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Sudan’s army has taken full control of the country’s presidential palace in Khartoum, two years after it was seized by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). After closing in on the building on the Blue Nile in recent days, the army-aligned government announced its capture on Friday. 

“Today the flag is raised, the palace is back and the journey continues until victory is complete,” Khaled al-Aiser, Sudan’s information minister, wrote on X. 

Footage posted on social media showed armed troops cheering inside the palace complex. The RSF seized the palace complex, and large swathes of the capital in April 2023, when its war with Sudan’s army began. 

It forced the government, which is led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, to flee to Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast. 

The palace complex consists of two buildings: the original Ottoman-Egyptian republican palace built in 1825, and a much larger structure built in 2015 by former head of state, Omar al-Bashir. 

The older building is a highly symbolic structure. In 1885, followers of Muhammad Ahmad bin Abd Allah famously killed the British major-general Charles George Gordon on the Republican Palace’s stairs. The death of “Gordon Pasha” and the fall of Khartoum marked the end of Ottoman-Egyptian rule in Sudan.

Both the new and old buildings were damaged at the beginning of the fighting two years ago. On Friday, the army said it had also taken control of ministries and other key buildings in central Khartoum. 

Jihad Mashamoun, a Sudanese researcher and political analyst, said the victory at the palace paved the way for the army to make further gains in the capital, “and to encourage it to mostly delegate the conflict in Darfur to the allied armed movements”. 

“It also allows the de-facto government of Burhan to impose itself as the legitimate government of Sudan to the international community,” Mashamoun told Middle East Eye. 

Drone strike

An unnamed Sudanese army source told AFP that hours after the recapture, an RSF drone strike on the palace killed three journalists. The journalists had been reporting for Sudanese state television when an attack drone targeted the site. 

The RSF said that it remained in the vicinity of the palace, and that the battle was “not over”. The army has made key gains in central Sudan in recent months, capturing swathes of territory back from the paramilitary force. 

However, the RSF has consolidated its grip over the western Darfur region, where it has been accused of committing genocide. 

A report released last year by the Raoul Wallenberg Centre concluded that a genocide was taking place against non-Arab groups in Darfur at the hands of the RSF and allied militias. The United States has also accused the RSF of genocide and sanctioned its leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (commonly known as Hemeti). Burhan has also been sanctioned.

BREAKING: Sudan’s Army retakes control of the Presidential Palace in central Khartoum from RSF militias after two years. pic.twitter.com/MWGaeLtHB5

— Clash Report (@clashreport) March 21, 2025

Last month, RSF leaders convened in Kenya to announce that the group was launching a parallel government. It is reported to be backed by the United Arab Emirates. Mashamoun said the army gains in Khartoum would “further unravel some of the political parties allied to the RSF who signed the charter to form the parallel government”. 

It would also undermine the legitimacy of the RSF in trying to “impose itself as partners in any transition period with the de-facto government”, he added.

There are fears the rival government could lead to the so-called “Libya situation”, where Sudan is split into two or more different entities. 

The two-year conflict has displaced more than 10 million people, and left over 12 million facing high levels of acute food insecurity. Thousands have been killed.

By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com

India’s dependence on crude oil imports is on track to set a record high in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025, as Indian fuel demand continues to grow while domestic crude production remains flat.

India imported 88.2% of the crude it consumed in the April 2024-February 2025 period, according to oil ministry data reported by The Indian Express.

The import dependence has increased from 87.7% in the same period of the 2023/2024 fiscal year, the data showed.

The Indian import dependence in the full 2023/2024 fiscal year averaged 87.8%. As import and demand trends have shown in recent months, the 2024/2025 fiscal year will see an even higher – an all-time high – reliance on crude oil imports.

India last year surpassed China as the world’s largest oil demand driver, amid growing demand for fuel transportation in India and slowing gasoline and diesel demand in China due to the advance of electric vehicles and LNG-fueled trucks in the world’s top crude oil importer.

In the near term, Indian refiners are on the lookout for funding to build new refineries as they seek to expand their refining capacity to meet growing domestic demand for fuels amid higher-than-average economic growth and rising middle-class numbers.

India, however, remains vulnerable to oil price shocks as its need for imported crude continues to grow.

That’s why the country, which is the world’s third-biggest crude importer after China and the U.S., has turned to cheap Russian oil unwanted and sanctioned by the West.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the bans on Russian oil in the West, India has become a key buyer of Russian crude, alongside China. Russia, for its part, became the single biggest oil supplier to India.

Indian imports of crude oil from Russia appear to be rebounding in March following lower purchases earlier this year in the immediate aftermath of the January U.S. sanctions on Russia’s oil trade.

Traders have booked more non-sanctioned tankers to deliver crude to India, while the price of Russia’s flagship Urals grade has dropped to below the $60 per barrel price cap by the G7, allowing shipments involving Western companies, Reuters reported earlier this month, citing ship-tracking data and trading sources.

Hungary continued this past week being a lone EU voice blocking the European Union’s collective efforts to ramp up more financial and military aid to Ukraine, at a moment Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has a powerful backer in Washington – the Trump administration.

Hungary in a Thursday European Council summit vote refused to endorse a statement reaffirming the bloc’s commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Orbán government slammed the ‘pro-war’ stance of the EU, despite 26 out of 27 EU nations signing off on it.

While the statement had only largely symbolic significance, saying Europe backs the “continued and unwavering support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity” – Orban described that this only prolongs the war and brings the conflict no closer to peaceful resolution.

“Once again, they wanted to adopt a common position in which we want to give Ukraine even more money and even more weapons, and we are committed to the war,” the Hungarian leader explained after the veto.

“Over the past three years, Hungarian families have lost around 2.5 million forints (approximately €6,268) per household as a result of the war. I must stop this, and we must not allow Hungarian families to continue to pay the economic consequences,” Orbán stated.

He urged European capitals to get in Trump’s corner, who is seeking a diplomatic solution. But here’s how The Associated Press and other outlets characterized Hungary’s stubborn refusal to go along with Brussels:

At the same time, Orbán is also emboldened by U.S. President Donald Trump, who is pushing for a ceasefire in Ukraine. Trump has blamed Ukraine for Russia’s unprovoked invasion, all while accusing Kyiv of unnecessarily prolonging the biggest land war in Europe since World War II.

Orban described further in an interview with regional media…

“There is one way to achieve this: if we get Europe to support the president of the United States in his peace efforts, instead of embarking on war adventures, and then there will be peace. This debate took place, but we were unable to convince each other.”

He continued, “I vetoed the common position, and therefore the European Union has no common position. What will be made public here today is nothing more than the private position of 26 member states, not the common position of the European Union, because without Hungary such a position cannot be accepted.”

“The president of Ukraine is confused about his role, he is behaving as if he were in the European Union and therefore could afford to take a sharper tone when he cannot do so. He is an applicant who wants to join the European Union, about which opinions are divided,” Orbán remarked.

Parrel to all of this, NATO is seeking to ‘Trump-proof’ the alliance for the long-term, which reports of closed-door discussions on how to replace United States leadership in the alliance some five to ten years down the road, amid fears that Washington will retreat from leadership, and its majority financial and weapons support to NATO.

Authored by Peter Hanseler via voicefromrussia.ch,

After more than 80 years, Germany once again has a Führer who is in no way inferior to the old one in terms of mendacity and megalomania while spending sums that are unimaginable for most people. We do the math while our optimism withers.

Introduction

Yesterday I read the following lines on the Internet – unfortunately without an author’s reference: This has never happened before: a man who has not even been elected chancellor yet negotiates the biggest borrowing in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany with parties that lost the election, in a Bundestag that has long since been dissolved.

If you had described Friedrich Merz’s current behavior to a German 10 years ago, you would have been declared insane and put in a clinic without raising a fuss.

Friedrich Merz, who refuses to form a coalition with the AFD because he accuses them of right-wing extremism, is preparing Germany for war against Russia. The AFD wants peace with Russia, Russia seeks peace, the Americans want peace and Merz opposes all those who seek peace.

This week the Handelsblatt reported that up to 1.7 trillion could be spent. This article will prove that this plan is madness, simply by putting this astronomical figure into perspective for regular people.

How much is a trillion seconds?

I maintain that very few people are able to categorize the size of this number.

Let’s give it a try:

How much time elapses in one million seconds? – Correct, 11.57 days.

How much time elapses in a trillion seconds? – You will be wrong if you say a few years. It is exactly 31,709 years. That is indeed a long time ago. The earth was populated by sabre-toothed tigers and woolly mammoths, the last ice age took place. Rome was only founded a good 28,000 years afterwards.

I assume that all readers are somewhat overwhelmed that a trillion is as much as it is.

1.7 trillion in money

Germany’s current debt at federal level

As at June 30, Germany’s federal debt amounted to 1.621 trillion – or 1,621 billion euros. This corresponds to a national debt to gross domestic product ratio of 62.4%.

1.7 trillion is a hundred times more than all DAX companies together earned in 2023.

Friedrich Merz will double this debt. This would lead to a debt ratio of 125% – which would put the country in the neighborhood of Greece (158%).

Additional interest burden

The additional interest burden for the 1.7 trillion euros will amount to 47.6 billion euros per year if the current interest rate of the 10-year German government bond of 2.8% is used for the calculation.

The cumulative profit of Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and BMW amounted to 29.2 billion euros in 2024. The German automotive giants would therefore not even be able to pay the interest on this madness if they were to send all their profits to Berlin.

No chance of ever repaying this debt

In 2024, Germany collected income taxes amounting to 181.95 billion euros at federal level. This means that for nearly 10 years, 100% of total income taxes would have to be spent on the repayment of 1,700 billion euros.

Conclusion

Without even mentioning that Friedrich Merz’s actions are more than legally questionable, it is already clear from the figure of 1.7 trillion euros that he has lost his mind. This debt bonanza will drive the former world export champion and the former jewel of industry to the wall financially.

For many years, the German political elite has been railing against Russia, the country to which it owed the cheap energy that allowed Germany to become the industrial jewel of the world in the first place. Russia forgave the Germans, who had 27 million Russians on their conscience; the Russians have not forgotten these atrocities, but the Germans, or rather the German leadership, have, because what the German people think, choose or want is once again a thing of the past in Germania. Germany then turned imperiously against China, the current industrial jewel that, unlike the Germans, has not slept through the major trends. Last but not least, the German leadership is salivating against the US, the colonial master of the Germans, which has made a political U-turn and is now seeking peace with Russia. It is therefore by no means inappropriate to describe Friedrich Merz’s behavior as megalomania.

Ms. Baerbock, who made Germany a laughing stock on the international stage during her time as foreign minister, is cuddling up to the new Syrian government, which is made up of terrorists. For about two weeks now, civilians have been slaughtered in Syria, women and children have had their heads cut off, obviously a necessity on the road to democracy. Ms. Baerbock seems to agree with this. Incidentally, I do not recommend our readers to watch videos of these goings-on, thousands of which are posted on social media; they are nightmares that will deprive you of sleep. Ms. Baerbock is transferring 300 million euros to these very gentlemen. Ms. Baerbock, who will soon no longer have a job, seems to have special talents. She is to become the new President of the UN General Assembly.

The talented Ms. Baerbock – it cannot be due to education, intellect or manners

As a geopolitical analyst, you should always remain an optimist at heart, otherwise you will burn out completely. However, I find it increasingly difficult to carry a spark of hope for Germany: legally, geopolitically, in terms of freedom and emotionally.

*  *  *

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ZeroHedge.

Authored by Hamza Zaman via RealClearDefense,

China’s Two Sessions, conducted from March 5 to 11, highlighted China’s aim to enhance its global economic footprint. President Donald Trump also unveiled his ‘America First Investment Policy’ two weeks earlier to manifest his economic designs and counter ‘Made in China 2025’ policy endorsed in the Two Sessions. This competition between the two opposing policies is expected to catalyze the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China, resulting in major implications for the global economy including the possibility of global recession.

In the Two sessions, China pledged to enhance its growth rate by expanding the advanced technological sector. As part of the ‘Made in China 2025’ strategy, China plans to become a global leader in smart manufacturing by focusing on advanced high-end technologies including biomanufacturing, quantum technology, Artificial Intelligence and 6G technology. The launch of DeepSeek underlines China’s advancements in the high-end technological sector. AliBaba’s announcement of USD 53 billion investment in cloud computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure in China also manifests its growing footprint in the supply chain of high-end technologies.

As an anticipatory and preemptive action against the Two Sessions’ resolutions, President Trump announced ‘America First Investment Policy’ on February 21 – merely two weeks before the Two Sessions. It stated multiple strategies aimed at enhancing foreign investment in the U.S., especially from allied countries. It also suggested new and expanded restrictions on the American outbound investment in China in high-end technologies, including semiconductors, AI, quantum, biotechnology and aerospace. This highlights the Trump administration’s resolve to counter the growing Chinese clout in advanced technologies.

However, this ambitious policy of President Trump is riddled with paradoxes, including the financial interests of American tech giants. Despite denunciation of the U.S. outbound investment in China, Elon Musk, President Trump’s closest ally in the election campaign and senior advisor to the President on government efficiency, is among the leading investors in China. This reveals the duality in President Trump’s approach, who is fixated on curtailing outbound investment in China while his closest aides continue being the biggest investors in the country. The ‘Gold Card’ Visa Program, President Trump’s attempt at increasing inbound investment, is also being predicted to elevate America’s housing prices. This implies that the focus of President Trump’s ‘America First Investment Policy’ is to compel investors into the U.S. by degrading the business environment in other states through exorbitant tariffs.

The competition between ‘America First Investment Policy’ and ‘Made in China 2025’ is anticipated to greatly impact the economies of the U.S. and China while influencing the global economic milieu. Speculations of another recession are looming in the American financial sector as tariffs and protectionist policies like ‘America First Investment Policy’ aggravate uncertainties among the investors and the masses. The Two Sessions aimed to attract foreign investors, especially in smart manufacturing. The Trump administration, however, might respond with even higher tariffs on Chinese smart manufacturing, compelling China to impose retaliatory tariffs on the U.S..

The recent enforcement of tariffs on Canadian and European steel and aluminum imports can be considered an attempt to redirect investment to the U.S.. The reciprocal European tariffs, however, will intensify America’s trade war with its allies. In this scenario, ‘America First Investment Policy’ appears merely an extension of the broader tariff strategy of President Trump. The policy aims to attract foreign investment from allies, but based on tariffs’ coercion. The investors might feel compelled to redirect their investment to the U.S. to fend off the repercussions of American tariffs. The retaliatory tariffs on the U.S. will additionally impair investors’ interests, who would face insecurity due to ever-increasing turbulence by the states’ economic policies.

The contest between these opposing policies will also exacerbate the race for dominance in smart manufacturing. The contours of both policies emphasize advanced high-end technologies. This showdown between these policies will lead to technological decoupling and attempts to outpace the other by advancing the integration of advanced technologies into production processes and supply chain.

The U.S.-China competition over rare earth metals will also intensify as a result of these competing policies. Rare Earth Metals are essential to advanced manufacturing and defense industries. In the wake of China’s ban on export of several REMs to the U.S. citing their dual-use applications in both civilian and military technologies, the Trump administration is pondering over new sources of REMs. This REMs hunt is noticeably influencing the Trump administration’s foreign policy, including the pressure on Greenland, compelling tactics against Ukraine and growing affinity for Russia, especially after Russia showed willingness for REMs export to the U.S..

The competition between these policies of the U.S. and China is adding to protectionist sentiments, which is plummeting investors’ confidence. The speculations of recession are gaining strength in the U.S., and it may turn into a global recession resulting in grave consequences for the global financial system. In the age of globalization where states’ economies are deeply interconnected, the enforcement of such policies hampers the potential of shared growth and mutual prosperity.

Hamza Zaman is an assistant research associate at the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI), Islamabad.

Starlink satellite internet by Elon Musk’s company SpaceX has been deemed critical for the Ukrainian war effort. Experts believe that as of now, there is no satellite internet service that can replace Starlink for this function. However, more so-called satellite constellations, typically consisting of low Earth orbit satellites that can provide fast, stable and low-latency internet, are being launched. Musk vowed earlier in March that he would never disable Starlink in Ukraine.

Earlier this year, Starlink also made the news due to regulatory woes in South Africa, Musk’s country of birth. Reportedly, South Africa’s wide-ranging affirmative action laws have been a hurdle for the company gaining an operating license there. 

However, as Statista’s Katharina Buchholz shows in the infographic below, as of March 2025, Starlink had launched official local service in 18 African countries and indicated on its website that it was looking to add more on the continent. However, African Starlink launches have been pushed back in the past. 

 

You will find more infographics at Statista

While some governments around the world might have reservations about Starlink as the resource cannot be as easily controlled and potentially shut off as regular broadband or cellular internet, others have voiced concerns about illegal actors like militias or drug smugglers using it.

In a recent victory for the service, Starlink gained a license in Chad in November, while it had not exactly been welcomed by countries like Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Namibia, Senegal or Cote D’Ivoire. 

Some countries have, however, also made a turnaround on the company, for example Mali and Zimbabwe. 

Meanwhile, the service seems to be moving towards implementation in countries like Jordan, Papua New Guinea, Suriname, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, the latter country’s new government explicitly speaking out against internet shutdowns.

Listed as pending regulatory approval on Starlink’s website were the countries Saudi Arabia, India, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam. 

For one country that tightly controls its internet, China, Starlink did not list an intention to launch service. 

The same was true for Russia, Belarus, Syria, Afghanistan, Iran and North Korea.

Authored by Michael Weiser via RealClearEducation,

Anyone who has lived in this decade can tell you that the United States of America has had some hard days. During another bitter election season, there were many dispiriting moments. Civil dialogue about the many issues we face was all but absent.

Especially troubling was a November 4th Wall Street Journal report that civics teachers not only steered clear of the election but also avoided discussing any current political issue in their classrooms.

Political campaigns and issues of national importance, however, are crucial opportunities for teachers to engage students in the democratic process. Teachers should invite them to learn the essential practices of civil discourse, such as understanding all sides of an issue and showing an openness to new ideas and ways of thinking. They can help students look to our history and core documents for insight. All of this serves as a path for students to become thoughtful citizens.

Yes, some teachers have taken it upon themselves to impart their personal politics. But many more teachers understand their critical role and simply lack the confidence to lead their students in political discussions. Civics teachers are generally provided with limited educational resources and content-based training while dealing with a highly volatile political climate and a culture that disregards what we as Americans hold in common.

We need to work together to find solutions to this crisis of knowledge and this crisis of confidence. We need to support civics teachers in every way we can so they can, in turn, help students become young citizens and take responsibility for self-government.

For 20 years, the Jack Miller Center has been working to fill this gap by supporting scholars devoted to teaching America’s founding principles and history. Our programs also aim to empower K-12 civics and history teachers with a deep understanding of core primary source texts, great debates, and key moments in our history. We work with the top professors in our network of 1,200 university scholars to provide rigorous professional development programs and innovative classroom application models that give teachers the knowledge and confidence they need.

Across the country, we have found partners in the private and public sectors who are on all sides of the political spectrum yet share our reverence for the American political tradition. We have witnessed, for example, a rising desire to incorporate civics into college and university curricula, expressed through the development of new civics and liberal arts-focused programs at Stanford, Purdue, and Johns Hopkins, to name a few. 

Additionally, after decades of underfunding, a number of state legislatures are now stepping up to provide support for interdisciplinary departments at public universities. These institutions are being staffed by leading political scientists, historians, economists, and humanities scholars like Professor Jed Adkins, who heads the School of Life and Leadership at the University of North Carolina.

Another benefit of this civics renaissance is providing advanced civics education for teachers. Arizona State University and Utah Valley University have introduced innovative graduate programs for civics, history, and other social studies teachers to advance their knowledge of the subjects they teach. 

UVU’s Center for Constitutional Studies is a particularly excellent example of the nonpartisan and academically rigorous kind of civics that’s flowering in higher education. Its Constitutional Literacy Institute has offered teachers thousands of hours of professional development. UVU is partnering with the university’s School of Education on a Master of Arts in Constitutional Government, Civics, and Law that will serve as an important credential. Utah Valley University and other similar institutes across the country can empower genuine civic revival by connecting top scholars with K-12 teachers.

The beating heart of American civics education will always be at the K-12 level. We need to redouble our efforts to teach students about all of America’s history, the good and the bad. Civics education is not about indoctrinating children into one ideology or another but is instead an invitation to learn more about America’s story – and for students to see themselves in it.

It was Frederick Douglass who called the Constitution a “glorious liberty document.” In that same speech, he went on to say that “every citizen has a personal interest in understanding thoroughly” the meaning of that charter. As a man born in slavery who had to fight even to learn to read, Douglass understood full well the importance of education in a republic. Civic ignorance leads to division, decline, and ultimately oppression. Republics only thrive when the whole citizenry understands the principles on which they are founded.

The occasion of America’s 250th birthday presents an opportunity for this civic education renewal. During the Bicentennial in 1976, Americans of all stripes were hungry for history – biographies became bestsellers, and reenactors honored the memory of our Revolution. We believe the same spirit can take hold in 2026. Let’s make the most of it.

Tucker Carlson has just released a wide-ranging new interview with Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, who has also been deeply involved in efforts for the peaceful settlement of the Ukraine war.

Witkoff has been active in the Saudi hosted talks between the US and Russia, as well as between the US and Ukraine, with more rounds of talks set for Monday. Perhaps the most interesting part of the interview came when Witkoff addressed the key, central issue to achieving the end of the war.

The US top envoy described the question of the fate of the annexed territories in Ukraine’s east as “an elephant in the room” that “no one wants to talk about.”

“They’re Russian-speaking. There have been referendums where the overwhelming majority of the people have indicated that they want to be under Russian rule,” Witkoff told Carlson.

Witkoff admitted that militarily and politically, Moscow now exercises full control over the bulk of these territories, as Ukraine forces continue to be steadily retreating from their remaining holdouts in Donetsk.

Putin had first described in February 2022 that the people of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions are “our citizens forever” – and soon after a series of referendums resulted in their absorption into the Russian Federation.

Witkoff in the interview actually struggled to identify or say the names of the territories, which he numbered at five – noting that Crimea remains hotly disputed as well.

“When that gets settled… this has always been the issue” – Witkoff continued, describing that this is the question likely to finally resolve the war. He asked, “Will the world acknowledge that those are Russian territories?”

But that’s when he noted that there are serious domestic issued in Ukraine which would make such a significant territorial concession very difficult. “Can Zelensky survive politically if he acknowledges this?” Witkoff questioned.

Watch the clip below:

It’s clear from this that the only difference between Steve Witkoff’s and Vladmir Putin’s views on the war in Ukraine is that Putin actually knows the names of all the five Ukrainian regions he wants to keep. pic.twitter.com/3f6hGyzVvo

— Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) March 22, 2025

Trump officials, behind closed doors at least, have probably fully admitted that Ukraine is never getting these territories back. There have been reports that the White House is recently pressuring Kiev to be open to territorial concessions.

Zelensky has of course remained resistant to this, but how long can he hold out?

* * *

Watch the full Tucker interview below…

Steve Witkoff has no background in diplomacy but has turned out to be the most effective American diplomat in a generation. Here’s how he’s trying to resolve the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine.

(0:00) What Witkoff Has Learned as Trump’s Global Negotiator
(4:10) Negotiating With… pic.twitter.com/7AUh4gvwke

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) March 21, 2025

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Virginia-based Nestlé USA is recalling multiple frozen food items over concerns about foreign material contamination after a potential choking incident, the company said in a March 18 recall notice published by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The company said it is investigating the source of a wood-like material that contaminated the products and has taken steps to address the issue. Nestlé is working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the FDA on the recall.

“Nestlé USA is initiating a voluntary recall of a limited quantity of Lean Cuisine and STOUFFER’S frozen meals due to the potential presence of wood-like material,” the company stated. “We are taking this action after consumers contacted Nestlé USA about this issue, including one potential choking incident to date.”

The company said the recall is isolated to a limited quantity of batches of “Lean Cuisine Butternut Squash Ravioli, Lean Cuisine Spinach Artichoke Ravioli, Lean Cuisine Lemon Garlic Shrimp Stir Fry, and STOUFFER’S Party Size Chicken Lasagna” produced between August 2024 and March 2025.

“We are confident that this is an isolated issue, and we have taken action to address it,” Nestlé said. “The quality, safety and integrity of our products remain our number one priority. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this action represents to both our consumers and retail customers.”

Products were distributed to major retailers across the United States and have best-before dates ranging from September 2025 to April 2026.

People who suspect they have affected products are asked to check the 10-digit batch codes listed in the recall notice against the code on the side of the packaging to identify them.

“Consumers who have purchased these products should not prepare or consume the product and should return it to the retailer where it was purchased for a replacement or a full refund,” the company stated in the notice.

Nestlé said customers with questions about the recall can contact the company at (800) 681-1676 Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST.

The Epoch Times reached out to Nestlé USA for further comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

In August 2023, Nestlé pulled chocolate chip cookie dough bars from the market due to the “potential presence of wood fragments.”

At the time, the company received complaints from consumers about the issue. While no injuries were reported, Nestlé initiated the recall out of caution.

The FDA has previously said that parts of manufacturing equipment used in the food industry, such as moving wire mesh belts, portion control equipment, and injection needles, could end up breaking down during operations, eventually mixing with food items.

Let’s clarify one important issue up front:  Progressives do not believe in democracy.  They use the term frequently as a Pavlovian bell to whip useful idiot activists into a frothing frenzy, but there is no measure by which they have proven they care about Democracy or even know what it is.  And since this is the case, we have to ask – What do they really mean when they use the word?

If we consider the traditional definition of “majority rule”, then this is clearly not what leftists support.  That is to say, they only support majority rule when they represent the majority.  In the case of the 2024 election Donald Trump won both the Electoral College and the popular vote, which means he does in fact represent the majority.  Yet, Democrats and their ilk continue to accuse him of being a “threat to democracy”, and they have openly and actively refused to accept the will of the people.

Therefore, one can only conclude that leftists want something other than democracy.  And, given their track record over the last four years in which they attempted mass online censorship and a global authoritarian coup using pandemic hysteria as a weapon, there is little doubt who the true autocrats really are.  

The hypocrisy is overwhelming when these same people accuse conservatives of authoritarianism.

Such is the case in light of a newly released annual report on the global state of democracy published by a “global watchdog” called the Varieties of Democracy project, or V-Dem.  Headed by Staffan Lindberg of Sweden’s University of Gothenburg, the group boasts that it is one of the largest social science data collection projects on democracy in the world.  V-Dem’s report covers the state of democracy around the world up until the end of 2024.  However, Lindberg provided special notes on Donald Trump, claiming that the President could lead America to lose its democracy status by 2026.

“If it continues like this, the United States will not score as a democracy when we release [next year’s] data…If it continues like this, democracy [there] will not last another six months.” 

Lindberg says Trump is doing many of the same things as Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey, Viktor Orbán in Hungary and Narendra Modi in India — only faster.

“It’s the pace…He’s trying to do in a few months what it took them eight to 10 years to achieve.… It’s very dire.”

Canada’s state funded CBC (the CBS receives almost 70% of its funding from the Canadian government) was quick to jump on the V-Dem bandwagon in a rambling and mostly biased expose on the report and its implications for the Trump Administration.  

“The latest report still ranks the U.S. as a “Liberal Democracy,” the highest of five tiers, one higher than Canada, which is classified as an “Electoral Democracy.” 

The report adds an important caveat: this year’s version does not include events in 2025, meaning it does not cover the start of Donald Trump’s latest presidential term.  But it refers to ongoing events in the U.S. as unprecedented, mentioning Trump pardoning 1,500 criminals who supported him; firing independent agency watchdogs without process; purging apolitical police and military brass; ignoring laws; and his unilaterally deleting federal programs, and even a whole organization, created by U.S. Congress.”

V-Dem warns that the US may fall from the graces of their democracy list into the frightful category to “electoral autocracy”.  Meaning, people are still basically free to do all the things one does in a democracy, but the threat of retribution or retaliation is present.  In other words, it’s a lot like life in the US under the Biden Administration. 

It’s hard to see how Trump’s audits of the federal government and his cuts to government waste and NGO fraud are a “threat to democracy” unless you view democracy as progressive authoritarian boondoggle.  Biden pardoned his criminal son and most of his family retroactively back to 2014 under suspicious circumstances, with some insiders claiming that Biden’s unelected wife and son were running the White House behind the scenes while Biden was turning into a vegetable.

We don’t hear the leftists complaining about that act of autocracy.  Trump pardoning people who were politically railroaded and thrown in prison for up to 20 years for protesting is nothing in comparison.  

It’s also incredibly disingenuous to label the military brass under Biden as “apolitical” when they were entirely political and devout proponents of DEI. 

Finally, Trump’s federal cuts are exactly what he campaigned on and what the American people voted for him to do.  Democrats want to call the will of the people “autocracy”, but this only holds weight with low intelligence legacy journalists that simply don’t want to accept that they are in the minority.  

It should be mentioned that the V-Dem Project gets it’s funding from a variety of interesting sources, including The World Bank, George Soros’ Open Society Foundation, and, yes, you guessed it – USAID.

So, it’s not surprising that Trump’s cuts to agencies that money launder for leftist institutions have triggered V-Dem into a hostile response.  Trump is threatening their money train.  The new Administration is catching so much flak because they’re directly over the target.