Excerpts: 'Assad sold Syria to Iran'.N.Korea threatens strikes against
U.S.France's sole kosher vinyard.Egypt jails Suez Canal spy December 22,
2014

+++SOURCE: Al Arabiya News 22 Dec.’14:”Defected Syrian General Tlass says
Assad ‘sold Syria to Iran’ “, by Staff Writer
SUBJECT: Assad sold Syria to Iran
QUOTE:”’He sold Syria to the Iranians’Defected Syrian General Tlass who
lives in France now said”
FULL TEXT:A senior Syrian army general who defected in 2012 said in a recent
interview that President Bashar al-Assad had sold out Syria to Iran and
opted to use repression and violence as a means of snuffing out dissent
right from the start of the uprising against his rule in 2011.

“Bashar never opted at any time for serious and credible reforms, but
instead chose to destroy the country rather than lose power,” former Syrian
army Gen. Manaf Tlass told the Wall Street Journal in an article published
on Friday[19 Dec.].

“He sold Syria to the Iranians,” Tlass, who lives in France now, said.

The article looked into the July 18, 2012, bombing in Damascus that killed
four senior Syrian officials, including Assad’s brother-in-law, Assef
Shawkat, just weeks after Tlass defected.

The article said new revelations about the bombing pointed to a “startling
theory” that it may have been an inside job in order to silence regime
voices that had been open to accommodating with the opposition at the time.

It said two dozen people, “including past and current regime officials,
opposition leaders, activists and rebels, and politicians in neighboring
countries with ties to Mr. Assad,” believed the bombing resulted from a
split over whether or not the regime should engage with the opposition
groups.

Tlass, who said he believed the regime was connected with the bombing, told
the paper that he and Shawkat were among those calling for talks with both
peaceful and armed regime opponents, which ran contrary to Assad’s view on
how to respond to the popular uprising.

Tlass, one of the most senior officials to abandon the regime, defected two
weeks before the July bombing after guards found six explosive devices
planted outside his office in Damascus.


+++SOURCE: Al Arabiya News.22 Dec.’14:”N.Korea threatens to strike White
House”by Staff writer
SUBJECT: North Korea threatens strikes against U.S.
QUOTE:”A statement from North Korea’s National Defense Commission warned of
strikes against the White House, Pentagon and whole U.S. mainland”

FULL TEXT:North Korea threatened it would launch strikes against the United
States as it accuses President Barack Obama of “recklessly” spreading rumors
of a Pyongyang-led cyber-attack, the Associates Press reported.

A statement from North Korea’s National Defense Commission warned of strikes
against the White House, Pentagon and “the whole U.S. mainland, that
cesspool of terrorism.”

The lengthy statement highlighted Pyongyang’s sensitivity at a movie in
which the plot focuses on the assassination of its leader Kim Jong Un, who
is the beneficiary of a decades-long cult of personality built around his
family dynasty.

The U.S. blames North Korea for the cyber attack that escalated to threats
of terror attacks against U.S. movie theaters and caused Sony to cancel “The
Interview’s” release.

Obama, who promised to respond “proportionately” to the attack, told CNN’s
“State of the Union” in an interview broadcast Sunday[21 Dec.] that
Washington is reviewing whether to put North Korea back on its list of state
sponsors of terrorism.

He also said the attack does not constitute an act of war.

The National Defense Commission, led by Kim, warned that its 1.2
million-member army is ready to use all types of warfare against the U.S.

“Our toughest counteraction will be boldly taken against the White House,
the Pentagon and the whole U.S. mainland, the cesspool of terrorism, by far
surpassing the ‘symmetric counteraction’ declared by Obama,” said the
commission’s Policy Department in a statement carried by the official Korean
Central News Agency.

North Korea has said it knows how to prove it had nothing to do with the
hacking and proposed a joint investigation with the U.S.

North Korea and the U.S., which fought each other in the 1950-53 Korean War,
remain technically in a state of war because the conflict ended with an
armistice, not a peace treaty. The U.S. stations about 28,500 troops in
South Korea to deter aggression from North Korea.

The rivals are locked in an international standoff over the North’s nuclear
and missile programs and its alleged human rights abuses. In the spring of
last year, tension dramatically rose after North Korea issued a string of
fiery threats to launch nuclear strikes against Washington and Seoul.



+++SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon) 22 Dec.’14:”France’s Sole Kosher Vinyard Aims
High despite Bottlenecks”, Agence France Presse
SUBJECT: France’s sole kosher vineyard
QUOTE:””there are only two (other) kosher vinyards outside of Israel”
FULL TEXT:It was a visit to Jerusalem that inspired Frenchman Alexandre
Sartene to start the world's third kosher vineyard outside Israel which,
despite a rocky start, now exports as far as Brazil.

"I find the idea of kosher wine divine," says a proud Sartene, with a touch
of the same humor that has seen him nickname his domain in southern France,
his "kibbutz".

And his vineyard, Parnassah, which means prosperity in Hebrew, is living up
to its name, with all wine made strictly in line with an ancient tradition
dating back more than 3,000 years.

However, Parnassah vineyard -- located north of the city of Nimes, an area
whose rich history goes back to the Roman Empire -- is still facing hurdles,
though Sartene is unfazed.

"Wine and olives are the oldest kosher products," said the 49-year-old,
sporting a blue kippa or Jewish skullcap. He is part of France's Jewish
community, which has 500,000-600,000 members -- the largest Jewish
population after Israel and the United States.

"The most mythical of all gifts. It's in the Torah," he said, referring to
the Jewish religious book.

Apart from Parnassah, there are only two 100 percent kosher vineyards
worldwide outside Israel. Both are in the United States -- one in Oregon and
the other in California.

The wine produced here is completely organic with no additives or
preservatives.

Its production is carefully supervised by a rabbi who flies in from
Jerusalem with two assistants and they only have the right to touch the
grapes after the harvest.

When they are not in France, access to the vats is blocked. Even visiting
journalists are asked to keep a respectful distance.

To be considered kosher, Sabbath-observant male Jews must supervise the
entire winemaking process and any ingredients used must be kosher.

When kosher wine is produced, marketed and sold commercially, it must have
the seal of approval of a kosher supervising agency or organization, or of
an authoritative rabbi.

Spread over seven hectares (17 acres) and with another two hectares which
are currently being revitalized, the vineyard produces between 50,000 and
60,000 bottles annually.

The offerings include reds, roses and whites which are sold in Paris,
Berlin, Brussels, Panama City and Rio de Janeiro.

Though he never anticipated a career in winemaking, it was not totally off
Sartene's radar. His postmaster grandfather dabbled in making his own tipple
and had a small vineyard where Sartene helped out as a boy.

The erstwhile Parisian and marketing consultant got the idea of setting up a
kosher vineyard after a 1993 visit to a wine domain called the Jerusalem
Hills, located near the ancient city.

It took several more years and a budget of one million euros for the dream
to fructify. Sartene finally chose the Nimes area because "I love
bullfights."

In early 2007, the project was ready to go with the backing of one of the
deputies of the mayor of Arpaillargues, a village of some 800 residents.

However, the mayor has refused to provide either water or electricity
connections for the domain -- which includes a showroom, a home that doubles
as office and 2,000 meters (more than a mile) of walkways covered in
Gaudi-like tiles. Sartene, consequently, sources water from a well and uses
a generator for power.

A legal battle is on and there have been 27 complaints from both sides filed
so far, including one concerning the alleged theft of stones from the
property.

Sartene's lawyer Arnaud Lemoine dismisses any link between his client's
troubles and resurgent anti-Semitic attacks in France that this month
prompted Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve to vow to make the fight
against anti-Semitism a "national cause".

"This is not the case of an anti-Semitic mayor who is trying to throw a
spanner in the works," said Sartene's lawyer Arnaud Lemoine.

The mayor "was initially favorable to this project but the higher ups vetoed
it," he said.

"The question really is why did the prefect change his mind?" he said,
referring to the top local government authority of the region.

But Sartene ploughs on, his operation grows and he is convinced that the
courts will ultimately rule in his favor.

"My business plan is one million bottles," he said.

SourceAgence France Presse




+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 22 Dec ’14:”Egyptian jailed for 10 years for spying
for Israel”. Agence France Presse

SUBJECT: Egypt jails Suez Canal spy

QUOTE:”[ the spy] had also offered to supply similar information about
naval movements and deployments to its regional foes, Iran, Syria and
Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah”

FULL TEXT:CAIRO — An Egyptian court has jailed a Suez Canal shipping
services manager for 10 years on charges of spying for Israel about naval
movements through the strategic waterway, state media reported.

The court in the canal City of Port Said also handed down life sentences in
absentia to two Israelis it found guilty of being the Egyptian's handlers,
the official MENA news agency reported late Saturday[20 Dec.].

The court found that Mohamed Ali Abdel Baki had passed on information
damaging to national security about the movements of Egyptian and foreign
warships, particularly Iranian ones.

Abdel Baki had also divulged detailed information to his handlers about Port
Said and its management, the court heard.

He had first made contact with the Israeli security services over the
Internet in 2011 and met the two Israelis convicted of being his handlers at
the embassy in Bangkok the following year.

Prosecutors charged that in addition to spying for Israel, Abdel Baki had
also offered to provide similar information about naval movements and
deployments to its regional foes Iran, Syria and Lebanese Shiite militant
group Hezbollah.

In February 2011, two Iranian warships entered the Mediterranean through the
Suez Canal for the first time since the Islamic revolution of 1979,
prompting Israel to put its navy on high alert.

Iranian warships made a similar deployment through the canal in February
2012, sailing past the coast of Israel and making a port call in Latakia in
allied Syria before returning to Iran.


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Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA