CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1955/01/07

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 02989041
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: September 20, 2019
• Document Release Date: September 26, 2019
• Publication Date: January 7, 1955

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7 January 1955
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CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO .J:9
NO CHANGE IN CLASS-. I
r] DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: TS S C
NEXT REVIEW DATE: 2010_
AUTH: HR 70-2
DATE: r9/Vig_Q. REVIEWER:
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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SUMMARY
GENERAL
1. Strongly anti-Communist countries look to West for guidance on
Asian 'African conference (page 3).
SOVIET UNION
2. Soviet papers adopt Pravda, line on importance of heavy industry
(page 3).
SOUTH ASIA
3. Removal of block to Afghan-Pakistani negotiations possible (page 4).
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
4. Iraqi official says bilateral treaty with Turkey "postponed" (page 5).
WESTERN EUROPE
5. French Council's approval of Paris accords may hinge on prospects
for East-West talks and arms production pool (page 5).
LATIN AMERICA
6. Attitude of new Panamanian president toward United States appears
favorable (page 6).
7 Jan 55 CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN Page 2
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GENERAL
1. Strongly anti-Communist countries look to West for guidance on
Asian-African conference:
apan, Turkey, Thailand and the Cen-
tral African Federation have assumed
�a cautious attitude on whether to at
tend the Asian= African conference at
Bandung next April, and are looking
to the West for guidance.
If left to their own. devices4the Japanese,
anxious to enhance their prestige in
Asia, will probably attend the conference,
the first important postwar meeting to
ey ye ueen invited. Moreover, the Hatoyama government
will be under strong public pressure to justify its claims of formu-
lating a "new" and more "independent" foreign policy. At Bandung,
Japan would side with the anti-Communists, but would be unlikely
to assume a position of leadership.
Meanwhile, Turkey and Thailand con-
tinue to feel that the meeting will serve no useful purpose, but
their final decisions will be greatly influenced by the attitudes of
the United States and Britain. Thailand is apparently worried
over the prospectol being isolated and is having serious second
thoughts about its impulsive announcement that it would not at-
tend. The Central African Federation probably will be guided
entirely by London's views.
The Chinese Nationalist Foreign Minis-
try will attempt to dissuade those countries in which it has mis-
sions from attending. It anticipates some success among the
Arab states.
SOVIET UNION
2. Soviet papers adopt Pravda line on importance of heavy industry:
The American embassy in Moscow re-
ports that the discrepancy in positions
taken by the 21 December issues of
1 Jan 55
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Pravda and Izvestia, especially in regard to the relationship be-
tween heavy and consumers' goods industries, has disappeared
in the last five days. It states that all papers have now4adopted
the line of Pravda, the party newspaper, which emphasized the
importance of heavy industry more strongly than had Soviet prop-
aganda in preceding months.
The embassy feels that the extensive
press coverage recently given to heavy industry and its relation-
ship to defense, light industry, and agriculture must reflect the
fact that this subject has been under review. It is still not clear
to the embassy, however, whether the resolution of the discrep-
ancies in the press reflects a policy change giving greater propor-
tional emphasis to defense and capital goods or merely the adop-
tion of a common line until a final decision can be made on this
matter. Such a decision presumably would be made after the out-
come of the ratification debates on the London and Paris agree-
ments is known.
SOUTH ASIA
3. Removal of block to Afghan-Pakistani negotiations possible:
Pakistani prime minister Mohammad
Ali told Ambassador Hildreth on
3 January that if the Afghan govern -
ment would publicly renounce claims
to territorial or sovereign rights in the Pushtoonistan area,
Karachi would open the door to the development of the region
and the betterment of conditions. He added that Pakistan might
even agree to the use of the name Pushtoonistan, as desired by
Kabul.
Mohammad Ali ts statement was made in
response to Hildreth remark that Afghan minister Atiq in Karachi
had informed him that Afghanistan was willing to confirm publicly,
and in writing, that it had no territorial claims on the area.
Comment: If Atiq was speaking with
the authority of his government, rather than personally, there is
hope for the settlement of this seven-year-old dispute. In view
7 Jan 55
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of Mohammad All's response, however, Atiq's statement appar-
ently has not been made directly to the Pakistani government.
Though the acceptance of the use of the
name Pushtoonistan would run counter to some public Pakistani
statements, Karachi might make this concession provided it was
clearly specified that the tribal territory remained under Paki-
stan's jurisdiction.
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
4. Iraqi official says bilateral treaty with Turkey "postponed":
Iraq has postponed the conclusion of
a bilateral defense treaty with Turkey
in deference to Egyptian wishes, ac-
cording to an Iraqi Foreign Ministry
official. He said that Egypt "pleaded" for more time before the
initiation of any action to strengthen ties with the West.
Comment: The conclusion of a bilateral
treaty was to have been the main topic of the conversations be-
tween the Iraqi and Turkish prime ministers opening in Baghdad
on 6 January. If a treaty is not concluded, the two parties may
nevertheless reach some form of agreement, such as an exchange
of military missions.
WESTERN EUROPE
5. French Council's approval of Paris accords may hinge on pros-
pects for East-West talks and arms production pool:
Premier Mendes- France proposed to
the British ambassador in Paris on
3 January that the West invite the
USSR to attend a four-power confer-
ence which would be held in May, pro-
vided the Paris accords have been
ratified by that time by all major
7 Jan 55
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signatories. The premier said his primary motive in making
this suggestion was to carry out his pledge to the National
Assembly. The British ambassador said he thought this might
spur approval of the accords by the French Council of the Repub-
lic.
The American embassies in Paris and
London have warned that failure of the Western European Union
countries to agree on some form of arms production pool could
well result in rejection of the accords by the Council, which is
expected to act by late February.
The embassy in Paris considers chances
more than even that rejection of the accords by the Council would
be followed by an adverse vote in the assembly on second reading,
since the Gaullist Social Republicans regard the arms pool as the
surest way to control West German arms production, and the
Popular Republicans strongly back the idea.
LATIN AMERICA
6. Attitude of new Panamanian president toward United States appears
lavorable:
President Guizado's attitude toward the
United States appears favorable
the National Guard, Panama's only armed force, supports the new
president at this time.
Comment: Guizado and his foreign min-
ister are anxious to sign the new agreements with the United\ States
on the Canal Zone by 15 January, and have expressed fear-that de-
lay much beyond that date would be widely interpreted in Panama
as evidence that the United States has no confidence in the new gov-
ernment.
National Guard officials believe President Remon's assassination
on 2 January may have been the work of professional gunmen hired
7 Jan 55
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by politicians within the government who will attempt a coup "at
an opportune time." Despite its support, the National Guard dis-
trusts Guizado because of his previous associations with ex=
president Arnulfo Arias and would oust him should plans for such
a coup become evident. It would then,
place Ricardo Arias, pro-US vice president and foreign minister,
in the presidency.
7 Jan 55 CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN Page 7
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