CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1956/03/25

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 02995587
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: October 25, 2019
• Document Release Date: October 31, 2019
• Publication Date: March 25, 1956

Approved for Release: 2019/10/21 CO2995587
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CURRENT
INTELLIGENCE
BULLETIN
OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
TOP SECRET-
25 March 1956
3.3(h)(2)
3.5(c)
Copy No. 103
DOCUMENT NO.
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CONTENTS
1. JORDAN AND SYRIA REPORTEDLY SIGN MILITARY
- ALLIANCE (page 3)0
2. USSR REPORTED SEEKING FRENCH SUPPORT FOR
CONFERENCE ON NEAR EAST (page 4).
30 USSR REPORTED WILLING TO SUPPLY ARMS TO
NORTH AFRICAN NATIONALISTS
page 5).
4. AMBASSADOR RIDDLEBERGERCOMMENTS ON YUGOSLAV-
SOVIET RELATIONS (page 6).
5. BRITISH ENVOY IN PEIPING FORESEES NO BREAK IN
SINO-SOVIET ALLIANCE ',page 7).
6. SOVIET AID TO BURM2
25 Mar 56
(page 8).
* * *
THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
page 9)
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1. JORDAN AND SYRIA REPORTEDLY SIGN MILITARY
ALLIANCE
Comment on:
Jordan and Syria are reported to
have concluded a "united frontier
agreement." The agreement would
have the effect of making an Israeli
attack on either party an attack on
both.
A meeting between the Syrian army
chief of staff and the new commander
of Jordan's Arab Legion was reported to have been followed
on 24 March by a meeting of Syrian prime minister Ghazzi
and Jordanian foreign minister Khalidi.
Pro-Egyptian elements in the new
Jordanian army command apparently are moving quickly
to swing Jordan into the Egyptian-Syrian-Saudi Arabian
camp.
Any closer ties between Syria and
Jordan will almost certainly lead London further to re-
consider British relations with Jordan. Under the Anglo-
Jordanian treaty Britain is obligated to come to Jordan's
defense if the country is attacked.
These events will convince Israel
that it has been encircled by the "long arm" of Egyptian
prime minister Nasr.
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x_71-iL4l CB-% A.
USSR REPORTED SEEKING FRENCH SUPPORT FOR
CONFERENCE ON NEAR EAST
the Soviet
Union might consider stopping send-
ing arms to the Near East if a conference of all the great
powers reached general agreement on this issue.
Premier Bulganin was noncommittal with Auriol re-
garding Moscow's views on French policies in North
Africa,
Comment In mid-March, Foreign Minister
Pineau proposed a meeting of
Britain, France, and the United States which would
call upon the USSR to halt the arms race in the Middle
East. Premier Mollet stated on 24 March that an em-
bargo on arms to the area must be imposed "very soon."
The USSR has hinted several times
since last summer that it would be willing to participate
in a great-power conference on Middle Eastern problems,
but that the initiative must come from the West. Although
Moscow has referred to the UIsT Security Council as
better qualified to deal with the problem than the tripartite
powers, it would probably prefer a special conference�in-
eluding Egypt and possibly. India�to deal with the area's
problems.
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44
3. USSR REPORTED WILLING TO SUPPLY ARMS TO
NORTH AFRICAN NATIONALISTS
The leader of the Tunisian nationalists
in Libya, Abdul Aziz Chouchane, said
in early March that the USSR has
agreed to supply free, via Egypt, any
arms needed by nationalists in French North Africa,
Chouchane
recently returned to his headquarters in Tripoli after a
visit to Egypt where he said the Cairo office maintained
by the nationalists made the approach to the Russians.
Comment
Salah ben Youssef.
Chouchane is chief agent in Libya
for exiled Tunisian extremist leader
It is highly unlikely that Moscow would
want to jeopardize its relations with France, at this time,
by lqecoming involved in a direct deal with the nationalists
in French North Africa. The USSR might be instrumental,
however, in making arms available to nationalists by deal-
ing with a third party--such as Egypt or Libya.
Soviet bloc arms may, in fact, have
already reached nationalist guerrilla fighters in French
North Africa via Libya.
definitely
one and possibly four shipments of Czech machine guns
and ammunition arrived in Libya during the first two months
of 1956.
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a. V.11. A. .E.17.J....f
4. AMBASSADOR RIDDLEBERGER COMMENTS ON
YUGOSLAV-SOVIET RELATIONS
Ambassador Riddleberger believes
that the Sixth Plenum of the Yugoslav
Communist Party, held in mid-March,
concluded in secret session, that the
c anges n e Soviet Communist Party were real and
that the time had come to move toward the establishment
of party relations.
In the ambassador's opinion? the
Yugoslays have no clear idea _how rapidly party
relations may develop, but they probably will not aban-
don the cautious policy they have adopted in approaching
this problem. The evolution of Soviet policy will have to
go a long way, he believes, before Belgrade would permit
ideological reconciliation with the USSR to jeopardize its
ties with the West.
Comment Yugoslav leaders have made it clear
that they now consider the way open
to establishing party relations with all Communist parties.
In mid-March, a delegation of the Yugoslav party's central
committe, attended the funeral of Polish party leader Bierut.
On its return, the delegation stopped off in Prague for con-
versations with members of the politburo of the Czech party.
The Yugoslays apparently believe that
the West can be persuaded that interparty relationships
with the other Communist parties do not mean that Belgrade
has returned to the Soviet fold. Yugoslavia still considers
its interests best served by maintaining a position between
East and West.
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5. BRITISH ENVOY IN PEIPING FORESEES NO BREAK IN
SINO- SOVIET ALLIANCE
The USSR cannot afford to allow a
Chinese Communist defeat as long as
the Sino-Soviet alliance exists, ac-
cording to a study prepared by the
in Peiping. The Soviet Union is there-
fore expected to restrain Communist China in the inter-
national field as long as Chinese industrial and military
weakness continues.
The embassy does not foresee the
Chinese Communists taking the initiative to break away
from the alliance until China is industrially more self-
sufficient�perhaps in 10 or 15 years. The relaxation of
embargo measures and admission of Peiping to the UN
therefore would not materially encourage Communist China
to break with the USSR, in the opinion of the British embassy,
Comment
There have been various reports but no
conclusive evidence that the Soviet Union
is attempting to restrain the Chinese Communists.
Such issues as embargoes and UN rep-
resentation have not been the primary factors in cementing
the Sino-Soviet alliance. Mao Tse-tung espoused the policy
of "lean to one side" (toward the Soviet Union) in 1949 and
concluded the Sino-Soviet alliance in February 1950, before
the issues of embargoes and UN representation became acute.
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4�01 vio
6. SOVIET AID TO BURMA
Comment
Mikoyan, a first deputy Soviet premier,
led a 40-man delegation to Pakistan's
republic day celebrations on 23 March. He plans trade
talks with the Pakistanis and will also visit India and North
Vietnam. His visit to Burma, as well as Kaganovich's
and Saburov's, was requested by U Nu and is connected
with planning for technical and capital assistance.
The Burmese, who were reported
staggered when they learned of the USSR's grandiose plans
for a technological institute, have announced that the insti-
tute will have facilities to train 1,000 students at the college
level and 100 post-graduate students. The Russians are
also reported planning to build apartments for the faculty.
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LAX ILJLI
THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(Information as of 1700, 24 March)
an Egyptian tent
to attack Israel soon. Among other indications,
construction of storage depots in Sinai; recent
gyptian divisional maneuvers based on cutting off the
Negev, capturing Beersheba and linking up with Jordan's
Arab Legion; and training of units in Sinai in attacking
mock villages constructed to resemble Israeli border
settlements, it could be assumed
Egypt would be ready to attack by May or June, and this
consideration had recently forced Israel to undertake all-
out defense measures. Although life in Israel was still
normal, progressive dislocation toward maximum war
economy would soon develop.
Israeli reaction to the American call
for a UN Security Council meeting has been critical. An
Israeli Foreign Ministry official saw the move as primarily
a device to further postpone granting arms to Israel, and
several newspapers dwelt on the opportunity the meeting
might provide to enhance the Soviet Union's role in the
Near East.
The Egyptian press has played up
speculative reports regarding the United States' intentions
in calling the meeting. The American embassy in Cairo
believes the Egyptian regime is still studying the line it
will adopt on the question. The embassy feels, however,
that Cairo will claim that Egypt has accepted all recent
proposals by UN officials concerning border ten�ion.
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