THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 12 JANUARY 1966

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005968094
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: January 12, 1966

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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
THE PRESIDENT'S
DAILY BRIEF
12 JANUARY 1966
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DAILY BRIEF
12 JANUARY 1966
1. Vietnam
2. North Vietnam
Shelepin leaves Hanoi Thursday morn-
ing (tonight, Washington time) for Peking.
He apparently will spend at least Thurs-
day afternoon and night in the Chinese
capital. Shelepin's farewell remarks in
Hanoi have not come in yet, but we do not
expect any surprises. His public state-
ments through yesterday contained nothing
new.
The North Vietnamese claim that,
when signing the Geneva Convention, Ha-
noi reserved its position on the appli-
cability of prisoner of war provisions
to those who bomb open cities and those
who use noison gas
The year-end communiqu?rom Hanoi's
council of ministers confirms that the
North Vietnamese have abandoned their
five-year economic planning. The commu-
niqu? language suggests that the war
has discouraged the planners from look-
ing more than a year ahead at the out-
side.
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3. South Vietnam
Saigon's security apparatus has a
report that retired General Tran Van
Don, sometime aide to Diem, is organiz-
ing a coup forcthe Vietnamese New Year's
period, 21-23 January. Don has been in-
creasingly active in politics in recent
weeks. His activity is evidently closely
monitored by the authorities, however,
and they may even be exaggerating the
danger from him in order to justify ap-
prehending him.
4. Soviet Union Brezhnev and an impressive retinue
arrived in Mongolia today.
5. Communist China
While there, he will reward the So-
viets' most loyal Asian ally by offering
the Mongolians a new, and perhaps broader,
mutual defense treaty. This would re-
place the present vehicle which was
signed in 1946 and expires next month.
In recent days, the Soviets have
let it be known that Brezhnev's party
would be heavily weighted with military
figures and that the Mongolians were
concerned about the Chinese Communists.
The extremes to which Peking will
go these days to belabor the Soviets is
illustrated by Chinese charges today
that high-level Soviet and US delega-
tions were sent to New Delhi not just
to attend Shastri's funeral but to carry
out further "collusion about the peace
talk swindle."
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6. India-Pakistan
7. Zambia
The initial response in both India
and Pakistan to the Tashkent declaration
has been cautiously favorable despite
some hostile comment.
Ambassador Bowles believes that
Shastri's death will mute criticism of
controversial sections and make it easier
for India to carry out such unpopular pro-
visions as the withdrawal of Indian troops
from hard-won positions in Kashmir and
the Punjab. Soviet prestige in India,
already high, has been advanced.
the Pakistan Government
does not think that the Tashkent discus-
sions resulted in any positive step to-
ward a settlement of the Kashmir dispute.
Pakistan believes, however, that it gained
at Tashkent by moving the Soviets to a
more neutral position on Kashmir and it
was for this that Ayub assented to pres-
sure from Kosygin to continue the talks.
Friction is growing between Kaunda's
party and union officials at the mines
over an attempt to get more party men
elected to top union jobs. On top of
this, a new "liberation party," composed
'mostly of European expatriates from Mal-
awi (former Nyasaland), is trying to fo-
ment a strike to embarrass Kaunda.
Kaunda has been able to handle pres-
sure of this sort in the past, but Rho-
desia's declaration of independence has
inflamed racial feelings and greatly com-
plicated his problems now. The danger
is that too many concessions to the
black Africans could trigger an exodus
of jittery, but very necessary, white
technicians.
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8. Dominican Republic With six lesser ex-rebel officers
safely out of the country, attention to-
day shifted to Caamano's own intentions.
9. France
10. West Africa
The 72-hour general strike was called
off after 48 hours as its leftist sponsors
failed to generate enough support. The
left split on this one.
A De Gaulle state visit to Moscow
has been announced for later this year,
and the general may include a number
of East European countries on his itin-
erary. Gaullists have interpreted his
re-election as justifying French foreign
policies, a cardinal tenet of which is
the pursuit of closer relations with the
eastern bloc independent of France's
Western allies.
Trouble is brewing in still other
ex-French colonies in West Africa. Our
embassy in Mauritania fears a racial ex-
plosion there,
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