THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 8 MARCH 1965

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005967560
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: March 8, 1965

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A003500250001-1
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
THE PRESIDENT'S
DAILY BRIEF
8 MARCH 1965
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DAILY BRIEF
8 MARCH 1965
1. Vietnam
2. Greece
Ambassador Bohlen says that the
French seem "quite discouraged" by the
lack of results from their soundings in
Hanoi and Peiping about the Vietnam sit-
uation. Couve de Murville still seems
to have some hope that a Soviet initia-
tiAe may be forthcoming.
In Saigon, there has been no sig-
nificant change in the political situa-
tion during the past twenty-four hours.
Reports last week that the Buddhist high
command is against Quang Lien's so-called
"peace movement" have been confirmed.
The monk has been ordered to give up his
leadership of the movement, or lose his
position in the Buddhist Institute. If
this order sticks, one potentially dis-
ruptive influence will have been elimi-
nated.
The Viet Cong is continuing inten-
sive activity in the countryside. Fight-
ing continued yesterday north and south
of the US - South Vietnamese air base
at Danang. In two days of fighting, 78
government soldiers have been killed or
wounded, and 140 Viet Cong. The guer-
rilla force south of Danang is estimated
at one thousand men.
Financiers and businessmen are
increasingly alarmed over the bad ef-
fects of Prime Minister Papandreou's
economic policies. Foreign assets fell
by about $50 million last year, and
there was a big jump in the import bill.
Various other indicators are similarly
ominous.
The US Embassy in Athens points
out, however, that there are elements
of strength in the Greek economic situ-
ation. The embassy suggests that Papan-
dreou's adroitness in deflecting atten-
tion from the ineptitude of his admini-
stration will probably bring him through
\
again.
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3, France
4. West Germany
Paris plans an official protest
against US efforts to prevent the Freu-
hauf-France firm from delivering some
semi-trailers destined for Communist
China. The French are using this case
to dramatize their accusation that US
subsidiaries in France are instruments
of US "political domination." Freuhauf-
France is 70 percent US owned.
Chancellor Erhard's announcement
on 7 March that West Germany will seek
full diplomatic relations with Israel
has caught Nasir by surprise and placed
him under pressure to take retaliatory
action, possibly including recognition
of East Germany.
Some plan of action is likely to
come out of the Arab League meeting in
Cairo tomorrow, in which Nasir has said
he hopes to get agreement on a unified
approach.
Several other Arab governments are
likely to follow Nasir's lead, includ-
ing initially Yemen, Syria, and Iraq.
Recognition of East Germany by Egypt
would thus probably lead to a major
diplomatic breakthrough for the Pankow
regime.
The US Embassy in Cairo reports
that some Egyptian officials appear to
believe that West Germany's announcement
was prompted by the US. This may set
off a new wave of anti-US feeling in
Cairo.
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