First supervillain president and he's a libertarian with an ugly costume

Today is an especially sad day for all leftist supervillains

Something a little more light-hearted, ripped from Rania Khalek's instagram

What's the hardest part about rollerblading?

Financial Times: US seeks to thwart Russia’s ambition to become a major LNG exporter

The US is directly targeting Russia’s ability to export liquefied natural gas for the first time, in a move that could cause disruptions in global energy markets that Washington has so far been keen to avoid.

European countries continued importing Russian LNG even after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, which triggered an energy crisis after Moscow slashed pipeline supplies to the continent. Until recently, the US has sought to avoid disrupting flows so as not to increase the pressure on allies battling a shortage.

But in early November, the US State Department announced sanctions on a new Russian development known as Arctic LNG 2 — in effect blocking countries in Europe and Asia from buying the project’s gas when it starts producing next year, according to officials, lawyers and analysts. Francis Bond, sanctions specialist at law firm Macfarlanes, said that by targeting the project operator, the US was seeking to “toxify the project in its entirety” and would put “pressure on any non-US companies planning to purchase the flows from Arctic LNG 2”.

...

Arctic LNG 2, located on the Gydan Peninsula in the Arctic allowing it to export to both the European and the Asian market, would be Russia’s third large-scale LNG project, bolstering the Kremlin’s ambition of becoming a leading exporter in the field. At full production, it would account for a fifth of Russia’s target of producing 100mn tonnes of LNG annually by 2030, more than three times the volume the country exports now. The project was expected to start shipping LNG to the international market in the first quarter of 2024. Market analysts have said those volumes would alleviate some of the tightness in the global LNG market brought about by Europe’s increased demand.

Arctic LNG 2 is led by Russian private company Novatek, which holds a 60 per cent stake. Other shareholders are France’s TotalEnergies, two Chinese state-owned companies and a Japanese joint venture between trading house Mitsui & Co and government-backed Jogmec, each holding 10 per cent stakes.

The sanctions will hit Russia’s longer-term ambition to increase LNG supplies and rival leaders in the market such as the US and Qatar. “It’s not possible,” said Laurent Ruseckas, a gas expert and executive director at S&P Global. “It’s too hard to get it done when [Russia] is excluded from so many parts of the financial system and global economy.”

Let's put a pin in that last quote and check back in a few months.

Are there any pro-Xi “protest” groups? Cuz that would be fun.

Apparently things are looking pretty bad and a milei victory is imminent, or so it seems.

At al-Shifa the IDF has set up a stage to ease the transition to total Israeli control. The official IDF standup comedian comes bounding out stage left. Lighting isn't working in the operating rooms but he's in the most lit part of the building. He's dressed up as a doctor in a white lab coat, he's wearing the Israeli flag like a Fetterman cape, and he had a stethoscope around his neck.

He speaks into the round part of stethoscope: "Paging Dr. Mengele. Paging Dr. Mengele." He lets the round part hang and he looks around. "I kid. I kid. We're here to liberate you. Dontcha feel liberated?... Oh, crickets. Tough crowd, tough crowd..."

28m ago (23:20 GMT)

Israeli attacks across northern Gaza

Israeli fighter jets attacked the Jabalia refugee camp, homes in Beit Lahiya, the vicinity of residential towers in Sheikh Zayed City, and the vicinity of the Indonesian Hospital, according to Palestinian state news agency Wafa.

The number of casualties is still unclear.

Almost all of the hospitals in northern Gaza are out of service.

- Al Jazeera

For both of the people here that still care about ukraine v russia, big serge wrote a good summary of the current strategic military reality for ukraine. No real game changers for those who have been paying attention since last Feb, but if you haven't been paying attention this article includes a good discussion of phases of the war and discussion of ukraine/the West's options going forward. It's not good folks

https://bigserge.substack.com/p/russo-ukrainian-war-the-reckoning