"Nothing to see here. Please disperse!" That classic scene from the film The Naked Gun - when cop Frank Drebin tells the assembled crowd there's not really much going on - while behind him a fireworks factory is exploding and people are fleeing in all directions - springs readily to mind when we consider recent developments in American politics.

In Like Flynn!

We were told that the indictment of former National Security Advisor General Michael Flynn - who admitted he had lied about a phone call he made to the Russian Ambassador during the so-called 'transition period' - would prove conclusively that Donald Trump was in bed with the Russkies. 'Russiagate' would be proved once and for all.

But embarrassingly for the US's Russophobic political and media establishment the collusion with a foreign power that the case has exposed is not collusion with Russia, but with Israel.

The biggest story of the year - is suddenly not very big any more. It's been quite hilarious to see pundits who were getting terribly excited about the 'smoking gun' that Flynn's indictment would reveal lose their interest in the story as it took a dramatic 'wrong' turn - and implicated the 'wrong' country. Embarrassingly, it's a country that almost the entire US media and political elite are strong supporters of.

Current OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, has spoken highly of his meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov held in Vienna on Thursday.

He noted that during the talks the two sides discussed bilateral cooperation issues, including the fight against extremism and the situation in Ukraine. "Good discussion with my Russian colleague Sergey Lavrov at OSCEMC17 about OSCE issues, as well as bilateral relations and economic cooperation," he wrote on Twitter.

According to Kurz, it is important to improve the living conditions of people in eastern Ukraine by honoring commitments on the ceasefire in the conflict zone.

The West failed Syria and left "the pitch wide open for Russia," says UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson. "We set the red lines ... and then we did nothing about it," he commented in London on Thursday, criticizing Western "aloofness."

Johnson admitted the West had set out red lines for intervention in Syria and then failed to follow through, enabling Russia and Iran to enforce their foreign policies in the war-torn country.

"We called on [President Bashar] Assad to go. We set the red lines of what we would accept in his treatment of the Syrian population. And then we did nothing about it," Johnson said, according to Bloomberg. "We willed the end, and failed to will the means - leaving the pitch wide open for Russia and Iran."

US President Donald Trump called Jerusalem the capital of Israel on Wednesday and began the process moving his country's embassy to the city.

The move sparked global condemnation from world leaders.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem at the end of the 1967 War with Syria, Egypt and Jordan; the western half of the holy city had been captured in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

Israel's occupation of East Jerusalem effectively put the entire city under de facto Israeli control. Israeli jurisdiction and ownership of Jerusalem, however, is not recognised by the international community, including the United States.

With ISIS (Daesh) now fully eliminated as a military force in eastern Syria, the Syrian Arab Army and its international partners are concentrating on the last primary hotbeds of terrorism in the country: Idlib Governorate and the Golan Heights.

In both areas, pockets of al-Qaeda (aka al-Nusra, aka HTS) as well as FSA terrorists continue to incur losses. The Syrian Arab Army continues to make gains in the Golan, in spite of increasingly frequent acts of Israeli aggression, while in Idlib, the Syrian Arab Army is rapidly making gains from the south with Russia air support, while Turkey continues its controversial (from Syria's perspective) role near its border with Syria.

The French ambassador to the United States used Pearl Harbor Day as an occasion to bash America's position on World War II in the 1930s.

"In this Pearl Harbor day, we should remember that the US refused to side with France and UK to confront fascist powers in the 30s," Gérard Araud wrote Thursday night in a now-deleted tweet.

The attack on a US naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941, signaled America's entrance into the war.


The French ambassador quickly deleted the misguided tweet - but continued to defend the sentiment in subsequent missives.

"UK, France and US committed awful mistakes in the 30s. Because of its geography, France was the first to pay for them," he said.

It would appear that Palestine now favours Russia as a de-facto global mediator.

Palestine's Ambassador to Moscow, Hafiz Nofal has issued a statement, saying that his country will no longer engage in talks over peace plans with the United States.

Instead, he insisted that Palestine will look elsewhere for a peace broker in future discussions.

The hardships of being the First Lady may be taking their toll on the wife of Donald Trump as she apparently wishes to spend the coming holiday season somewhere out of the glaring spotlight.

As Melania Trump was visiting the Children's National Hospital in Washington DC, one of the child patients asked the first lady where she would like to spend the winter holidays.

A judge has ordered the arrest of former Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner for allegedly covering up Iranian involvement in a 1994 bombing that killed 85 people at a Jewish community centre.

Judge Carlos Bonadio ordered on Thursday that Kirchner, who led the country from 2007-2015, be placed in pre-trial detention and stripped of her judicial immunity.

The judge's order also calls for the arrest of Hector Timerman, former foreign minister, and a number of other officials from Kirchner's two administrations.

UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson will travel to Iran to attempt to negotiate the release of British mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. The visit comes after he bungled a speech and likely lengthened her sentence.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a mother-of-one, was jailed over claims she was spying and "spreading propaganda," and has been imprisoned since April 2016. She and her employer, the Thomson Reuters Foundation, insist she was on holiday to visit relatives.

In a speech to Parliament, Johnson inaccurately said Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 38, was training journalists, leading to outrage in the capital, Tehran. Iranian officials claimed Johnson had exposed Zaghari-Ratcliffe's lies.

During his first visit to Iran as foreign secretary this weekend, Johnson will attempt to secure her release. Zaghari-Ratcliffe will appear in court on Sunday facing new charges relating to espionage where her five-year sentence could be increased to 10.

Johnson has faced calls to stand down over the damage he did to her case. Johnson met with Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband, Richard Ratcliffe, in November to discuss calls for her to be provided with diplomatic protection. Ratcliffe said he had wanted to accompany Johnson, but the Foreign Office felt his presence would be "too political," according to the BBC.

Johnson is now on a mission to improve British ties with Iran, as Prime Minister Theresa May negotiates Britain's exit from the European Union. He will meet with senior Iranian figures, including the foreign minister, Javad Zarif, and will point out Britain's friendship with Iran. The foreign secretary's agenda will include boosting London and Tehran's working relationship.


Ratcliffe, who is now severely distressed, was arrested at Tehran Airport and has been in a Tehran jail for nearly two years. Her supporters say she has recently had a health assessment to see if she is fit enough to remain in prison. She is reportedly experiencing a breakdown and has found lumps in her breasts.

Johnson is expected to raise Iran's supply of weapons to militant group Hezbollah. He said on Thursday: "The supply of rockets to Hezbollah in Lebanon and helping the Houthis to launch missiles against Riyadh. This is causing fear. This is causing terror in parts of the Middle East. This is disruptive and dangerous behaviour. That is the message I will be taking."


Since the signing of the Iranian nuclear deal, assets were unfrozen in the US and some sanctions lifted, but not all. Problems remain for Britain to become involved in the Iranian banking sector since any deal with banned Iranian entities can lead to fines from the US.


Johnson said he does not expect an immediate breakthrough in the Ratcliffe case.