CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1956/07/28
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Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST):
03161775
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RIPPUB
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U
Document Page Count:
10
Document Creation Date:
October 25, 2019
Document Release Date:
October 31, 2019
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Case Number:
Publication Date:
July 28, 1956
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CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULL[15742021].pdf | 226.28 KB |
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rop-sEc-RE-T
CURRENT
INTELLIGENCE
BULLETIN
3.3(h)(2)
3.5(c)
44-0
28 July 1956
Copy No. 1,05
DOCUMENT NO.
NO CHANGE IN CLASS.
DECLASSIFIED
CLASS CHANGED TO: TS S
NEXT REVIEW DATE'
AUTH: DATE REVIEWER:
OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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CONTENTS
L BRITISH CONSIDERING COUNTERMEASURES TO SUEZ
NATIONALIZATIO (page 3).
2. USSR MAY PROVIDE AID FOR ASWAN DAM
(page 4).
3. FRENCH ADOPTING STIFFER ATTITUDE TOWARD WARSAW
GOVERNMENT (page 5).
4. JAPANESE SOCIALISTS PLAN TO SEND.ATOMIC ENERGY
MISSION TO MOSCOW (page 6).
5. AFGHAN-SOVIET ARMS DEAL APPEARS IMMINENT (Secret
(page 7).
THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(page 8)
28 July 56 Current Intelligence Bulletin
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1. BRITISH CONSIDERING COUNTERMEASURES TO
SUEZ NATIONALIZATION
Britain apparently has ruled out re-
course to the UN Security Council on
Egypt's nationalization of the Suez Canal,
and feels that Britain, France and the
United States must consider the possibility
of military seizure. An emergency cabi-
� net meeting on 26 July, attended by repre-
sentatives of both the United States and
France, took no firm decision, however.
The cabinet agreed that the interested
Western governments must consider economic, political and
military measures outside the UN to ensure maintenance of
the canal, freedom of transit and reasonable tolls. The cabi-
net felt Security Council discussion would run too great a risk
of getting "hopelessly bogged down." Prime Minister Eden is
apparently thinking in terms of an American-British-French
ministerial conference in the immediate future.
Although London has protested sharply to
Cairo that the seizure is illegal, the British government ap-
parently does not feel that the 1888 Convention neutralizing
the canal provides strong legal grounds for action at this stage.
Britain's possibilities for action are limited. Eden has told
parliamentary questioners that blocking Egypt's sterling bal-
ances (valued at about $290,000,000) and stopping all arms
shipments to Egypt are being considered.
The cabinet ordered a study of the forces
required to seize the canal, and Foreign Secretary Selwyn
Lloyd told the American representative that he thought per-
haps the only solution lay in a Western operating consortium,
establishing itself by force if necessary. Britain probably
would not take military action, however, without American
support.
On 27 July, Paris made a strong protest
to the Egyptian ambassador, reserving the right to take all
necessary measures in defense of French interests and free-
dom of transit through the canal.
28 July 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 3
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2. USSR MAY PROVIDE AID FOR ASWAN DAM
The Soviet commercial attach�n
Cairo on 25 July reasserted the
USSR's intention to help finance the
Aswan High Dam, according to the
British embassy there.
This report suggests that the confusion
in Cairo over the USSR's current position on the dam ques-
tion may well extend to the Soviet embassy. On 21 July
Soviet foreign minister Shepilov avoided committing the
USSR to support of the dam, but left the door open for
later negotiations.
Egyptian president Nasr in his speech
on 26 July reported that Shepilov last month had promised
to help Egypt "in all fields in which Egypt asked for as-
sistance to the extent of granting long-term loans." Nasr
said that he had postponed discussion of the details until
his visit to Moscow scheduled for next month.
In any case, should the Suez Canal receipts
appear to improve Egypt's own ability to finance the dam,
Moscow might find it increasingly attractive to make a spe-
cific offer to Egypt, at least in the form of technical assist-
ance. Since the international complications of nationaliza-
tion remain unclear, the USSR may hold off, at least until
Nasr's trip, before making any offer.
28 July 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 4
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3. FRENCH ADOPTING STIFFER ATTITUDE TOWARD
WARSAW GOVERNMENT
French foreign minister Pineau told
the Polish ambassador on 24 July that
the proposed visit of Polish premier
Cyrankiewicz to Paris, reportedly
scheduled for September, must be postponed "indefinitely,"
because of the French public reaction to the repression of
Polish workers.
Paris may now also defer indefinitely
the planned visit of the Czechoslovak premier, according
to the American embassy. The embassy expects Pineau
to instruct his ambassador in Warsaw to try to have an offi-
cial observer attend the Poznan trials.
Comment Leading members of Pineau's Socialist
Party recently urged the government to
withdraw the Cyrankiewicz invitation unless guarantees were
secured that the Poznan rioters would get a fair trial. Defer-
ment of the Czechoslovak visit would suggest that Pineau is
now anxious to disengage himself from commitments which
he made to the Satellites without consulting his Foreign Min-
istry staff.
Polish vice foreign minister Winiewicz
recently told an American official in Warsaw that the trial
would be "open" and that the government would give visas to
"as many journalists as possible."
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4. JAPANESE SOCIALISTS PLAN TO SEND ATOMIC
ENERGY MISSION TO MOSCOW
Japan's Socialist Party has announced
that it will send a team of nuclear ex-
perts and Diet members to Moscow in
September to explore the possibility of
obtaining Soviet aid for Japan's atomic energy program and
co-operation for an exchange of nuclear scientists, accord-
ing to Reuters.
The Socialists, having obtained an invita-
tion through the Soviet fishery mission in Tokyo, called on
the ruling Liberal-Democratic Party to join the nuclear group.
The government party has not replied but is reported to favor
making the group nonpartisan in nature.
Comment Japan is anxious to launch an atomic en-
ergy program leading to early application
of nuclear power to industrial use. It is seeking an experi-
mental nuclear reactor on the best terms obtainable and plans
to send a mission to study Britain's atomic energy program in
late 1956.
Japanese Atomic Energy Commission chair-
man Matsutaro Shoriki has favored the British system because
of his belief in its economic feasibility and the absence of some
of the security restrictions required by the United States.
Both the Japanese government and industrialists probably would
give favorable consideration to a Soviet offer of aid extended on
liberal terms without restrictions.
28 July 56
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5. AFGHAN-SOVIET ARMS DEAL APPEARS IMMINENT
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THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(Information as of 1700, 27 July)
As a result of Egypt's nationalization of the
Suez Canal Company, a conservative member of the British par-
liament, Sir Charles Boothby, has announced that he will urge
the British government next week to "reconsider its decision not
to allow Israel to purchase arms for its defense." (Press)
28 July 56 Current Intelligence Bulletin
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