CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1951/12/11

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 02739328
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: April 15, 2019
• Document Release Date: April 22, 2019
• Publication Date: December 11, 1951

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SECURITY INFORMATION
INV
11 December 1951
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CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO. (91
NO CHANGE IN CLASS.
I I DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: IS S Cuo �
NEXT REVIEW DATE-
AUTHOIRadvad
DATE. REVIEWER:
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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SECURITY INFORMATION
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SUMMARY
GENERAL
1. Major effort necessary to elect Greece to Security Council (page 3).
FAR EAST
2. "Swept-wing aircraft" sighted on airfield close to Seoul (page 4).
5. Recent coup d'etat in Thailand analyzed (page 5).
NEAR EAST
6. Cpmment on new Iranian efforts to sell oil (page 6).
EASTERN EUROPE
WESTERN EUROPE
8. NATO working group foresees no immediate financial crisis from
armament program (page 7).
9. Russians relax traditional stand on Austrian censorship (page 7).
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GENERAL
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1. Major effort necessary to elect Greece to Security Council:
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Ambassador Austin reports from Paris that the
40 votes necessary for Greece's election to the
Security Council can be obtained only through a
major effort. He sees the "key problem" as one
aming a 1 m commi ment from the UK to switch its vote from
Byelorussia to Greece after the first ballot on 13 December. He attributes
the present British position to Churchill's personal orders and recommends
"strongest representations at highest level" to bring Britain into accord with
the US on the issue.
Ambassador Austin recommends that US
representatives in Latin America do no more than inform the governments
to which they are accredited that "the momentary incident in Paris arising
over the International Court is in our opinion closed" and that "the outcome
was happy for the Latin American candidate whom circumstances permitted
the US to support in the Security Council vote."
Comment: Britain has in past Security Council
elections taken the line that UN custom in effect allots one of the non-
permanent seats on the Council to the Soviet bloc, and that it is not worth
affronting the USSR on this issue to obtain an additional Security Council
seat for the non-Soviet world. Having indicated a desire for high-level
talks with Stalin, Churchill may well be reluctant to change the British
position at this time.
Four or five Latin American countries may be
expected to switch their votes from Byelorussia to Greece now that their
immediate objective of obtaining a seat on the International Court has been
gained.
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FAR EAST
2. "Swept-wing aircraft" sighted on airfield close to Seoul:
following day.
On 7 December a US reconnaissance bomber
flying at a low altitude observed nine "swept-
wing aircraft" on an airfield on the 38th
parallel at Haeju, about 75 miles northwest of
Seoul.
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The aircraft were no longer on the field the
Comment: The MIG-15, the standard Soviet
fighter, has sharply swept wings. Enemy jet aircraft have never before been
observed on an airfield in such close proximity to the battle line. In view of
the considerable increase in both day and night enemy jet activity south of
Pyongyang, it is possible that the airfield at Haeju is used as a staging point
rather than as an operational base.
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5. Recent coup d'etat in Thailand analyzed:
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Commenting on the recent coup d'etat in Thailand,
the US Embassy in Bangkok makes the following
bser v ations:
(1) By their poorly planned, irresponsible
actions, the militarists who seized control of
the government "demonstrated conclusively"
their lack of political leadership, disregard for
law and order, willingness to imperil national defenses, and an "all-
consuming corrupt selfishness."
(2) Although it appears to have been forced to
fall back on Premier Phibun for leadership, the military clique revealed
that it would not hesitate to undercut him and, that once Phibun had restored
stability, it yould again "embark on disruptive policies."
(3) Outside of those involved in the coup, no
one supports the changes which took place.
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(4) The group responsible for the coup may split
into a number of factions. Rivalry between the Police Chief and the Bangkok
army commander may erupt into violence. 3.3(h)(2)
NEAR EAST
6. Comment on new Iranian efforts to sell oil:
The Iranian Deputy Prime Minister has announced
that Iranian diplomatic representatives would, by 13 December, deliver
notices to former AIOC customers giving them ten days to buy the oil now
stored at Abadan. Thks is a result of demands made last week by Nationalist
leaders that the Iranian Oil Nationalization Law be amended to cancel the
priority given to Western buyers.
The move is probably intended to force the
Western powers to buy Iranian oil by the implied threat to make it available
to the Soviet bloc. Although negotiations between Iran and Satellite countries
have been reported in the past, apparently no agreement has been reached.
Lack of tra ief obstacle to
of Iranian oil
by the
Soviet bloc.
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EASTERN EUROPE
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8. NATO working group foresees no immediate financial crisis from armament
program:
The NATO working group on reconciliation of
economic and military capabilities of European
member countries tentatively concludes that
over the three-year period through fiscal year
1954 there will be an estimated total deficit of 5.33 billion dollars, with the
greater part occurring in fiscal year 1954. The dollar deficit, estimated at
7 billion dollars for the three-year period, could be offset by approximately
a billion dollars of US economic aid annually, plus sizeable US expenditures
in Europe, and possibly Canadian economic assistance.
The Executive Bureau of the NATO Temporary
Council Committee has decided that the proposed military program needs no
substantial economic reconciliation until fiscal year 1954, and that annexes
showing recommended increases and changes in country defense efforts
should be distributed to member countries. These increases vary from
none for Portugal and the UK to over 40 percent for Belgium.
Comment: While this is a preliminary report,
final findings, including alternative courses of action, are to be circulated
among the NATO members sufficiently in advance for country representatives
to be prepared to act at the February council meeting in Lisbon.
9. Russians relax traditional stand on Austrian censorship:
At the meeting of the Executive Committee of
the Allied Council for Austria on 7 December,
the Soviet representative abruptly reversed the
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long-standing Russian opposition to any relaxation of Allied censorship con-
trols and proposed that effective 15 December there be no more censorship
of international telephone calls. He refused, however, to agree to a US
proposal to abolish internal telephone censorship as well.
Both the US and Soviet proposals on censorship
will be discussed at a later meeting of the Council.
Comment: In 1949 the Soviet authorities in a
similar move suddenly proposed al"---r�d approved a thoroughgoing relaxation
of the unpopular denazification laws in a vain effort to curry favor with
rightist%elements of the Austrian population. The Russians may realize that
censorship of international communications provides easier Western access
to information on East-West trade activities, the WFTU, and the World
Peace Council,
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