CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1952/08/20

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 05973595
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: June 6, 2019
• Document Release Date: June 27, 2019
• Publication Date: August 20, 1952

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1 b 1. U
SECUR NFORMATION
20 August 1952
Copy Nos 7
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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SUMMARY
SOVIET UNION
1. Medium bomber noted on Chukotsk Peninsula (page 3).
FAR EAST
2. Bao Dai reportedly refuses French request to negotiate with
Viet Minh (page 3).
SOUTH ASIA
3. Pakistan negotiating with Soviet Union for 300,000 tons of wheat
(page 4).
4. Comment on probable Communist-front activity in Kashmir
(page 4).
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
5. Egyptian Communist leaders arrested for opposition to army
group (page 5).
WESTERN EUROPE
6. Comment on the West Berlin coal situation (page 6).
7. Italy appears in no hurry to ratify EDC treaty (page 6).
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SOVIET UNION
1. Medium bomber noted on Chukotsk Peninsula:
a TU-4 medium bomber landed at Velkal
airfield, in the southwest portion of the
Chukotsk Peninsula.
Comment: This is the first noted instance
of a TU-4 operating in northeast Siberia and the first direct evidence
that any of the 18 known airfields in the Chukotsk region is capable of
supporting even limited TU-4 operations.
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FAR EAST
2. Bao Dai reportedly refuses French request to negotiate with Viet Minh:
Bao Dai is reportedL,
o have stated
that Letourneau asked him in May
to participate in efforts to open negotiations
with the Viet Minh. Bao Dai's present trip to France is said to be
designed to avoid involvement in current French-Viet Minh negotiations.
Comment:
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were attempting to open negotiations in May. Ambassador Heath in
Saigon, however, early in August dismissed as local gossip new ru-
mors of negotiations raised by Bao Dai's trip.
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In June, Letourneau told American officials
that France would not negotiate unless the Viet Minh took the initiative,
in which case he would consult the Vietnam Government and the "free
world." In April, however, while discussing before the French
Assembly the possibility of a "solution," he had said that there would
be a chance of succeeding only if action were taken without publicity,
and referred to "contacts and conversations which have taken place."
SOUTH ASIA
3. Pakistan negotiating with Soviet Union for 300,000 tons of wheat:
The Pakistani Prime Minister has told
American Ambassador Warren that he is
negotiating with the USSR for 300,000 tons
of wheat in exchange for cotton and jute.
e added that if the 300,000 tons of wheat requested from the United
States were not forthcoming, he would have to ask the Soviet Union
for a total of 600,000 tons to ease his country's prospective food
shortage.
Comment: According to the best available
estimates, Pakistan will neec-----rThimport between 400,000 and 500,000
tons of wheat within the next twelve months. Of this amount, Pakistan
has obtained almost 150,000 tons from Turkey and India, and it has
tried to acquire the balance from the United States. There is no indi-
cation that Pakistan will need more than 300,000 tons from either the
United States or the Soviet Union.
4. Comment on probable Communist-front activity in Kashmir:
A Peiping radio broadcast of 18 August
described a "cultural peace conference" held in Kashmir on 8 and
9 August which represented what was probably the first formalized
overt Communist activity in that state.
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The conference, reported as the first of its
kind in Kashmir, was presided over by the President of the Kashmiri
Constituent Assembly and addressed by the Finance Minister. These
men are among Sheikh Abdullah's closest advisers and are both sus-
pected Communists.
The 100 delegates attending the conference
included prominent Kashmiri poets, singers, artists, and representa-
tives of village peace committees. Persons in these categories have
figured largely in the most successful Communist-front groups in India.
The conference passed a typical Communist-
line resolution urging world peace and condemning American bombing
of the Yalu River hydroelectric plants in Korea.
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
5. Egyptian Communist leaders arrested for opposition to army group:
The Egyptian Army arrested 30 to 40 Corn- 3.3(h)(2)
munist leaders at the party's headquarters
in Cairo on the night of 16 August. \
the action was taken following the circulation of Communist
pamphlets attacking army leaders. 3.3(h)(2)
Comment: Earlier on 16 August the police
reportedly arrested ten workers and students in Cairo for Communist
activities.
This was the first action by the army against
Communist agitators. It follows a declared policy of vigorous sup-
pression of any group threatening disorders.
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WESTERN EUROPE
6. Comment on the West Berlin coal situation:
Despite current efforts to double the West
Berlin coal stockpile in preparation for a possible blockade, the
stockpiles may by next spring be only slightly larger than now if the
Rothensee canal lock remains closed and Soviet authorities refuse
to grant compensating transport facilities to the city.
Prospects for increasing the coal stocks
over the winter months may improve, however, as a result of the
new interzonal trade agreement which provides for the delivery of
nearly 650,000 tons of brown coal from East Germany. Deliveries
should begin next week if the East German Government intends to
fulfil the agreement.
the Soviet contention that the canal lock actually needed
repairs, and that its closure was not merely a harassment measure.
The lock is being worked on at this time, and Soviet authorities may
intend to reopen it in the next few weeks.
7. Italy appears in no hurry to ratify EDC treaty:
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Italy is reluctant to follow American sugges-
tions that it be the first country to ratify the
European Defense Community treaty, parti-
cularly since French and German ratification
is still in doubt and the problem of Trieste reilains unsolved.
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Comment: This is the first indication that
Italy might link the Trieste issue to ratification of the EDC treaty.
The Italian Government is moving cautiously
in its foreign relations because of the national elections to be held in
1953 and because of its belief that the formation of a European army
must be followed at an early date by European political federation.
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