CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1953/02/01

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 02050113
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: July 15, 2019
• Document Release Date: July 22, 2019
• Publication Date: February 1, 1953

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SECU INFORMATION
Copy No.
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO.
NO CHANGE IN CLASS. 104
0 DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO; IS
NEXT REVIEW DATE:
AUTI4: 70-
DATE:
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
.024
RevIEWER
1 February 1953 3.5(c) /
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SUMMARY
GENERAL
1. Allied use of Berlin air corridors may be in jeopardy (page 3).
SOUTHEAST ASIA
2. Burma may be considering termination of American Point IV aid
(page 3).
3. Report of Sino-Viet Minh pact viewed with suspicion (page 4).
SOUTH ASIA
40 Madame Pandit denies India is continuing efforts to seek Korean
peace (page 4).
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
5. Three more Italian tankers chartered to ship Iranian oil (page 5).
6. British Ambassador sees new barrier to agreement with Egypt
on Sudan (page 6).
EASTERN EUROPE
7. Yugoslav officials analyze Russian internal events (page 6).
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1. Allied use of Berlin air
GENERAL
corridors may be in jeopardy:
US HICOG officials believe that the 12
Ianuary letter of the Soviet air commander
in Germany, denying the validity of Allied-
Russian air safety rules in the Berlin air
corridors, presages possible harassment of allied air traffic. Soviet
authorities may unilaterally attempt to limit or eliminate commercial
flights to West Berlin.
Comment: In a note exchange concerning an
air incident last fall, Soviet officials assert that present corridor
safety rules are invalid because the Allied-Russian Control Council
never approved them. Soviet authoriiies have consistently taken the
position that the air corridors were established for the use of occupa-
tion troops in Berlin and not for commercial carriers.
� While the USSR may deny the validity of the
corridor agreements, there are no indications that drastic overt action
other than radio-navigational interference will be taken against Western
aircraft.
SOUTHEAST ASIA
2. Burma may be considering termination of American Point IV aid:
The American Embassy in Rangoon believes
the Burmese Government may be considering
ending the Point IV program. Leading offi-
cials are apprehensive lest the new American
administration require commitments which the Rangoon government
will be unwilling to make. They also appear convinced that Burma's
favorable financial position will enable them to carry out their own
development program.
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Comment: Many members of the dominant
Socialist Party resent dependence on foreign aid, and the presence in
Rangoon of large numbers of Americans connected with the program
has caused widespread irritation.
3. Report of Sino-Viet Minh pact viewed with suspicion:
The British Foreign Office doubts the veracity 3.3(h)(2)
of the recently publicized revelation by a de-
fector from the Viet Minh that Communist
China has a formal agreement to intervene with
troops in the event the iet Minh is threatened with annihilation. The
defector, who claims to have been a financial adviser to Ho Chi Minh, has
previously "peddled" similar information to Reuters correspondents and
the British Consulate in Hanoi.
The glibness of the statements causes the
Foreign Office to wonder. whether the source may not be a planted Com-
munist agent. It is also possible that the French are encouraging him
in an effort to gain support for their Indochina policy.
Comment: There has been no confirmation of
many previous rumors of a formal agreement for Chinese troop inter-
vention in Indochina should Viet Minh forces face defeat. A pact of this
nature, however, is entirely possible and there are indications that
French reluctance to undertake sustainkl offensive operations in Indochina
derives partially from fear of its existence.
SOUTH ASIA
4. Madame Pandit denies India is continuing efforts to seek Korean peace:
Madame Pandit told Ambassador Bowles on
28 January that she, Prime Minister Nehru
and others had been greatly upset over Krishna
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Menon's statement that India would continue its efforts for a truce in
Korea and that one side or the other must modify its position. She
also said that the Minister of External Affairs had decided three days
before Menon's statement that his government would take no further
steps for the present and would avoid all possible publicity. The
decision was reached because the Chinese have deliberately shown
resentment toward India.
Comment: Despite these statements, it is
believed that India will continue to press for a Korean truce. The
Indian Government has a deep-seated conviction that peace in Korea
can be achieved and Peiping's relations with the outside world improved
if China is made a member of the United Nations.
NEAR EAST AFRICA
5. Three more Italian tankers chartered to ship Iranian oil:
The Italian company, EPIM, which attempted
to break the British oil blockade with the
tanker Rosemary, now impounded in Aden,
recently chartered two more tankers for a
trip to Abadan, according to a usually reliable shipping source in
contact with the American Embassy in Rome.
Another Italian company, SUPOR, which
leased the Miriella, now en route from Abadan to Italy, has chartered
another tanker in which to carry Iranian oil.
Comment: These Italian efforts, coming at
a time when the Anglo-Iranian oil negotiations are stalemated, may
encourage Prime Minister Mossadeq again to believe that he can sell
oil without a settlement with AIOC.
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6. British Ambassador sees new barrier to agreement with Egypt on Sudan:
The British Foreign Office now considers 3.3(h)(2)
that the most crucial issue in the discussions
with Egypt over the Sudan is the time limit
for transferring administrative jobs from
British officials to Sudanese, according to the British Ambassador
in Cairo. He admits that Sudanese leaders will not support the Brit-
ish position and fears that disorders will break out if the negotiations
fail on this point.
Comment: Britain refuses to agree that all
administrative positions must be transferred to the Sudanese within
the three-year period between the promulgation of the new constitution
and the Sudanese decision on their political future.
British insistence on this issue at this stage
in the negotiations will strengthen Egyptian belief that Britain is not
interested in a settlement.
EASTERN EUROPE
7. Yugoslav officials analyze Russian internal events:
In recent conversations with the American
mbassador in New Delhi, Yugoslav Deputy
Foreign Minister Bebler and party theoret-
ician Djilas expressed the opinion that Berta
may be in disgrace and that Russia is undergoing crucial internal
struggles, probably associated with the choice of Stalin's successor.
Comment: Both Djilas and Bebler, by virtue
of their long association with the Russians, are particularly acute
observers of Soviet behavior.
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