CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1957/01/20

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06813996
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2019
• Document Release Date: December 20, 2019
• Publication Date: January 20, 1957

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CURRENT
INTELLIGENCE
BULLETIN
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20 January 1957
Copy No. 131
3.5(c)
3.3(h)(2)
DOCUMENT NO.
NO CHANGE IN CLA33. )!C
DECLASSIFIED
tte--
CLASS. CHANGED TO: TS S
NEXT REVIEW DATE:
AUTH: HAlm
DATVIr r REVIEWER
OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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CONTENTS
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I. _USSR TESTS NUCLEAR DEVICE NEAR GUIDED MISSILE
. RANGE (page 3).:
2. ARAB AID TO JORDAN tpage 4).
3. ALGERIAN REBELS REPORTED PLANNING MILITARY
OFFENSIVE TO COINCIDE WITH START OF UN DEBATE
(page 5).
4. CZECH INTEICTUALS PRESS FOR FREER EXPRESSION
age 6).
5. WEST GERMAN SOCIALIST PARTY MAY ESTABLISH CLOSE
TIES WITH POLISH COMMUNIST PARTY
(page 7).
6. SHIFT IN TOP BONN MILITARY POST EXPECTED
(page 8).
7. CLASHES BETWEEN CUBAN REVOLUTIONARIES AND MIL-
ITARY REPORTE (page 9).
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1. USSR TESTS NUCLEAR DEVICE NEAR GUIDED MISSILE RANGE
Comment Although there is no information yet on any
missile firings since 14 January, there is
evidence that this nuclear test may have been conducted in
conjunction with the firing of a missile on the ICapustin Yar
range. Since 25 November 1956 an unusual number of flights
into the Ka.pustin Yar area by aircraft of the Soviet nuclear
weapons program have been noted. On 7 January an aircraft
flew directly from the Soviet nuclear laboratories near Sarov/
Shatki to ICapustin Yar, indicating the involvement of an experi-
mental nuclear device in missile range activities.
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2. ARAB AID TO JORDAN
Comment on:
The "solidarity agreement" concluded
by Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Jordan
on 19 January to provide Jordan the equiv-
alent of about $35,000,000 annually for ten
years to replace the British subsidy prob-
ably marks the beginning of additional in-
tensive intra-Arab maneuvering and negn-
tiation.
Egyptian president Nasr had
been completely amenable to all Jordan's
requests, suggests strongly that Nasr,
usually a hype rcautious bargainer, was
willing to promise anything to obtain quick
signature of an agreement which would serve to demonstrate
continued Arab support for his leadership and might help to
forestall any Western attempts to isolate him.
Official statements on the agreement do
not mention such specifics as terms of payment or types of
currency or materiel which Jordan is to receive. Egypt and
Syria are unable to provide from their own cash resources
the promised annual payments of $14,000,000 and $7,000,000
respectively. If their contribution materializes at all, it may
well take the form of shipments of Soviet bloc military equip-
ment provided them on credit. While the Jordanians are eager
for new equipment, their most immediate need is hard cash to
pay the army.
The Saudis are the only visible source of
cash, and King Saud, suffering himself from diminished oil
revenues, is unlikely to make a substantial contribution to Jor-
dan until he sees what Egypt and Syria are really prepared to
do. The new "solidarity" could dissolve in further discussions
of such matters.
The British ambassador in Amman informed
Ambassador Mallory on 18 January that Britain would discon-
tinue financial assistance to Jordan as of 31 March, the end of
the fiscal year.
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3. ALGERIAN REBELS REPORTED PLANNING MILITARY
OFFENSIVE TO COINCIDE WITH START OF UN DEBATE
The Algerian rebels plan to launch their
largest military offensive of the rebellion
\
when the UN takes up the Algerian question
later this month, according to an Algerian
/nationalist spokesman in Tripoli.
'Comment
The Algerian National Liberation Front
has already called on Algerian Moslems,
including those residing in France, to participate, under pain
of reprisals, in a week-long general strike to coincide with
the UN discussion. If this strike is effective despite the French'
counterthreat te� use force to open Moslem shops which partici-
pate, a simultaneous major rebel military offensive would ap-
pear almost certain to provoke the European community into
direct action against the Moslems. High French officials have
expressed fear on numerous occasions recently that in such an
eventuality French forces in Algeria, among whom "uneasiness"
is said to be widespread, might side with the European extrem-
ists.
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4. CZECH INTELLECTUALS PRESS FOR FREER EXPRESSION
Comment on:
For the second time in a month the lead
article in the Czech authors! union weekly,
Literarni Noviny, has attempted to assert
in some degree the independence of Czech
authors from past Communist regulations
andards. The American embassy in Prague
comments that although this article is more restrained than
its predecessor, its meaning is unmistakable and reveals the
great impression made on the Czech intellectuals by the Soviet
20th party congress and the Hungarian uprising.
These two lead articles, plus a defense by
Jan Pilar, editor in chief of Literarni Novinv, of the 22 Decem-
ber article which had provoked a bitter denunciation by the
party daily, indicate that the unrest among liberal Czech intel-
lectuals has broken through the restraints placed upon them by
the regime. Publication of Pilar's view that a writer must not
be considered irresponsible and opposed to Communistn..whezi he
advances new ideas--a position considered highly suspect by the
regime�will probably encourage other dissatisfied writers to
express their ideas.
The criticism contained in these two arti-
cles of the destructive effects of the Socialist system on both
the individual and society is reminiscent of Polish and Hungarian
criticism prior to the recent developments in these countries.
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S. WEST GERMAN SOCIALIST PARTY MAY ESTABLISH
CLOSE TIES WITH POLISH COMMUNIST PARTY
Her-
bert �Wehner, a Social Democratic mem-
ber of the West German Bundestag and
leader of the left-wing faction of the party,
has said that his party wills
Polish Communist Party.
Wehner, a former Communist, expressed
his great admiration for Gomulka and his belief that the USSR
and the Satellites are moving toward a �Gomullca-style" _de-
mocracy as a result of changes in the world situation that are
forcing out the Stalinists.
Comment The Social Democrats favor the establish-
ment of formal trade relations with Poland
as the first step toward formal diplomatic relations. The
party's foreign affairs expert early last fall proposed talks
with Poland in an effort to settle the Oder-Neisse Line dis-
pute. While Poland is interested in closer relations with West
Germany, it is not willing to make any concessions on the Oder-
Neisse issue.
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6.. SHIFT IN TOP BONN MILITARY POST EXPECTED
Comment on:
Walter Wenck, a former lieutenant gen-
eral who commanded the German Twelfth
� Army at the end of World War II, is now
expected to be appointed "general in chief"
of the West German armed forces, possi-
y in March. He.now holds an executive position in a Ruhr
industrial firm. Many German generals have urged his ap-
pointment as the man best fitted to lead the build-up of both
major components of the new German forces, the NATO units
and the defense militia units. This would be a move away
from the "democratic army" concepts envisioned by former
defense minister Blank.
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7. CLASHES BETWEEN CUBAN REVOLUTIONARIES AND
MILITARY REPORTED
A Cuban revolutionary group wiped out a
13-man garrison on 16 January and
another group attacked a small military
post on 17 January,
of 17 January with about 10 military casual-
ties, and the army press bureau stated eight attackers and two
military had been killed in a clash. All the reported clashes
were located in southern Cuba.
The American embassy in Havana notes that
the location of the reported incidents is remote and that all re-
ports may refer to the same one or two incidents.
Comment
Popular dissatisfaction with Batista's use
of repressive measures and his inability
to put an end to sporadic acts of terrorism has apparently
been increasing since the abortive coup attempt on 30 Novem-
ber by adherents of exiled revolutionary Fidel Castro. On
15 January, the government extended a suspension of consti-
tutional guarantees, previously imposed on four provinces, to
the entire island.
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