CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1956/03/21

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03161855
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: October 25, 2019
• Document Release Date: October 31, 2019
• Publication Date: March 21, 1956

Approved for Release: 2019/10/21 C03161855
CURRENT
INTELLIGENCE
BULLETIN
TOP SECRET
3.5(c)
3.3(h)(2) 7/4J
21 March 1956
Copy No.
103
DOCUMENT NO
NO CHANGE IN CLASS
E 1 DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: TS S C
NEXT REVIEW DATE 1O ( 0
AUTH: HR 70-2
DATE: 14 1:241/4 tO REVIEWER: _
OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
TOP SECRET
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Auk Ask
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CONTENTS
1. PINEAU SUGGESTS TRIPARTITE APPEAL TO USSR
ON NEAR EAST ARMS (page 3).
2. GEORGIAN PAPER SCORES VIOLATIONS OF SOCIALIST
ORDER (page 4).
3. JAPANESE-RUSSIAN PEACE TREATY TALKS SUSPENDED
INDEFINITELY page 5)�
4. USSR REPORTEDLY WILL TRY NEW APPROACH TO
GREECE ON BETTERING RELATIONS
(Page 6)0
5. YUGOSLAVS CONSIDER WAY CLEAR FOR RELATIONS
WITH ITALIAN COMMUNISTS (page 7).
60 NEW LEBANESE GOVERNMENT
21 Mar 56
THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(page 9)
(page 8).
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 2
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A
1. PINEAU SUGGESTS TRIPARTITE APPEAL TO USSR
ON NEAR EAST ARMS
French foreign minister Pineau told
Ambassador Dillon on 19 March he
felt there should be a French-British-
American ministerial meeting in the
near tuture to consider the Near East arms race. Pineau
wondered if the time had not come for the three Western
foreign ministers to make a joint public appeal to the Soviet
Union to agree to end the arms race, although he expressed
himself as opposed to discussing a Near East "settlement"
with the USSR.
Pineau indicated his thinking had been
spurred by figures he had seen in Cairo on the size of the
Soviet arms program for Egypt. He said an additional 200
MIG's were scheduled to follow the first 200 now being de-
livered.
Comment The need to reach some kind of agree-
ment on Near Eastern matters has been
a recurrent note in French diplomacy since the consumma-
tion of Egypt's arms deal with the Soviet bloc last fall.
Moscow probably would welcome an approach from the tri-
partite powers, but it is unlikely that the USSR would agree
to limit discussion to the arms problem.
The Israeli ambassador to the United
States told Ambassador Lodge on 19 March that Egypt had
110 MIG's And "would soon have 200 more."
21 Mar 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 3
SECR ET
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voi
2. GEORGIAN PAPER SCORES VIOLATIONS OF
SOCIALIST ORDER
The American embassy in Moscow re-
ports that an editorial in the 15 March
issue of the Georgian newspaper Zarya
Vostoka, entitled "Strengthen Socialist
Legality," contains what appears to be
a vei e re erence to the recent disorders in Tbilisi. Re-
garding nationalism, the editorial asserts that restrictions
on privileges for Soviet citizens on the basis of their race
or nationality, "as well as any preaching of racial or na-
tional exclusiveness, hatreds and scorn, is punished by
law." The editorial admits that some Georgian youth are
guilty of "immoral acts" and calls on the public to "unmask
any sort of provocateurs, hooligans and hostile elements!'
The embassy comments that the editorial
appears to confirm the original report of the disorders, as
well as speculation that youth and nationalism were the two
main ingredients.
Comment The Georgians have a tradition of ex-
treme nationalism, of which Stalin has
become a symbol. News of Khrushchev's attack on Stalin
at the 20th Party Congress appears to have produced the
demonstrations by nationalistic youth.
21 Mar 56
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k 41
EI
3. JAPANESE-RUSSIAN PEACE TREATY TALKS
SUSPENDED INDEFINITELY
The Japanese-Soviet peace treaty
talks in London have reportedly
reached an impasse over the ques-
tion of the disposition of former
Japanese territories, and have been
indefinitely suspended. The USSR had agreed to the un-
conditional return of the Habomai and Shikotan Islands,
but has consistently rejected Japan's demand that the two
southernmost islands in the Kurils chain, Kunashiri and
Etorufu, also be restored to Japan, with the northern
Kurils and Sakhalin to be disposed of at an international
conference.
Continuing strong domestic support for
Japan's position and greater political stability resulting
from the conservative unification apparently have encouraged
Tokyo to suspend the talks rather than concede vital Japa-
nese interests. Soviet retaliatory moves against Japanese
fishing in waters north of Japan, however, may cause
Japanese fishing interests to bring considerable pressure
for the concessions necessary for a settlement with Moscow.
It is probable that the USSR will not re-
treat from its present position but will prefer to wait in the
hope that developments in the Japanese domestic scene will
provide conditions favorable for the acceptance of the Soviet
terms. Since the Japanese refused the major Soviet proposal
in January to establish diplomatic relations, the USSR has
displayed a marked indifference toward concluding the talks
during this round
21 Mar 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 5
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4. USSR REPORTEDLY WILL TRY NEW APPROACH TO
GREECE ON BETTERING RELATIONS
Soviet ambassador Sergeyev in Athens
plans a new approach to Greek prime
minister Karamanlis on the subject of
improving all aspects of Soviet rela-
tions with Greece
Sergeyev is trying to contact Karamanlis through a non-
diplomatic, "direct" channel and wants the Greek govern-
ment to provide a list of conditions considered necessary
for improvement of relations.
Comment The USSR undoubtedly believes that
recent developments in the Cyprus
problem and resultant deterioration of relations between
Greece and the other NATO powers offer an excellent op-
portunity to improve relations with Greece.
Initial Greek "conditions" would prob-
ably include settlement of financial claims against Bulgaria
and Rumania, Soviet intervention with Albania for rectifi-
cation of its border with Greece, and the cessation of Com-
munist subversive activities in Greece.
21 Mar 56
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LI. J.+ 1 I 'V I I1-11.L.,
411.*
5. YUGOSLAVS CONSIDER WAY CLEAR FOR RELATIONS
WITH ITALIAN COMMUNISTS
Yugoslav readiness to establish closer
relations with other Communist parties
may now extend to those in non-Orbit
nations.
A speech by Italian Communist Party
(PCI) leader Palmiro Togliatti on 13
March to the PCI central committee is
being construea by Yugoslays as an "apology" for their
1948 expulsion from the Cominform. A Yugoslav press
officer commented that there would now be nothing incon-
sistent in "closer" relations between the Yugoslav and
Italian Communist Parties. A high Yugoslav Foreign Min-
istry official called Togliatti's statement extremely inter-
esting and said in some ways it "went even further than
Mikoyan"
Togliatti had told his central committee
on 13 March that the Cominform had erred in expelling Tito
in 1948 without examining the situation that existed in Yugo-
slavia and taking into account the reason for Belgrade's dif-
ferent attitude. Recognizing that Communist parties are
traveling along different roads, he called for an exchange
of experiences to develop mutual benefits.
Yugoslav relations with left-wing groups
in Italy have centered primarily around the dissident Com-
munist Cucchi-Magnani (USI) group and, to a lesser extent,
the anti-Communist Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI), with
no apparent attention to the PCI.
21 Mar 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 7
CONFIDENTIAL
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viloW 1010'
6. NEW LEBANESE GOVERNMENT
Comment on:
The compoeition of Lebanon's new
cabinet, headed by Abdullah Yafi,
suggests that Lebanese president
Chamoun has succeeded in shifting
his country's policy closer to that of
the Egyptian-Syrian-Saudi bloc.
Four cabinet ministers, including the
minister of foreign affairs, are holdovers from the pre-
vious government. The other six ministers are either
strong nationalists, politicians willing to follow the cur-
rent political trends, or businessmen interested mainly
in the benefits of political office.
Yafi, a 56-year-old French-educated
lawyer, has been a deputy since 1937 and a prime minister
three times previously.
He is said to be subsidized by Saudi
Arabia and, the Saudi
minister in Beirut told King Saud that Yafi is "loyal." Pres-
ident Chamoun reportedly chose Yafi in order "not to excite
Egypt and Saudi� Arabia."
Yafi has praised Egyptian prime minis-
ter Nasr's decision to obtain Soviet arms and hopes other
Arab states will follow Egypt's example. He has also indi-
cated he would take a tough line in Lebanon's negotiations
with Western oil companies for increased pipeline transit
royalties. The new prime minister opposes the Baghdad
pact and the Johnston Jordan River plan. Ambassador Heath
believes that with Yafi as prime minister there is little pos-
sibility of any reasonable consideration by Lebanon of the
problem of Israel.
21 Mar 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 8
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'Att,
THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(Information as of 1700, 20 March)
On 10 March, six MIG-15 jet fighters
were observed flying over Syrian territory
approximately 45 uautical miles southeast of
Damascus. The six aircraft were flying at 35,000 feet, and
bore red and blue markings which were not further distin-
guishable. In late December 1955, eighteen Syrian fighter
pilots were reported to be receiving jet flying training in Egypt.
Some may have completed their familiarization training and
flown MIG-15's back to Syria.
L
noting increased military activity in the Canal Zone on 13 March,
without any reports of units returning from Sinai, suggests that
the Egyptian army may be forming new combat units there with
personnel from Cairo training centers and with new materiel
from Soviet and European sources.
One of two recently acquired Israeli de-
stroyers left Britain for Israel on 16 March,
The departure of this destroyer re-
mains unconfirmed, although both vessels are expected to de-
part for Israel by the end of March, prior to the departure of
two destroyers which Egypt has acquired from Britain.
21 Mar 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 9
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