CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1953/04/26

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 02893559
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: July 15, 2019
• Document Release Date: July 22, 2019
• Publication Date: April 26, 1953

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26 April 1953
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Copy No. 60
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO.
NO. CHANGE IN CLASS.
I I DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: TS S '
NEXT REVIEW DATE�
AUTH:i B 70-2
DATE ISqdri/lEv!EviEs
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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SUMMARY
GENERAL
le� Comment on Pravda's reply to Eisenhower's address (page 3).
SOVIET UNION
tie Moscow Embassy reports no indications of Satellite foreign policy
conference (page 4).
FAR EAST
3. MIG-15 from East China attacks US Navy plane (page 4).
SOUTHEAST ASIA
4. British take pessimistic view of Laos situation (page 5).
5. Laos fears Viet Minh may be joined by sympathizers from Thailand
(page 5).
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
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GENERAL
1. Comment on Pravda's reply to President Eisenhower's address:
Pravda's reply to the President's 16 April
speech on the international situation constitutes an effort to regain the
initiative in the "peace offensive" through a strong appeal to world
opinion. The appeal is couched in terms intended to demonstrate the
consistent rectitude of Soviet foreign policy during the postwar years
and to blame the continued unsolved international issues on the United
States. This "peace offensive," as elaborated in Pravda, differs from
those periodically conducted in the past by the Soviet Government only
in its more comprehensive character.
Pravda's treatment of the major cold war
issues suggests little inclination to compromise. The editoral indeed
rejects the concept that there has been a "termination of a certain era
in Soviet policy" and particularly in Soviet foreign policy, "the correct-
ness of which has been proved by the entire course of international
development." Having thus, by implication at least, cast aside the
possibility of a major change in Soviet foreign policy, Pravda suggests
that it is more appropriate to speak of the "end of an era" in American
policy. Th us it is inferred that the United States rather than the USSR
should compromise on international issues.
Pravda concludes by reiterating the Kremlin's
ostensible willingness to discuss international issues: the USSR, unlike
President Eisenhower, does not set up a series of preliminary conditions,
but would welcome "any step by the US Government or the government of
any other country.., directed toward a friendly settlement of contentious
questions.., by direct negotiations and when necessary, within the frame-
work of the United Nations."
Thus, having set forth its position in general
terms, the Kremlin attempts to call on the United States to make specific
proposals and to take the next concrete step toward discussions.
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SOVIET UNION
2. Moscow Embassy reports no indications of Satellite foreign policy
conference:
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The American Embassy has no information
confirming a reported Satellite foreign policy
conference in Moscow. An Embassy officer
staying at the hotel which usually lodges for-
eign delegations reports that it was practically empty between 12 and
18 April, when the conference was reportedly held. Ambassador Bohlen
believes that a more likely occasion would be the period of the May Day
celebrations in Moscow.
Comment: The US Legation in Budapest was
recently informed by Yugoslav and British diplomats that a Satellite
foreign policy conference was held in Moscow between 12 and 18 April.
No other information corroborating the Legation's report has been
received.
FAR EAST
3. MIG-15 from East China attacks US Navy plane
A MIG-15 attacked a US naval patrol bomb2)er
on 22 April about 75 miles northeast of
Shanghai over the Yellow Sea, according to
a Navy report. Three firing passes were
made without warning, but no damage or Injury
was reported.
Comment: In March a combat-trained MEG-15
jet fighter regiment of about 37 aircraft was moved from Manchuria to
Shanghai. Since that time, antiaircraft artillery exercises at Shanghai
and an increase in the number of defense installations along the coast
have been noted.
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SOUTHEAST ASIA
4. British take pessimistic view of Laos situation:
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A British Foreign Office memorandum to Prime
Minister Churchill on the worsening situation
in Laos notes that French weaknesses there
are both military and political. The French
lack an offensive spirit and are handicapped by insufficient troops and
inadequate backing from Paris. Politically, the local distrust of French
motives and dissatisfaction with the present degree of autonomy result
in low morale and a tendency to regard the hostilities as a French struggle.
The US Embassy in London adds that the memo-
randum makes no reference to the seeming ineptness of French strategy
or to a report from the British mission in Saigon on a recent unsuccess-
ful operation in Annam involving 13 battalions which were badly needed
elsewhere.
Comment: There is little doubt that French
defensive thinking has often prevented exploitation of Viet Minh vulner-
ability to rear area attacks. The French strategy of static defense can
lead only to the further isolation of the French forces in a few fortified
positions, with increasingly difficult supply problems, and virtually
invites the unhampered Viet Minh occupation of large territories.
5. Laos fears Viet Minh may be joined by �ympathizers from Thailand:
The Laotian Foreign Minister has asked for
American support for French and Laotian
requests to the Thai Government to move
the Vietnamese population of that country
away from the Laotian border. He states that Thailand reversed its
original agreement-in-principle to this action because of protests from
the Vietnamese Ambassador in Bangkok and resistance from the gover-
nors of the Thai border provinces. The Laotian Government, he asserts,
is convinced that if the Viet Minh reach the Mekong River, many inhab-
itants of these provinces will cross the border and join the attackers.
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Comment The That Government has indicated
that it is considering additional security measures along the border. The
American Ambassador in Bangkok points out that the removal of some
50,000 persons who are generally sympathetic to the Viet Minh cause is
almost physically impossible and might result in a mass uprising.
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