CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1953/01/22

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 02900513
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: July 15, 2019
• Document Release Date: July 22, 2019
• Publication Date: January 22, 1953

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22 January 1953
Copy No.
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
bS
DOCUMENT NO.
NO CHANGE IN CLASS.
0 DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: TS S C
NEXT REVIEW DATE: �.---
AUTH: VI 70-2
DATE: SEA/EWER:
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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SUMMARY
GENERAL
I. Uruguayan official sees possibility of break with Czechoslovakia
(page 3).
SOVIET UNION
2.
3. Comment on Soviet attack on Israeli leaders (page 4).
FAR EAST
4. Chinese Communists reportedly planning a February offensive
(page 4).
SOUTHEAST ASIA
5. Viet Minh use of river mines threatens French naval support
in Tonkin (page 5).
6. Clash between .Eurlytese Army and Chinese Nationalists reported
(page 6).
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
7. Mossadeq insists he cannot prevent oil sales to Soviet bloc (page 6).
EASTERN EUROPE
8. Purge predicted in Hungary (page 7).
WESTERN EUROPE
9. French diplomats see need for increased Western unity (page 8).
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GENERAL
1. 'Uruguayan official sees possibility of break with Czechoslovakia:
A break in Uruguayan-Czech relations
may result from the Uruguayan Foreign
Minister's virtual ultimatum on 10 Janu-
ary that two Uruguayan citizens of Czech
descent who have been detained in Czechoslovakia since last August
be granted exit visas.
The Foreign Ministry official who reports
this states that the Uruguayan Government considers the Czech
mission in Montevideo "extremely dangerous from the subversive
point of view.
Comment: The Uruguayan citizens in-
volved had been outspokenly disillusioned by conditions discovered
on a trip to Czechoslovakia.
Czechoslovakia has accredited only two
diplomats to Montevideo but has shown considerable interest in
trade. The USSR also has representation in Uruguay and Orbit
countries maintain missions in Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and
Mexico.
SOVIET UNION
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3. Comment on Soviet attack on Israeli leaders:
In blasting Israeli's Premier Ben-Gurion,
Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett and the late President Weizmann
as tools of American-British imperialism and "executors" of US
State Department spy operations in the USSR, Soviet propaganda
reverted to the anti-Zionist theme which had been muted since the
initial accusations against the nine Soviet doctors.
An article in New Times further charged
Aubrey Ean, Israeli delegate to the UN and Ambassador to the
United Sta\tes, "and others" with being British agents, and was the
sharpest attack on Israeli officials yet to appear in an official
Soviet publication.
The editorial also accused the Israeli
nation of "waging a cruel war of destruction against the local
Arab population in Palestine, "thus attacking the Israeli nation
as well as Zionism.
FAR EAST
4. Chinese Communists reportedly planning a February offensive:
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The objectives of this offensive are
to capture Seoul and to demonstrate to Asian countries that the
Communists hold the initiative in Asia.
Comment: During recent months
the Communists have streTiffiTned both their air and ground
forces in Korea and Manchuria and have greatly improved
their supply position.
Communist air units presently
operating over Korea consist of regular Chinese air divisions
and Soviet units of unidentified subordination, They cannot be
described as "irregulars. "
Recent reinforcements in the Korea-
Manchuria area have included approximately 100 IL-28 twin-
jet light bombers,/
SOUTHEAST ASIA
5. Viet Minh use of river mines threatens French naval support
in Tonkin:
The American Naval Attache in Saigon
reports the increasing use of river mines
by the Viet Minh in the central delta area
of Tonkin. Successful use of this weapon
could seriously tax the limited French
repair facilities at Haiphong.
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Comment: The Viet Minh have hereto-
fore limited their use of Five-Ft/i-ines to South Vietnam, where
conditions are more favorable for such warfare. Increasing
success with mines in the north would seriously handicap the
French Navy in maintaining the security of river traffic and
continuing its indispensable support to ground forces.
6. Clash between Burmese Army and Chinese Nationalists reported:
A force of approximately 1,500 Chinese
Nationalists, plus an unknown number
of Karens, has attacked and almost
Burmese Army battalion,
This action reportedly
took place some time prior to 14 January in an area less than
200 miles northeast of Rangoon.
Comment: Chinese Nationalist troops
previously have been reported in this region of southern Burma,
but not in such large numbers.
In the more than two years of sparring
between the Nationalist and Burmese Government forces, this
is the largest number of troops said to be involved. This en-
gagement may have prompted the recently reported decision of
the Burmese Government to take concerted military action
against the Nationalists and retaliatory measures against Chi-
nese residents of Rangoon.
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
7. 1VIossadeq insists he cannot prevent oil sales to Soviet bloc:
Prime Minister Mossadeq told Ambas-
sador Henderson on 19 January that
he would not have prevented the Italian
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tanker Miriella from loading oil even if he had known that the
shipment was going to Poland. He insisted that the Iranian
population was deeply aroused by the Western "conspiracy"
to prevent Iran from selling oil and would demand that it be
sold "to Stalin himself" if he would buy it.
The Prime Minister contended that
if Iran could sell its oil, it would not need American aid. In
any event, he hoped that the United States would take a "toler-
ant, understanding attitude," since it was unlikely that enough
Iranian oil would reach the Soviet bloc to affect American
security.
Comment: The Miriella reportedly
sailed for Genoa on 20 January carrying 5,000 tons of oil. The
American Ambassador in Rome reported on 16 January that
Italy would make no effort to interfere with the shipment.
EASTERN EUROPE
8. Purge predicted in Hungary:
Indications of a forthcoming purge
in Hungary are accumulating, -accord-
ing to the US Legation in Budapest.
It is rumored that Zoltan Vas, head
of the National Planning Office, is under police surveillance,
and that Gabor Peter, chief of the security police,and Sandor
Nogradi, chief deputy to the Minister of Defense,have been
arrested. All are Jews and old-line Communists. The direc-
tor of the Jewish Hospital in Budapest, who is related by mar-
riage to Vas, is reliably reported to have been arrested on 15
January.
In the opinion of the Legation, Vas'
connection with relief payments by the American Joint Distri-
bution Committee also makes his position vulnerable.
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Comment: A high proportion of
Hungary's top government officials are veteran Jewish Com-
munists of the type that has been purged recently in Czecho-
slovakia and Rumania. This fact, combined with Hungary's
economic difficulties, makes Hungary ripe for a major purge.
WESTERN EUROPE
9. French diplomats see need for increased Western unity:
At a 16 january conference of
French Premier Mayer and his
principal ambassadors, there
was "unanimous and wholehearted
agreement" on the need to push forward all projects for
European unity and to strengthen NATO's effectiveness,
according to a Foreign Ministry participant. Louis Foxe,
Ambassador to Moscow, made a "deep impression" by
arguing that greater strength and unity with the other
Western nations are the only basis for a settlement with
the USSR.
Mayer expressed confidence
that he had broken Gaullist opposition to the EDC treaty
and that 50 of the 85 orthodox Gaullists would vote for it.
Comment: Ioxe had reportedly
been the object of Russian feelers for a separate Franco-
Soviet understanding, and there had been some reason to
believe that he might be sympathetic to such a move.
Even with substantial Gaullist
support, the EDC treaty can be expected to meet opposi-
tion from non-Gaullist elements within the French Govern-
ment coalition, particularly as a result of Herriot's influ-
ence in Mayer's own Radical Socialist Party. Furthermore,
Socialist leader Guy Mollet has just retracted the qualified
support he had been giving the treaty for almost a year.
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