THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 21 OCTOBER 1971

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005992930
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: October 21, 1971

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/07/18 : CIA-RDP79T00936A010000190001-5
The President's Daily Brief
21 October 1971
8
Top Secret
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF
21 October 1971
PRINCIPAL DEVELOPMENTS
India/
I (Page 1)
Prime Minister Lon Nol's imposition of rule over
Cambodia by decree will create additional problems
for him at home and abroad. (Page 3)
USSR
/Iran. (Page' 4)
The Japanese have been shocked by the way their
emperor was treated in Europe. (Page 5)
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INDIA-PAKISTAN
1
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CAMBODIA
In his nationwide address yesterday announcing that
the government would henceforth rule by decree, Prime
Minister Lon Nol made some ill-timed and inept re-
marks about the need to abandon democratic procedures
in a wartime situation. In addition to domestic re-
percussions, his comments will also damage the re-
gime's international standing and will give Sihanouk
and the Communists a propaganda windfall.
Lon Nol 's speech apparently was prompted by Buddhist
demonstrations in Phnom Penh yesterday protesting
the National Assembly's dismissal. The Buddhists,
whose support heretofore has been one of the regime's
most important assets, apparently have been in contact
with some student dissenters and are also working
closely with Son Ngoc Thanh, the former exile leader
who has also strongly supported Lon Nol in the past.
Thanh and several of the Buddhist leaders have met
with Lon Nol and urged him to dismiss Chief of State
Cheng Heng, who legally is saddled with the respon-
sibility for dismissing the National Assembly. They
may have been suggesting a face-saving way for Lon
Nol to back down from the recent decisions to impose
authoritarian rule.
Neither Lon Nol nor Prime Minister-Delegate Sink
Matak, who has been a major figure in the move
against the National Assembly, appears inclined to
give ground at the present time. There is renewed
talk about the imposition of press censorship. In
the process of filling several vacancies in the cab-
inet, Lon Nol has just appointed General Thappana
Nginn to take over the important interior ministry
from the ousted civilian leader In Tam. Nginn is
the first military man to hold a cabinet post, and
his appointment will increase fears that the army
is taking over the government.
The power at the disposal of the regime's civilian
opponents is slight, and the government should be
able to have its way unless the Buddhists and the
students--both of them now fragmented--can somehow
create more disturbances than they have managed
thus far. Moreover, Lon Nol, a devout Buddhist for
whom such opposition must come as a personal blow,
could still make some reassuring gesture to fore-
stall a serious narrowing of the regime's base of
support.
3
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IRAN-USSR
4
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JAPAN
Hostile reaction in Europe to the visit of Emperor
Hirohito surprised many Japanese and could lead to
some national stock-taking. Tokyo officials long
have been concerned about the Japanese image in the
US--and have invested heavily in a public relations
campaign to improve the situation--but Hirohito's
tour made clear that hostility toward Japan extends
beyond American shores. Many Japanese press corre-
spondents attributed the cool reception accorded the
Emperor in Great Britain and the Netherlands to
still unhealed World War II scars, but the influen-
tial Kyodo News Service claimed that the Europeans
were expressing a more general reaction to Japan,
particularly its economic and trade policies. The
Emperor, who was informed of all incidents that oc-
curred, noted on his return to Tokyo that "redoubled
efforts are needed to obtain fruitful international
good will."
Further resentment of restrictive Japanese trade
policies will be voiced at the meeting of Japanese
and European employers federations in Brussels on
29 October. Spokesmen for the Dutch and British
federations have charged that Japan is not "playing
the game" and that among their members there is ap-
prehension that the Japanese might divert their ex-
port effort from the US market to Europe.
5
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
NOTES
USSR-Cuba: Moscow announced late yesterday
that two of its antisubmarine ships, two submarines,
and a tanker currently on maneuvers in the Atlantic
will make a ten-day visit to Cuba beginning on.31
October. The announcement describes accurately the
naval task group. currently some 200 miles south of
Newfoundland, which consists of a:Kresta-class guided
missile cruiser, a Kashin-class guided missile de-
stroyer, two F-class diesel attack submarines, and a
tanker.- This will have been the first .time in five
months that a Soviet naval group has visited Cuba.
North Vietnam: For the first time, there are
two MIG-21s each at Bai Thuong, Quan Lang, and Vinh
airfields in the North Vietnamese panhandle. The
'recent deployment of these six fighters suggests
plans to engage US aircraft over southern North Viet-
nam or adjacent areas of Laos in the near future,
The two fighters at Vinh are flown by highly quali-
fied pilots, one of whom made an unsuccessful at-
tempt on 4 October against a B-52 bomber near Tche-
pone.
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