CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1957/09/08

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03153713
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2019
• Document Release Date: December 20, 2019
• Publication Date: September 8, 1957

CURRENT
INTELLIGENCE
BULLETIN
f2r....R2lem,321E12/10
3.5(c)
8 September 1957
Copy No. 136
fIF:
DATE. IMP ..REVIEWE
OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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CONTENTS
I. SYRIA REQUESTS VISIT BY SOVIET FLEET TO COUNTER
WESTERN MOVES (page 3).
2. KING SAUD'S VIEWS REGARDING SYRIA
(page 4).
3. NEW SOVIET NUCLEAR EXPLOSIO/Nj
(page 5).
&Az__ 4. PEIPING EXECUTES STUDENT RIOT LEADERS
(page 6).
&AL 5. TUNISIA REQUESTS US ARMS AID
(page 7)�
64-- 6. ADENAUER'S CAMPAIGN MANAGER FEARS PARTY HIT PEAK
TOO S001 (page 8).
7. HUNGARY ARRESTS HIGH CATHOLIC CHURCHMEN
(page 9).
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Ito I ��.."1 I
1. SYRIA REQUESTS VISIT BY SOVIET FLEET TO
COUNTER WESTERN MOVES
Syria ordered its military attache in
Moscow to request
that the "Russian fleet' immediately
pay a "friendly visit" to the Syrian port
of Latakia "because it would be appre.-
dated by the Syrian people and because it would strengthen
Syria's position:'
Comment The Soviet Union may accept the Syrian
invitation as an opportunity for making a
gesture of support for Syria, A Soviet Baltic Fleet cruiser and
a destroyer are now in the Mediterranean for a scheduled good-
will visit to Yugoslavia. These units could be sent on to Latakia.
The size of the visiting group would be of little importance either
to the Syrians or the Soviet Union, since the significance of such
a visit would lie in the gesture itself.
8 Sept 57
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2, KING SAUD'S VIEWS REGARDING SYRIA
Reference:
Saud has not yet established a firm policy
toward Syria, but that Saudi policy will avoid any "physical" ac-
tion against fellow Arabs for the benefit of non-Arabs,
the Saudis will attempt to avoid a diplomatic
break with Syria unless they are seriously provoked.
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3. NEW SOVIET NUCLEAR EXPLOSION
Comment
This is the 37th Soviet nuclear test de-
tectecl and the ninth known
to have occurred this year.
The latest nuclear explosion may be part
of the operations associated with Soviet air and naval maneuvers
which, according to public announcement, will be held in this
area from 10 September to 15 October.
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4. PEIPING EXECUTES STUDENT RIOT LEADERS
Comment on:
Peiping announced on 6 September that
three leaders of a student riot which oc-
curred in central China last June had been
executed. This is the sternest measure
yet taken by Peiping to end free criticism
and to counter student and intellectual ferment which developed
from Mao Tse-tung's "hundred flowers" policy. Apparently
timed to coincide with the beginning of a new school year, the
announcement is intended to sober students, who have been
told that they must spend considerably more time on ideolog-
ical education this year.
Despite Communist protestations that "bloom-
ing and contending" will continue, it seems unlikely now that
Peiping would chance re-establishing a meaningful "liberaliza-
tion" program or that the people would venture to take such a
program at face value.
Several "rightist" non-Communist cabinet
officials have been linked with the student riot in Communist ac-
counts, and could become later victims. Under attack since
last June, they have so far managed to survive severe criticism
without even losing their jobs.
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Noir
5. TUNISIA REQUESTS US ARMS AID
Tunisian Foreign Secretary Sadok Mokad-
dem on 4 September requested urgent as-
sistance from the United States in procur-
ing small arms and ammunition for internal
defense purposes. He said that the incident of 1 September, in
which a unit of the French army pursuing Algerian rebels crossed
into Tunisia and clashed with a unit of the Tunisian army, has
highlighted the "imperative necessity" for the government to ob-
tain arms.
Comment This is the third time since May that Tunisia
has requested American assistance in procur-
ing materiel to equip its small army. France, which armed one
battalion and promised materiel for another, has withheld sup-
plies on the grounds that they might be turned over to the Algerian
rebels.
President Bourghiba has been particularly
indignant over his conviction that France has persuaded other
governments not to sell arms to Tunisia. He announced on 8
August that the Tunisian government will find arms "at any price,"
although it is "loath to follow the dangerous example of some Mid-
dle Eastern states which bought Communist arms." At that time
he initiated a nationwide drive to raise funds to purchase arms.
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6. ADENAUER'S CAMPAIGN MANAGER FEARS PARTY
HIT PEAK TOO SOON
Franz Meyers, campaign manager of
Chancellor Adenauer's Christian Dem-
ocratic Union (CDU), told American
representatives on 4 September that he
is afraid the CDU hit its campaign peak
too soon. He had favored a last-minute effort to get out the
vote and win the uncommitted voters with an argument that
security and stability were at stake. Adenauer has been
stressing this theme hard for weeks, however, and Meyers
feels the CDU has no new ammunition left to counter surprise
tactics by the opposition.
Meyers nevertheless believes the present
� coalition will win a Bundestag majority and also that the CDU
has some chance to win a majority by itself. In North Rhine-
Westphalia, the Duesseldorf consulate general predicts a 45-
46 percent return for the CDU and a 37-38 percent return for
the Social Democratic party.
Comment If the CDU declines appreciably from the
48.9 percent it won in North Rhine-
Westphalia in 1953, it is not likely to gain a majority by it-
self. The country's most populous state, North Rhine-West-
phalia will elect about 30 percent of the Bundestag deputies.
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7. HUNGARY ARRESTS HIGH CATHOLIC CHURCHMEN
he American legation in Budapest has
een reliably informed of the recent ar-
rest of four Catholic bishops, including
he acting head of the church in Hungary--
Archbishop Grosz of Kalocsa--and an unknown number of
priests. The legation believes the churchmen were arrested
to silence their strong opposition to the government's demand
that the Bench of Bishops, the top Catholic ecclesiastical body
in the country, sign a public declaration supporting the regime's
protest against UN General Assembly consideration of the Hun-
garian situation.
A "protest" against the UN action was is-
sued in the name of the Bench of Bishops on 29 August. Grosz
reportedly was unaware of the action and objected strongly to
it after its release.
Comment These and other coercive measures against
the church probably have the immediate ob-
jective of silencing the opposition which might have become
more vocal during the UN hearings. There has been evidence
that representatives of the Lutheran and Calvinist churches were
preparing to join the Catholics in condemning the terrorist tac-
tics of the regime.
Archbishop Grosz was amnestied on 11 May
1956, after being sentenced to life imprisonment in a June 1951
show trial for conspiracy against the state. His long imprison-
ment has added to his stature as a symbol of anti-Communist op-
position to the regime. The other bishops reportedly taken into
custody all have long been opponents of the regime.
Attacks on the church could also be part of
an effort to force the surrender of Cardinal Mindszenty, still in
asylum in the American legation. The Cardinal has recently
been subjected to a campaign of vilification as a "fascist" and
stooge of Western imperialists, and charged with a share of re-
sponsibility for the national uprising.
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