The Week Evening Review
Kidnappings spike in Nigeria, Russian fake news sites proliferate, and last-chance tourism worsens fragile sites

 
Today's Big Question

Why are kidnappings in Nigeria on the rise again?

Searches are underway in several Nigerian states following the abduction of hundreds of schoolchildren and displaced people in recent weeks. At least 400 people were taken from a displaced persons' camp by suspected Boko Haram fighters on March 3, Amnesty International said. 

Days later, armed "bandits" on motorbikes "herded" about 300 students from a primary school in Kuriga in the northwest, said Nigeria's Premium Times. Another 15 pupils were kidnapped from a boarding school in the state of Sokoto. No group has yet claimed responsibility.

What did the commentators say? 
The threat of abduction looms large across Nigeria. Since the abduction of 200 pupils from the Chibok secondary school by Boko Haram in 2014, "criminal bandits" have "mastered the abduction game," said Premium Times. 

But unlike Boko Haram, those carrying out many of the recent attacks are not driven by a political or religious cause, said Nigerian novelist Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani in The Sunday Times. Their "primary motivation" is money. 

The country's economy is in a turbulent state, and "in general, kidnap-for-ransom in Nigeria is a low-risk, high-reward business," said the BBC. It has become a "lucrative venture for people driven by economic desperation." 

What next? 
Nigeria's "porous and insecure" borders add to its insecurity, said the BBC. "Without transnational cooperation especially with Niger, Cameroon, Chad, including in the northwestern part of Nigeria's border, these incidents will continue to repeat themselves," said Bulama Bukarti, a senior conflict analyst at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. 

Though government spending on defense has risen, it has taken a cut in real terms because of an inflation rate of 29%, said The Economist. These events call for a "swift reevaluation of the subsisting national security strategies," said Nigerian daily newspaper Punch. 

Further measures such as "deploying security forces to vulnerable areas, increasing surveillance and implementing checkpoints along known routes used by abductors can go a long way in checking the situation," Punch added. President Bola Tinubu "must double down" and "demonstrate an iron resolve to end mass kidnappings once and for all."

 
 
Talking Points

Russians are filling America's news shortage

When is your local newspaper not your local newspaper? When it is a Russian disinformation operation. Many "local" sites have popped up in recent weeks — bearing names like the New York News Daily, the Chicago Chronicle and the Miami Chronicle — that are "meant to mimic actual news organizations to push Kremlin propaganda," said The New York Times.

The rise of Russian news sites runs headlong into the decline of local news sources. The U.S. lost more than 130 print newspapers in 2023, The Conversation said, and nearly 2,900 newspapers have closed since 2005. That leaves "thousands of communities that simply do not have access to local news." Propaganda sites might be filling the vacuum.

'Divide and conquer'
"Chaos and disorder is the goal," Stew Magnuson said at National Defense. Russia appears to be "actively looking for communities where newspapers have disappeared" to fill the void with propaganda meant to "erode our confidence in democratic institutions." The strategy is to "divide and conquer."

Research shows that the "decline of local journalism is associated with the drivers of disinformation," Jon Bateman and Dean Jackson said at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. That decline "contributes to civic ignorance and apathy" among voters, while "lower-quality information sources can fill the gap" for people looking for news. 

Bad actors are taking advantage. "Russia's 2024 election interference has already begun," NBC News said. While there are concerns about "deep fake" videos and audio, most Russian meddling is amplifying existing divisions, like highlighting disagreements about immigration. "They see whatever narrative is rising to the top," said the Atlantic Council's Emerson Brooking, and they "try to push it." 

'Faux local news'
"It's easy to create a website that looks legitimate," Poynter said. Stories from Russia's RT have been found at sites like Little Rock AR News and Albuquerque Breaking News, both parts of a network of "regional sites, national sites and faux local news sites targeting specific cities." 

These sites give the "impression of topicality," The New York Times said, but they aren't trying to fool "discerning" readers. (One site's "about" page is filled with "Lorem ipsum" dummy text.) The idea is to "lend an aura of credibility" to the disinformation, said Darren Linvill of the Media Forensics Hub, helping it spread more easily. It is "cheap, highly targeted and obviously effective."

 
 

Statistic of the day

51.96%: The percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in Portugal's national elections as of 4 p.m. local time Sunday — an increase from the 2022 elections, when 45% of eligible citizens voted. The election comes four months after the country's prime minister, António Costa, resigned over an influence-peddling scandal. 
Politico

 
 
QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Thank you, President Trump. Thank you for watching. I'm surprised you're still — isn't it past your jail time?" 

Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel's reaction to the former president trolling him on Truth Social. Trump criticized Kimmel's hosting skills and called the show a "really bad politically correct show" and "disjointed, boring and very unfair."

 
 
The Explainer

The dangers of last-chance tourism

Travelers are racing to see parts of the world that could soon vanish due to the effects of climate change in a trend known as last-chance tourism. As the planet warms, many of Earth's natural wonders, such as coral reefs, glaciers and archipelagos, are "at risk of damage and disappearance," said Desiree Ibekwe at The New York Times. But experts warn that the trend of visiting these areas "before it's too late" threatens to accelerate the cycle of destruction. 

What are the issues? 
Popular at-risk destinations include the Mer de Glace (Sea of Ice), the largest glacier in the French Alps where thousands of people go each year to ski. Like many other glaciers, it is "melting rapidly," said Ibekwe. A new ski lift opened recently to allow visitors to "stay closer to the retreating ice," a move that has proved controversial. 

Humans usually race to be the "first to scale a peak, cross a frontier or document a new species or landscape," said Paige McClanahan at The New York Times. But "now in some cases, we're racing to be the last." 

Last-chance tourism is happening mostly in areas that "make it into the headlines," Eke Eijgelaar, an environmental researcher at the NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands, told The Independent. With an increasing number of tourists "looking for new and exotic things, they are a bit more attracted by media accounts of coral losses at the Great Barrier Reef and sinking images of Venice and then choose that as their destination."

Will it stop? 
Defenders of last-chance tourism cite the benefits to communities that need an economic boost. The global travel industry is bouncing back to pre-pandemic levels of 2019, when it supported 333 million jobs and an estimated sixth of the world's population depended on "tourism's transfer of wealth," said the Times. And studies suggest that visiting an ecological site may make people more aware of their environmental impact. 

Long-term thinking is needed to protect ecologically fragile tourism sites, Rachel Dodds, a professor of hospitality and tourism management from Toronto, said to The Independent. "Without proper management and thinking about the limits to acceptable change, places are being ruined beyond repair."

 
 
Picture of the day

Sparks fly

Men fight each other using burning coconut leaves as part of the Lukat Geni ritual in Bali, Indonesia. The traditional ceremony is held a day before Nyepi, a day of silence, and is believed to cleanse oneself from impurities by using fire.  
Yasuyoshi Chiba / Getty Images

 
 

Poll watch

More than half of Americans do not trust the government to do the best thing for the country, according to a new George Washington University / Schoen Cooperman poll. The poll surveyed more than 700 adults and found that 60% of respondents trusted the government "not much" or "not at all."

 
 
Puzzles

Test your general knowledge with The Week's daily crossword, part of our puzzles section, which also includes sudoku and codewords.

 
 
The Week recommends

Essential works from the impressionists, Michelangelo and Indigenous tribes are on display at these exhibitions this spring. 

'Paris 1874: The Impressionist Moment,' Musée d'Orsay in Paris
In 1874, a who's who of Paris' radical art scene — Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas — banded together and held an exhibition intended as a rebellious counterpoint to the Paris Salon. This birthed the impressionist movement, and in celebration of its 150th anniversary, the Musée d'Orsay will display pieces from that show, plus paintings and sculptures that appeared in the official Salon of 1874. March 25-July 14, 2024

'Michelangelo: The Last Decades,' The British Museum in London
Michelangelo achieved early greatness with his marble sculpture "David" and the Sistine Chapel ceiling, but the end of his career was also a significant period. This exhibition considers the artist's faith and relationships while aging in a "rapidly changing world” and will include "Epifania," his only full-scale preparatory drawing still in existence, plus personal letters and poems. May 2-July 28, 2024

'Unbound: Narrative Art of the Plains,' National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC
Members of the Lakota, Kiowa and Blackfeet tribes once painted images on buffalo hides and muslin robes depicting battles, family histories and events like treaty signings. These artistic records are on display in a show curated by Emil Her Many Horses. Historical works from Bear's Heart (Southern Cheyenne), Zotom (Kiowa) and Rain in the Face (Hunkpapa Lakota) are included alongside contemporary drawings and paintings. Opens spring 2024

 
 
INSTANT OPINION

Today's best commentary

'Democrats need to stop playing nice'
Joe Klein in The New York Times
Democrats are typically held back by their "high-mindedness" in politics, which Republicans treat like a "no-holds-barred cage match," says Joe Klein. "Why are Democrats so congenitally weak?" President Joe Biden's "pugilistic State of the Union address last week" might signal a change as he heads into a tough campaign against former President Donald Trump. "It might be educational for the American public to see how the bully responds to a rhetorical punch in the nose." 

'What NATO country doesn't have troops in Ukraine?'
Ted Snider in The American Conservative
The West is reaching a "long-feared fork in the road" in Ukraine, says Ted Snider. Kyiv is "losing the war" against Russian invaders, and "no amount of arms or aid" will change that. "Doubling down and sending troops" to fight could spark "direct confrontation with Russia and an unthinkable war." But there is another option: Ukraine's allies can "turn off the path of war that has benefitted no one" and nudge Kyiv to the negotiating table.

'Wildfires are starting up again. This year, we need a better plan.'
Chicago Tribune editorial board
It is not even spring, and "wildfire smoke from Texas already has seeped into the Midwest," says the Chicago Tribune editorial board. Coals from Canada's 2023 wildfires are still smoldering. "As the planet gets warmer, forests that were cool and moist for centuries have become hotter and dryer, creating a tinderbox" across upper North America. Preventing fires is difficult, so officials need plans for measures like pollution monitoring and filtered shelter rooms to protect vulnerable people from hazardous smoke.  

 
 

Good day ₿

… for bitcoin. The cryptocurrency reached a record high price of over $70,000, just after the U.K.'s Securities and Exchange Commission said it would allow the trading of cryptocurrency-backed securities. Crypto investors say the decision fueled the surge and anticipation of the "so-called halving event," the once-every-four-years event when the "reward for bitcoin mining is cut in half," MarketWatch said.

 
 

Bad day ?️

… for Pope Francis. He recently drew the ire of leaders in Ukraine, who "vehemently rejected" his suggestion ​​of negotiations with Russia and his remarks about having the "courage to raise the white flag," The Washington Post said. The pope made the remarks during an interview with Swiss broadcaster RTS. Ukraine's foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, responded that it would "never raise any other flags" than those featuring its blue and yellow colors.

 
 
WORD OF THE DAY

superconductor

A substance that conducts electricity without resistance when cooled past a "critical temperature." The now-infamous University of Rochester physicist Ranga Dias once claimed to have discovered the first room-temperature superconductor, but that was disproven, leading to a scandal and a retraction of his paper from science journal Nature.

 
 

Evening Review was written and edited by Theara Coleman, Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Harold Maass, Kelsee Majette, Joel Mathis, Summer Meza, Devika Rao, Rafi Schwartz, Anahi Valenzuela and Peter Weber, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Illustration by Stephen Kelly / Getty Images / AP; Tero Vesalainen / Getty Images; Illustration by Stephen Kelly / Getty Images; National Gallery of Art, Washington