CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1952/03/20

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 02692609
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: May 24, 2019
• Document Release Date: May 30, 2019
• Publication Date: March 20, 1952

Approved for Release: 2019/05/08 C62692609
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SEC INFORMATION
20 March 1952
Copy No, 4 9
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CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
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Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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SECU NFORMATION
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SUMMARY
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
I. Iranian general denounces National Front tactics (page 3).
2. France supports Britain in dispute with Saudi Arabia (page 3).
3. Egyptian Ambassador recommends allaying Jewish fears (page 4).
4. creek Government may fall on issue of executing Communists
(page 5).
WESTERN EUROPE
5. Russian jets"buzz"British plane in Austrian air corridor (page 6).
6. French High Commissioner stresses growing alarm over German
rearmament (page 6).
7. Schuman and Adenauer expected to reach agreement on Saar issue
(page 7).
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NEAR EAST - AFRICA
1. Iranian general denounces National Front tactics:
3.3(h)(2)
The Commanding General of the Third Division
at Tabriz, in Azerbaijan, has protested to
Tehran over the actions of the governors and
legal investigators appointed by the. National
ron e stated that these officials issue orders which interfere with
thus discrediting it in the public eye.
The general suggested that those army officers
who had been transferred during the elections at the instigation of the
National Front should be returned to their former posts in order to show
the army's strength, and that the attacks of those who extol Mossadeq
and Kashani but never mention the Shah "should be brought to an end."
The general prefaced his report by explaining that if he did not plainly
express his views he would be "disloyal to the Shah and the country."
the army's duties,
Comment: This is the strongest statement
of military loyalty made in recent months and bears out the estimate of
the American Embassy in Tehran that the army has continued loyal to the
Shah.
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nevertheless,
that the army has repeatedly given in to government pressure, particularly
in regard to control of the elections.
2. France supports Britain in dispute with Saudi Arabia:
The French Foreign Office believes that
British, French and American interests in
the Iraq Petroleum Company would be "greatly
compromised in the future" if the Persian
Gulf territories in dispute between Britain
and SaudiArabia were to be occupied by Saudi Arabian forces. France
considers King Ibn Saud's territorial claims "excessive."
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The Foreign Office re-emphasized the importance
France attaches to the delineation of the boundary between Saudi Arabia
and the British-protected Trucial Sheikhdoms. It directed its embassy in
London to assure the British Foreign Office of France's full support and
promises to furnish the British with useful documentation.
Comment: 3.3(h)(2)
there is cons ide
territorial claims. There is also no evidence to date that Saudi Arabia
plans to occupyjhedismit fr rit- an agreement to 3.3(h)(2)
be reached. Ibn Saud's fear
that a newly organized British-trained police force within the Sheikhdoms
might threaten Saudi Arabia's interests in the Gulf area.
Anglo-Saudi Arabian negotiations to define the
boundary between Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf Trucial Sheikhdoms
were suspended in mid-February after barely three weeks duration.
British and French interest in territorial claims of the Sheikhdoms are
based in part on the fact that the Iraq Petroleum's concessionary rights
apply to all the territory belonging to the Sheikhs. The Arabian American
Oil Company, however, has exclusive rights in Saudi Arabian territory.
Egyptian Ambassador recommends allaying Iewish fears:
The Egyptian Ambassador in Washington has
advised his government not to base a solution
of the Anglo-Egyptian problem on the Arab
collective security pact, which the Israelis
consider aimed at them. He advises the
separation of the Anglo-Egyptian and Israeli problems in order to allay
the fears and suspicions of "influential Jewry in the world," which, he
believes, would otherwise be an obstacle to the realization of Egyptian
national aspirations.
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The Ambassador also urges that the Israelis
be made to realize that "a contented Fgypt with its political problems
with Britain satisfactorily solved" would contribute to Israeli security
and to the solution of Israel's "many thorny problems."
� Comment: Some Arab officials are suggesting
that the Arab League's collective security pact might provide a basis for
solving the defense of the Suez Canal region.
The Israeli Government has feared that Western
efforts to settle the Anglo-Egyptian dispute through the proposed Middle
East Command might strengthen the Arab States and thereby threaten
Israel's security.
4. Greek Government may fall on issue of executing Commuhists:
3.3(h)(2)
� Acting Prime Minister Venizelos is certain
that the issue of whether to execute eight
condemned Communists will cause thefl fall of
the EPEK-Liberal coalition government within -
a week or ten days. He is determined, however, to follow the recom-
mendations of the Board of Pardons, whose report is expected by 22 March.
After conferring with influential EPEK leaders, Venizelos predicted that
twenty to thirty EPEK deputies would resign if the executions were carried
out.
Comment: There has been dissension in EPEK
over the possible execution of the leaders of the Communist spy ring
recently sentenced to death by a Greek court.
One of the EPEK's aims is to attract the
extreme left;' therefore, it does not want to share responsibility for the
executions in view of the inevitability of new elections.
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WESTERN EUROPE
5. Russian jets "buzz" British plane in Austrian air corridor:
The British High Commissioner in Austria
has delivered a strong protest to the Soviet
Headquarters against the interception of a
British plane by Soviet jet-fighters on 16 March.
The plane, which was checking radio controls within the authorized air
corridor between the British zone and Vienna, was twice approached by
Russian jets near Wiener Neustadt, and shots were fired in its "vicinity"
during the second interception.
The American Air Attache asserts that range
checking within flight corridors is a normal operation and does not require
prior notification.
Comment: This incident closely follows
Western rejection of a Russian proposal to shift the air corridor away
from Wiener Neustadt, whose Soviet air installations are subject to air
observation. The Soviet High Commissioner warned at that time that the
Western powers would have to suffer the consequences of this rejection.
6. French High Commissioner stresses growing alarm over German
rearmament:
3.3(h)(2)
The French representative had pointed out to
McCloy that the great distance France has travelled in less than four
years toward American policy on Germany had "alarmed French opinion."
He had also emphasized French doubts as to how far the US proposes to
go in the development of German military power.
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Comment: The considerable sentiment among
pro-government deputies in the French National Assembly against Foreign
Minister Schuman's inclusion in the Pinay cabinet indicated the extent of
dissatisfaction with French concessions to American foreign policy.
7. Schaman and Adenauer expected to reach agreement on Saar issue:
A French Foreign Office spokesman expects
Foreign Minister Schuman and Chancellor
Adenauer to issue a conciliatory statement on
the Saar after their present talks, during which
the two may agree to drop the Saar question from the agenda of the Council
of Europe Ministers' Committee.
3.3(h)(2)
The British Ambassador in Paris told the
American Charge that Foreign Secretary Eden is making an informal
approach to both Adenauer and Schuman on the Saar issue.
Comment: The French have taken steps to
avoid open discussion of the Saar by the Council. If the case should reach
the Council, the pro-French Saar Government is prepared to present a
rebuttal of the German position.
Adenauer's request to the German press to
avoid emphasizing the problem and his Deputy Foreign Minister's recent
public statement that the Council of Europe would not be asked to discuss
the matter are additional indications of a desire to reach an agreement
with Schuman.
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