2023, as she broke music records, performed the highest-grossing music tour in history and began dating American football player Travis Kelce. Time magazine named her Person of the Year.

As Swift's star rose, so did attacks against her. Fringe influencers such as far-right radio host Stew Peters accused her of witchcraft at concerts and claimed she was "responsible for murder" after Kelce appeared in a vaccine ad.

Doctored images shared online falsely linked her to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, while several conservative commentators have insulted her private life and appearance. Activist Charlie Kirk asked on one podcast if she has "any eggs left."

"The way in which it is happening is very gendered because it is relatively easier to attach incredulous disinformation claims to female celebrities," said Swapnil Rai, an assistant media professor at the University of Michigan.

Claims that Swift is a Democratic operative were bubbling up online before Watters mainstreamed them.

"I SAID IT FROM THE BEGINNING," a top promoter of the QAnon conspiracy theory said after Watters's segment. "Not only is Taylor ADMITTEDLY a satanic witch, but she's also being used as a PENTAGON PSYOP ASSET to swing MANY THOUSANDS of youth votes over to the Democrats."

- 'MAGA vs Swifties' -

Laura Loomer, a far-right former congressional candidate who has repeatedly amplified the "psyop" claims, has said that "2024 will be MAGA vs Swifties."

The superstar is likely to play a role in the election -- albeit not as a "Pentagon asset."

"I cannot think of another celebrity whose endorsement and activities on behalf of a candidate would be more coveted," said David Jackson, a political science professor at Bowling Green State University, adding that he expects more attacks as the election approaches.

The famously tight-lipped Swift remained quiet during former president Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, but she later criticized him and endorsed Biden in 2020.

More recently, she spoke against the Supreme Court's decision to overturn abortion rights, and urged concertgoers to research which politicians support LGBTQ communities and vote against legislation "harmful" to them.

"I suspect that conservatives are concerned about the power she might have to rejuvenate interest among younger Democratic voters," said Johanna Blakley, a media scholar at the University of Southern California.

"Putting a disinformation (or) psyops spin on her role in the election seems like a thoroughly disingenuous effort to undermine and potentially pre-empt Swift's likely endorsement of Biden."

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Private sector funding key to climate transition, World Bank chief says

WASHINGTON - The World Bank is working to slash how long it takes to get financing projects off the ground as part of a push to speed up and scale up the 79-year-old development lender, its president told AFP on Wednesday. 

It currently takes 27 months, on average, before "the first dollar goes out the door," Ajay Banga said in an interview in his brightly lit office in the Bank's headquarters close to the White House.

"If I can bring it down by one third over the first couple of years, that would be pretty good," he said. "The Bank needs to change and evolve."

Banga, an Indian-born, naturalized US citizen who previously ran the payments company Mastercard, took over the management of the bank in June on a pledge to boost its lending firepower by encouraging greater private investment in the fight against climate change.

In the seven months since, the 64-year-old has made some big changes, altering the development lender's mission statement to include a reference to climate change, and setting up a private sector advisory body to recommend solutions to address the "barriers to private sector investment in emerging markets."

He's also explored new ways to "sweat" the bank's existing balance sheet in order to boost lending capacity without additional funding from donor countries.

On Wednesday, Banga repeated a previous pledge to "fix the plumbing" of World Bank, and said he plans to "create the credibility" needed for the developed world to increase its capital investment in it.

"For that you have to become a better bank. You have to be quicker, faster, more focused on impact, less focused on input," he said. "Then you can say with credibility, 'I'm now ready to absorb more capital.'"

- Climate or development? -

As part of a push to increase its climate financing, the World Bank Group recently raised its target for climate-related projects from 35 percent of its annual financing to 45 percent.

"I think people in the global south recognize very well that you cannot fight poverty without fighting climate change," Banga said. "The only difference is, what do you mean by climate change?"

Whereas the developed world tends to discuss climate change in terms of mitigating carbon emissions, "the developing world tends to speak about climate change as adaptation," he said.

"They see the climate change impact on them in terms of irrigation, rainfall, soil degradation, loss of biodiversity, forestry cover, that kind of thing," he added.

To meet both of these challenges, the World Bank has decided that half of the 45 percent committed to climate financing in the next financial year will go to adaptation, and the other half to mitigation.

"You have to find these compromises, to enable the donors and the receivers to feel that the bank is navigating in the right way," Banga said.

- Growing the pie -

However, even if the Bank succeeds in raising additional capital from its members and squeezing additional dollars from its balance sheet, it is still unlikely to meet the scale of the challenge posed by climate change alone, Banga said.

The World Bank recently estimated that developing countries will need an average of $2.4 trillion each year between now and 2030 in order to address the "global challenges of climate change, conflict, and pandemics."

Given that the Bank's lending commitments in the most recent financial year were less than $130 billion, the only way to get close to this target is by encouraging far greater private sector participation, according to Banga.

To encourage the scale of private financing needed, Banga said he was working to resolve three outstanding issues.

The first is regulatory certainty, so investors have a "line of sight" to a country's longer-term policy priorities.

The second, more complex, challenge is foreign currency risk.

In many cases, private investors looking to invest in emerging economies are unable to hedge against the risk of fluctuations in the value of local currencies, because local markets simply aren't deep and wide enough, Banga said.

"That's the one that we're really trying to work on," he added.

The third issue is how to protect investors better from risks like war and civil unrest.

This task is currently split among three different World Bank Group institutions, and is done on far too small a scale, Banga explained.

If the bank is able to boost the amount of political risk guarantees it can provide, and simplifies access, they could play a significant role in unlocking private capital, he said.

"The reality is that that gap between tens and hundreds of billions to trillions is not a number that the bank can fill," he added.

"That's why you do eventually need the private sector."

da/dw

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Aviation in a ‘purple patch’ amid new plane crunch, AirAsia says

Malaysia-based AirAsia founder Tony Fernandes remains bullish on air travel. MUST CREDIT: Richard Humphries/Bloomberg
The aviation industry is experiencing a “purple patch” with demand for seats far outstripping capacity amid a long wait for new aircraft and a shortage of pilots further discouraging any fresh competition, Tony Fernandes, the founder of low-cost carrier AirAsia, said. Malaysia-based AirAsia for its part is set to witness its “best ever period” with most of the carrier’s 240 planes back in the sky and “airfares at their best,” Fernandes said during an interview near Kuala Lumpur’s international airport on Monday. “I’ve never been this bullish before,” Fernandes, who started AirAsia 23 years ago, said. “Southeast Asia is going through a renaissance period of sensible economics, and that’s a good thing.” On the back of that, AirAsia plans to raise as much as $600 million in coming months, Fernandes said, as he tries to pull off a merger between his two aviation businesses – long-haul carrier AirAsia X Bhd. and short-haul airline AirAsia, which is currently a unit under Fernandes’ more diversified company Capital A Bhd. Following the merger, which is expected to conclude mid-year, the new entity will look to raise up to $400 million via selling equity, Fernandes said. Citigroup Inc. and US advisory bank Evercore Inc. have been appointed to lead the capital raising. A $200 million revenue bond, securitized against revenue from new routes, is also expected to be finalized soon, he said. Fernandes said the merger of the two airlines will create a new firm called AirAsia Group that will subsequently take over AirAsia X’s listing on Bursa Malaysia. The company may also do away with its AirAsia X branding as the aviation businesses consolidate. AirAsia has ambitions to expand its footprint from a predominately Asian airline to a global low-cost carrier with a more extensive network. It plans to start flying to Kazakhstan, its first route in Central Asia, later this year. Fernandes, who has previously spoken about succession at the company he founded, said Monday that he would retain an advisory role at AirAsia Group following the merger. He’ll remain chief executive of Capital A, his other listed company that will ultimately hold all the non-aviation businesses he’s started. Those include Teleport, a logistics company, and Move, an online travel agency that also operates a ride-hailing business. Move is finalizing a $30 million capital raising while Teleport has raised $35 million in debt, he said. The company’s aircraft-maintenance arm, Asia Digital Engineering, has also managed to raise $100 million, Fernandes said. The Financial Times reported in October that Capital A is seeking to raise more than $1 billion in debt and equity and list some of its businesses through a blank-check company in New York. The company said in November that it will seek a Nasdaq listing via a special purpose acquisition company merger with Aetherium Acquisition Corp.“2024 will be a very good year. 2025 will be an amazing year,” Fernandes said. “There’s a lot of growth for us. Aviation in a ‘purple patch’ amid new plane crunch, AirAsia says
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