CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1953/02/26

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 02020578
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: July 15, 2019
• Document Release Date: July 22, 2019
• Publication Date: February 26, 1953

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SECU INFORMATION
26 February 1953
Lopy No. j
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO.
NO CHANGE IN CLASS. 9C
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DATE: ..REVIEWER3:.
AUTH: 70-2
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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SUMMARY
SOUTHEAST ASIA
1. Viet Minh concentration near the Tonkin delta reported (page 3).
2. Laurel and Magsaysay reportedly to head Philippine Nacionalista.
ticket (page 3).
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
3. Mossadeq apparently abandons hope for US aid in Anglo-Iranian
oil dispute (page 4).
4. Mossadeq continues to strengthen his position (page 4).
5. Pakistani Foreign Minister worried over delay in Suez talks
(page 5).
6. Egypt reported favoring Arab bloc as basis for Middle East
defense (page 6).
7. Comment on Greek-Turkish-Yugoslav treaty (page 6).
EASTERN EUROPE
8. Tougher Yugoslav attitude toward Satellites reported by French
Ambassador (page 7).
9. President Eisenhower's speech impresses Czech public (page 7).
WESTERN EUROPE
10. Dutch and Belgians to grant Czech requests for landing rights in
mid-March (page 8).
LATIN AMERICA
11. Chile and Argentina may bring Deception Island controversy
before OAS (nacre Al
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SOUTHEAST ASIA
I. Viet Minh concentration near the Tonkin delta reported:
During a period when inclement weather
and Viet Minh troop reorganization are
curtailing all military operations in Tonkin,
the insurgent forces appear to be still con-
centrating generally in the Phu Tho area,
about 50 miles northwest of Hanoi.
2. Laurel and Magsaysay reportedly to head Philippine Nacionalista.
ticket:
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Nacionalista Party senators
agreed on Senator Laurel as the party's candi-
date for president and Defense Secretary
Magsaysay for vice president. The latter has reportedly agreed, and
has also been promised the defense portfolio.
Laurel might possibly withdraw at the conven- 3.3(h)(2)
tion in favor of Magsaysay.
Comment: Both Magsaysay and independent
Senator Tanada have informed the American Embassy of an agreement
signed in early November between Tanada and a group of Nacionalista
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senators to support Magsaysay as the presidential candidate at their
party convention now scheduled for 12 April. Doubt has been ex-
pressed, however, about the good faith of some of the signers of the
agreement.
Magsaysay last fall refused President
Quirino's offer of the Liberal vice-presidential candidacy.
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
3. Mossadeq ap arently abandons hope for US aid in Anglo-Iranian oil
dispute:
Prime Minister Mossadeq told the Indian
Ambassador in Tehran on 23 February that
he could not particularly blame the United
States for backing Britain in the oil dispute
as the two countries were compelled to cooperate "for global reasons."
The Indian Ambassador also informed Ambas-
sador Henderson that Mossadeq's attitude indicated that the Prime
Minister would reject the latest proposals for settling the oil dispute
or possibly make counterproposals.
Comment: Iranian tactics in the oil dispute
have been based on the hope of getting the United States to persuade
Britain to settle on terms favorable to Iran. Mossadeq's statement
appears to indicate that for the present at least he has abandoned this
hope.
4. Mossadeq continues to strengthen his position:
The Tehran� Police Chief has confirmed the
arrest of retired General Zahedi for "anti-
government activity," the American Embassy
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reported on 25 February. Unconfirmed rumors state that others,
including former Prime Minister All Mansur and General Hejazi,
a senator, have also been arrested.
Comment: Zahedi has often been men-
tioned as a possible successor to Mossadeq. He and Hejazi were
under arrest briefly last September for implication in a plot to
overthrow Mossadeq.
These arrests, following the Shah's
virtual capitulation to Mossadeq, are probably designed to demon-
strate that the Prime Minister's control of the government is fully
restored.
5. Pakistani Foreign Minister worried over delay in Suez talks:
Pakistani Foreign Minister Zafrullah
Khan, now in Cairo, is concerned over
the "stiffened attitude" of the British
toward the forthcoming Suez Canal base
talks, according to m assador Caffery. Zafrullah Khan believes
that Britain's delay in beginning negotiations is losing the good will
created by the recent Sudan agreement.
Comment: Zafrullah Khan's concern in
the matter may reflect his fear that delay in achieving an Anglo-
Egyptian agreement on the Suez base issue will further postpone
discussion of MEDO, which Pakistan wishes to join.
The impatience of Egypt to begin Suez
discussions with the British has been confirmed not only by state-
ments of the army leaders but also by a recent warning from the
pro-West Egyptian Foreign Minister on the dangers inherent in
delay.
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6. Egypt reported favoring Arab bloc as basis for Middle East defense:
Italian military officials have recently
returned from Cairo convinced that Egypt
will never accept the British formula for a
Middle East defense organization, since
General Nagib desires a political and military alliance of the Arab
states with the West. Nagib de-
clared that Italy and Greece should constitute the "bridge" between
the Arabs and the Western powers.
Comment: This is the first definite indi-
cation that Egypt is interested inihe creation of an Arab group allied
to the West rather than the proposed Western-dominated defense
organization.
Other Arab leaders, including Iraqi Defense
Minister General Nun i Said, have expressed an interest in using the
Arab League as the basis for a Middle East defense organization.
7. Comment on Greek-Turkish-Yugoslav treaty:
The Greek-Turkish-Yugoslav Treaty of
Friendship and Cooperation initialed on 25 February provides a
framework for common action in the event of unprovoked aggres-
sion and for continued examination of common security problems.
Ambassador Peurifoy in Athens reported
on 23 February that the Greek Foreign Minister had assured him
that all "contingent military plans" would be coordinated with the
United States prior to their approval by the contracting parties.
Peurifoy commented that American objections to specific military
commitments in the oriel-al draft had been met.
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EASTERN EUROPE
8. Tougher Yugoslav attitude toward Satellites reported by French
mba,ssaclor:
According to the French Foreign Ministry,
Its Ambassador in Belgrade believes that
Yugoslavia has adopted an increasingly "tough
and truculent" attitude toward its Satellite
neighbors and may e considering some adventure against Albania.
The Ambassador commented that this
pattern of behavior seemed to be based on a feeling of greater
security resulting from Yugoslavia's increasingly close connections
with the West, and on the assumption that in the event of Soviet
aggression Western support will be automatic.
Comment While Yugoslavia is engaged
In covert operations in Albania and with certain Albanian refugees,
there is no firm evidence that it plans any overt moves against
Albania at this time.
Yugoslavia's already bad relations with
its Satellite neighbors have become more strained during the past
few months. Contrary to the French Ambassadors estimate, how-
ever, Yugoslavia's desire for alliances with NATO powers and its
attacks against alleged Italian efforts to isolate it demonstrate a
feeling of insecurity.
9. President Eisenhower's speech impresses Czech ublic:
President Eisenhower s
Union message had had a profound effect
on the Czech people. The fact that the
whole country knew about the speech, which had not been published
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in the press, indicated the extent to which Western radio broadcasts
are followed in Czechoslovakia.
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Comment: Evidence of popular unrest
and opposition to the Communist regime has increased considerably
since the Slansky trial last November. There has been no indication,
however, of the existence of organized groups capable of effective
resistance or of public demonstrations against the regime.
Listening to foreign broadcasts is not
prohibited in Czechoslovakia, but jamming of Western broadcasts
is becoming increasingly effective.
WESTERN EUROPE
10. Dutch and Belgians to grant Czech requests for landing rights in
mid-March:
Belgium and the Netherlands have decided,
to grant landing rights to the Czech airline
in mid-March. The Dutch Foreign Ministry
states that if France rejects the Czech re-
quests to use Paris as the terminus, as
seems likely, the airline could designate
Brussels instead.
Comment: In late 1951 Czechoslovakia
made its initial proposal for a circuitous Prague-Paris route, via
Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Brussels, largely in order to circum-
vent the ban on Czech overflights of West Germany. Denmark has
already approved the request.
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Although Belgium and the Netherlands
postponed granting the Czechs landing rights, they had indicated
to American officials that they could not legally refuse the requests.
LATIN AMERICA
11. Chile and Argentina may bring Deception Island controversy
before OAS:
Chile has formally demanded that Britain
replace the Chilean installation on Deception
Island which it recently dismantled. The
Chilean Government said that it was con-
sidering submitting these "violations of
American security" to the Organization
of American States under the 1947 Rio de
Janeiro Treaty.
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A similar statement by the Argentine Foreign
Minister demanding the replacement of Argen-
tina's weather station on the island was pub-
lished in Buenos Aires on 23 February.
Comment: Deception Island is in the South
Shetland group in the Antarctic area where British, Argentine, and
Chilean territorial claims overlap. It is included in the region covered
by the Rio de Janeiro Treaty, which states that an "attack by any state
against an American state shall be considered as an attack against
all. . ."
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