THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 19 SEPTEMBER 1969

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005976995
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: September 19, 1969

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/07/19 : CIA-RDP79T00936A007500170001-6
The President's Daily Brief
19 September 1969
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
VIETNAM
EUROPE
The European Community Council of Ministers met this week
to lay plans for a summit conference to be held at The Hague
in mid-November. Although they discussed the subject of en-
larging the Community, the foreign ministers made no progress.
The French position on this topic is still unclear. While they
assert that a real policy change has taken place since De
Gaulle's resignation, Pompidou may prefer to postpone consid-
eration of enlargement while he concentrates on domestic prob-
lems; he is still unsure in his relations with old-line Gaul
lists. It is also not clear how far France's partners will
push her on this issue when the summit meeting is held. The
Germans may press Paris to accept a specific date for opening
negotiations with Britain, and the Italians still talk about
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holding out on the agricultural financing issue until the
French agree to a date.
FRANCE
Despite his understanding of the socio-economic problems
facing the country, Chaban-Delmas has joined Pompidou in issu-
ing strong warnings to French labor that "law and republican
order" will be maintained. There is some evidence that the
Communists are backing away from the militant posture taken
by labor boss Georges Seguy in a speech earlier this week.
Their leaders are determined to achieve respectability. They
are concerned lest Seguy's rabble-rousing make them appear to
be an irresponsible minority.
The government has already announced its readiness to
discuss a wide range of economic problems aimed at dealing
with worker unrest and at preventing the spread of strikes
over working conditions. The settlement yesterday of the
railway strike may improve the psychological climate and set
a precedent for meeting other labor demands. A number of
unions in the nationalized and public sectors will meet with
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management in the next few days to discuss grievances. If
its recent austerity measures are to remain viable, the gov-
ernment is limited in what it can concede on wages, however.
SOVIET UNION - COMMUNIST CHINA
Various resident press correspondents in Moscow claim
that Sino-Soviet border incidents have ceased since the Kosygin
Chou En-lai meeting. Some of them add that the Chinese have
agreed to hold high-level talks with Moscow while others say
no reply has yet been received from Peking, but the Soviets
will continue their stand-down in polemics until they get an
answer.
Moscow's attempt to portray the meeting as a success
shows that it wants to appear to be exhausting all possibili-
ties for peaceful discussions. The Kremlin leaders undoubt-
edly think that leaking reports of Kosygin appealing for talks
will enhance their image, whether the Chinese respond or not.
There has still been no Chinese reaction to the meeting
other than the terse communique a week ago yesterday. Further-
more, Peking's polemics against Moscow have continued uninter-
ruptedly.
MIDDLE EAST
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NIGERIA
We have a report that some federal military officers,
restive over the stalemate in the civil war, are considering
a move against Gowon./
The
removal of Gowon would place great strains on the federation
because of the difficulty--if not impossibility--of finding
an acceptable successor.
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