THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 1 JULY 1974

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0006004752
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: July 1, 1974

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The President's Daily Brief
July 1, 1974
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Exempt from general
declassification schedule of E.O. 11652
exemption category 5B( I ),12),(3)
declassified only on approval of
the Director of Central Intelligence
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF
July 1, 1974
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PRINCIPAL DEVELOPMENTS
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Syria. (Page 2) 25X1
An appeal in the Chinese party daily for firm party
direction of the anti-Confucius campaign reflects the
continuing effort of Peking's leaders to keep the
campaign from getting out of hand. (Page 2)
In Ethiopia, military moderates who want Haile
Selassie to remain as Emperor are making a determined
attempt to consolidate their control. (Page 3)
A serious dispute brought on by Pathet Lao demands
that the Laotian government recognize the Viet Cong's
Provisional Revolutionary Government is making it
even more difficult for Souvanna to preserve some
semblance of cohesion in his cabinet. (Page 4)
Cambodian government troops northwest of Phnom Penh
inflicted heavy casualties on several Communist units
over, the weekend. (Page 5)
Argentine military and political leaders are support-
ing the succession of Vice President Maria Estela de
Peron as Chief of state during the illness of her
husband. (Page 6)
Soviet
(Page 7)
Iraq. (Page 7)
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USSR-SYRIA
Syria is apparently the first country to receive
this aircraft from the Soviets; they have not yet
given it to their Warsaw Pact allies. The papabi4-
ties of the MIG-23 exceed those of any fighter now
in any Arab country's arsenal, including Egyptis,
and will give the Syrians a better capability against
Israel's F-4 Phantoms.
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
CHINA
An appeal in a People's Daily editorial yester-
day for firm party direction of the anti-Confucius
campaign reflects the continuing effort of Peking's
leaders to keep the campaign from getting out of hand.
The editorial conceded that some party officials will
be criticized, but insisted that this "does not in any
way imply that party leadership may be weakened."
People's Daily indirectly acknowledged that some
have been able to steer the anti-Confucius campaign
off the correct path. The editorial urged party of-
ficials to give guidance to those who have "wrong
ideas." This is probably meant to refer to criticism
of high party officials that has been appearing in
wall posters in Peking and in the provinces.
/In the capital, security
forces continue to put some constraints on poster
writers, but have not prevented the appearance of
criticism of unnamed party leaders. Just yesterday
a new placard in Peking attacked party leaders for
trying to stifle the poster campaign.
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ETHIOPIA
Military moderates who want Haile Selassie to
remain as Emperor and who are reluctant to establish
an actual military regime are making a determined ef-
fort to consolidate their control and end the maneu-
vering for power by their conservative opponents,
They are not at present planning a direct move against
the government of Prime Minister Endalkatchew.
Late.Saturday, military units in Addis Ababa,
supported by the police, and other security forces,
began arresting some of the highest ranking members
of the nobility.(
/The Emperor is unlikely to
be able to stave off this latest move and will suffer
a further erosion of his already circumscribed power.
Coordinating the armed forces activities in
the capital is a special committee made up of repre-
sentatives of all military and security forces in
Addis Ababa. The military and police reportedly are
in complete control of the city. The committee seems
to have the support of important military commands in
other parts of the country.
The committee yesterday issued a communiqu6
stating that those arrested had attempted to obstruct
the smooth functioning of the cabinet. Despite this
indication of support, the cabinet's authority, and
prestige have been seriously undermined, and the.
military probably would welcome-the voluntary resig-
nation of many of the ministers. The military moder-
ates, however, even if successful in isolating the
conservatives, will have to overcome divisions and
indiscipline in their own ranks before stability can
be restored.
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LAOS
A serious dispute brought on by Communist demands
that the government recognize the Viet Cong's Provi-
sional Revolutionary Government is making it even more
difficult for Prime Minister Souvanna Phouma to pre-
serve some semblance of cohesion in his cabinet.
Hanoi apparently is pressing the Lao Communists
hard to secure recognition of the PRG. During heated
debate within the cabinet last week, Pathet Lao Deputy
Prime Minister Phoumi Vongvichit went so far as to
threaten that the coalition might collapse if non-
Communist ministers failed to yield on the recognition
issue.
Souvanna is said to fear that the Pathet Lao
might seriously consider pulling out of the coalition.
He is deeply disturbed over the intense wrangling and
may decide to make some kind of conciliatory gesture
toward the Communists.
A compromise along these lines may eventually be
worked out. For the present, however, both left and
right are maintaining a tough stance on the recogni-
tion issue. One of the leading rightist ministers
recently insisted that the non-Communists are united
in opposing recognition of the PRG, and that they
would rebuff any effort by the Prime Minister to
change their minds. The non-Communists reportedly
would like to refer the recognition issue to a cabinet
subcommittee for "indefinite study."
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SOUTH ,LET
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CAMBODIA
Government troops northwest of Phnom Penh on
Route 5 inflicted heavy casualties over the weekend
on several Khmer Communist units near Kompong Luong
and are trying to clear the road of insurgent forces
between there and the capital.
Communist attacks have slackened against the
provincial capital of Koh Kong on the southwestern
coast'which came under attack last week. Reinforce-
ments from the seaport of Kompong Som and timely air
and naval support have helped to stabilize the situ-
ation. According to an intercept of June 29, most
Communist units on this front will be withdrawn.
Elsewhere in the southwest, the Communists are con-
tinuing their harassing attacks against two govern-
ment garrisons on Route 4 west of Kompong Speu City.
Military action in the Phnom Penh area is light.
The Communists shelled a resupply convoy on the
Mekong River on June 29, but only one Of 19 vessels
sustained serious damage.
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ARGENTINA
Argentine military and political leaders are
supporting the temporary succession of Vice Presi-
dent Maria Estela de Peron as chief of state during
the illness of her husband. If Peron dies or is in-
capacitated fora long period, however, the armed
forces may feel obliged to play a more active role.
As long as the country remains calm, military
chiefs, who recognize their unpopularity, will be
reluctant to exercise greater authority.
Those most likely to cause trouble are'the,ex-
tremist People's Revolutionary Army, Peronist labor
leaders, and right-wing figures who are close to the
Perons. Lopez Rega,,Peron's private secretary and
confidant, has been trying to exercise greater con-
trol over security matters since he returned to Ar-
gentina last week; his power will continue to grow.
Mrs. Peron has already expressed reluctance to
assume full presidential responsibilities. She ap-
pears to recognize her lack of experience and inabil-
ity to cope with the country's problems. If Peron
dies, she will probably soon step aside in favor of
Senate President Jose Allende, her constitutional
successor.
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NOTES
USSR:
USSR?IRAQ:
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Top Secret
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