CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1951/04/08

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 02003046
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: March 18, 2019
• Document Release Date: March 28, 2019
• Publication Date: April 8, 1951

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8 April 1951
Copy No. Ci-f
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
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Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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SUMMARY
GENERAL
. Western delegates at Paris still divided on vital questions
(page 3),
USSR
2. Comment on Tass denial that Soviet troops are in Manchuria
(page 3),
NEAR EAST
5. Comment on the recent border incidents between Israel and
Syria (page 5).
EASTERN EUROPE
6. Greek propcsal to partition Albania reported (page 6).
WESTERN EUROPE
7 imnroved Berlin transport situation (page 7).
9. Italian Communists plan new tactic in peace campaign (page o).
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GENERAL
Western delegates at Paris still divided on vital questions:
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At a 6 April meeting of the Western delegates
at the Paris Conference, UK delegate Davies
proposed a rephrasing of the armament item
if Gromyko refused to accept the present
Western version. French delegate Parodi, agreeing with US delegate
Jessup, Objected to this on the ground that the UK rewording subordi-
nated the level of armaments to the reduction of armaments. Parodi
stressed that concessions should be mutual, and suggested the possi-
bility of giving in to the Soviet demand that German demilitarization
be the first sub-itenlif, in return:, the USSR would agree to consider
the level of armaments ahead of the reduction of armaments..
Parodi, reporting that he had been authorized.
to accept a reference to Trieste in the sub-item on treaty fulfillment
under item one, suggested that the West submit a new proposal early
next week. The three delegates received the impression at the 5
April meeting that the USSR would not press its item on the North
Atlantic Treaty and bases, but agreed that they were not yet in a
position to formulate a counter-proposal to it.
USSR
2. Comment on Tass dental that Soviet troops are in Manchuria:
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A 6 April Moscow radio broadcast states
that the Tass news agency has been authorized to deny reports appearim
in the US press to the effect that Soviet troops are being concentrated
in Manchuria.
Soviet propaganda media do not usually react
so quickly to foreign press reports. This reaction suggests that the
USSR wishes to refute promptly any suggestion that it is preparing for
more direct involvement in the Korean conflict. The presence of Soviet
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military personnel in Manchuria, particularly of air and technical
advisers, is confirmed. There is no firm evidence, however,
indicating that Soviet military units are in Manchuria, except for
those units stationed at Soviet bases in the Dairen-Port Arthur area.
FAR EAST
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NEAR EAST
Tension remains high along the Syrian-
Israeli border as a result of the 5 April bombing of Arab houses in
the frontier zone southeast of Lake Tiberias. The Israeli bombing
action followed an Israeli-Syrian border clash of the previous day
when several Israeli policemen were killed. The latest outbreaks
aggravated a dispute of several weeks standing between the two
countries over Israel's right to drain land in the central demili-
tarized sector just south of Lake Hule. In the last few days the UN
Security Council has received: (a) an Israeli protest against tria,
(b) a Syrian demand for Security Council action on the border in-
cidents, and (c) a cabled report from the UN Truce Commission at
Jerusalem accusing Israel of violating the armistice agreement in
the Lake Hule region:.
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The development of formal hostilities between
Israel and Syria is not anticipated at the present time, particularly
since both the Israeli and Syrian Prime Ministers have yidicated their
opposition to such an eventuality. Three factors make the current
sittiation more serious, however, than that following previous Israeli-
Arab border incidents: (a) a strong nationalist sentiment in Israel
which hinders any Israeli concessions to Syria, (b) the instability of
the Syrian government and the ambition of Syrian Army colonels
who may contemplate military action to strengthen their own influential
positions, and (c) the growing resentment of the Arab States generally
toward Israel that has resulted from the latest border incidents.
EASTERN EUROPE
aggLarolualisuaattitisa.,Albania..tepartasi;
In a 4 April conversation with US Ambassador
Allen in Belgrade,
declared a Yugoslav Politburo
member had told him that a Greek proposal had
been made to Yugoslavia on the "highest level" for the possible division
of Albania between Greece and Yugoslavia. When Ambassador Allen
expressed disbelief, revealed that this information had been
confided to him in the most rank conversation he had ever had with a
Yugoslav official either before or since 1941." Allen suggests that
possibly Greek Prime Minister Venizelos countered the recent
Yugoslav demarche regarding Greece's course of action in case of a
satellite attack on Yugoslavia by referring to the "future" of Albania,
Comment: The Greeks have traditionally
entertained aspirations for Northern Epirus (Southern Albania). It
is possible that they attempted to sound out the Yugoslays regarding
a partitioning of Albania. Such a suggestion would certainly further
arouse Yugoslav fears of foreign intervention in Albania and may
partially exp1ain recent reports in the Yugoslav press charging that
Greece and Italy are interfering in Albania.
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WESTERN EUROPA
7. Improved Berlin transport situation:
US authorities in Berlin report no major
Soviet harassing measures against water,
rail, and highway movements between
Western Germany and West Berlin. The
Soviets have now apparently agreed to sign the recent agreement
with the British on Berlin water transportation and most inter-
zonal canal traffic is flowing freely, althopgh the Rothensee locks
remain closed for repairs. Rail movements have been normal,
Truck traffic is also fairly normal, although the Soviets on several
occasions held traffic at their main check-point until a back-log
accumulated. They then released all vehicles at once and, when
these vehicles converged on the British check-point, took news-
reel pictures showing the contrast between free traffic on the
,Soviet side and the back-log at the British border.
Comment: The present situation re-
presents a considerable improvement. Sporadic harassing of
Allied traffic by the Soviets and East Germans increased during
early March, resulting in British-Soviet talks on the water traffic
sitAtion and a tightening of. Allied restrictions on East German
barges in West 13erlin:
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9 Italian Communists plan new tactic in peace campatipy
In his speech at the Communist Party
congress, Italian Communist leader
Togliatti declared that the problem now
facing Italy was not neutrality but peace
and independence from foreign intervention
and that the Italian Communist Party was
seeking above all to achieve this objective.
According to the US Embassy in Rome,
Togliatti's speech indicates that he and Moscow believe the Italian
Communist Party can operate effectively by continually posing as
the "party best capable of rallying the majority of the popul4tion in
favor of peace." The Embassy anticipates, therefore, thtit the
Italian Communists will use "independence" propaganda to cover
their campaign of pacifism and military defeatism -- which is cal-
culated eventually to cause serious strikes. The Embassy be-
lieves that the fact that the major conference speech on labor
matters was delivered by Longo, rather than by the head of the
Communist-dominated General Labor Confederation, emphasizes
the subordination of the labor confederation to over-all Italian
Communist Party policy.
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