CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1957/02/17

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06813997
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2019
• Document Release Date: December 20, 2019
• Publication Date: February 17, 1957

Approved for Release: 2019/12/04 C06813997
CURRENT
INTELLIGENCE
BULLETIN
17 February 1957
Copy No. 131
3.5(c)
3.3(h)(2)
DOCUMENT NO.
NO CHANGE IN CLASS.
ri DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: IS vol
NCO REVIEW DATE:
AUTH. HR
'DATE REVIEWER.
OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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CONTENTS
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1. NASR OUTLINES VIEWS TO AMBASSADOR HARE
(page 3).
2. KING SAUD BLASTS SYRIAN LEFTIST LEADER
(page 4).
3. SOVIET HEAVY BOMBER PROBABLY- USED AS T.ANICER AIR-.
CRAFT
(page 5).
4.. EGYPTIAN AMBASSADOR FEARS LOSS OF CAIRO'S INFLU-
ENCE IN TUNISIA (page 6).
\ 5. SOVIET THREATS AGAINST ATOMIC BASES WORRY NORWAY
(page 7).
/D
6. BONN OFFICIAL CONSIDERS TRADE WITH COMMUNIST
CHINA A POLITICAL ISSUE (page 8).
7.
(page 9).
8. WIDE AREAS OF SOUTH KOREA FACING STARVATION
(page 10).
9. CHINESE NATIONALIST PREMIER CITES FOREIGN POLICY
OBJECTIVES (page 11).
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1. NASR OUTLINES VIEWS TO AMBASSADOR HARE
Comment on:
Egyptian president Nasr, in a four-hour
"marathon discussion" with Ambassador
Hare on 14 February, gave no indication
of modifying his position on any outstand-
ng issue. the Gulf of Aqaba question, Nasr said "no fi-
nal decision" had been made as to whether Egypt would oppose
"innocent passage" if the Israelis withdrew, but Ambassador
Hare comments that the Egyptian press campaign against the
American proposals to Israel on this question is "disquieting!'
Nasr implicitly confirmed reports that he
has issued orders to halt clearance work on the Suez Canal;
stating that this action, as well as Syria's refusal to permit
repair of oil pipeline facilities until the Israelis withdraw, was
the result of an agreement between Egypt, Syria and Saudi
Arabia. Nasr stated again that when the canal is reopened,
tolls should be paid directly to Egypt. He said that alterna-
tive suggestions he had heard for payment to some other agency
would definitely not be acceptable.
The Egyptian president raised the topic of
British clandestine radio attacks on his regime. He said he
would be ready to retaliate in about ten days and that East and
West Africa would be special targets. Nasr here presumably
was referring to two new radio stations which the Egyptian
press has reported will open this month and next.
From Nasr's remarks on Egypt's relations
with the Soviet Union, Hare gained a stronger impression than
ever before of the degree to which Nasr feels it necessary to
rely on Soviet support and Nasr's failure to appreciate the la-
tent danger involved.
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2. KING SAUD BLASTS. SYRIAN LEFTIST LEADER
Comment Akram Hawrani is one of two leaders
of the leftist, extreme nationalist Arab
Socialist Resurrection-Party, which dominates the Syrian
government through the army officers. It is unclear which
of Hawrani/s speeches incurred Saud's wrath.
This is the third time since his talks
with President Eisenhower that Saud has evidenced to other
Arab governments his hostility toward leftist and anti-West-
ern influences.
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3. SOVIET HEAVY BOMBER. PROBABLY USED AS
TANKER AIRCRAFT
A Soviet BISON (M-4) jet heavy bomber
apparently was refueled by another
BISON during a 7,000-nautical-mile
flight from Moscow to the Soviet Far East
and back
two aircr
flew from Moscow/Ramenskoye, ap-
proximately 400 nautical miles to the Kazan/Ufa area where
a refueling apparently occurred. The BISON which apparently
served as a tanker then returned to Moscow. The first BISON
continued its flight to the vicinity of Ostrov Bolshoi�Shantar,
�an island in the Sea of Okhotsk, and then turned back toward
Moscow. About half way back on the return flight, it was met
by another BISON between Novosibirsk and Omsk where a
second refueling may have occurred before the two aircraft re-
turned to Moscow.
Comment There was evidence of aerial refueling
during a similar long-distance flight by
a BISON in late September 1956, although the aircraft used
as a tanker was not identified.
It is not known whether the BISON which
apparently served as a tanker carried bomb bay tanks or was
built as a tanker. It is estimated that one refueling by the
latter type would add approximately 35 percent to the range
of a BISON bomber. The range of an improved BISON flying
an optimum mission with a 3,500-pound bomb load, for example,
could be extended from about 6,400 to 8,600 nautical miles with
one refueling.
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4,. EGYPTIAN AMBASSADOR FEARS LOSS OF CAIRO'S
INFLUENCE IN TUNISIA.
The Egyptian ambassador to Tunisia
warned Cairo that Pre-
mier Bourghiba might be "becoming an
enemy of Egypt!' He reiterated that di-
rect talks between Premier Bourghiba
and President Nasr would be a magnificent approach to the
Tunisian leader's "vanity" and could possibly clarify many
ambiguities in Bourghiba's intentions.
Premier Bourghiba earlier had com-
plained to the ambassador about the Egyptian press campaign
against him and about the unfriendly Cairo radio broadcasts
of Bourghiba's archrival, Salah ben Youssef.
Comment
� The Egyptian fears regarding Tunisia's
orientation are well founded. Premier
Bourghiba has rejected Cairo's claimed leadership of the
Arab nations and has aligned himself with the West.
Bourghiba has actively supported a
Western-oriented Arab bloc. Tunisia signed a treaty of
friendship with Libya in January, and Bourghiba plans to
visit Morocco in late February. On 24 January, Iraq indi-
cated its interest in a treaty with Tunisia and said it would
welcome Tunisia's joining the economic committee of the Bagh-
dad pact.
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5. SOVIET THREATS AGAINST ATOMIC BASES
WORRY NORWAY
Norwegian under secretary of defense
Nielsen hopes to avoid publicity on the
tentative allocation to Norway of new
weapons with atomic capabilities. Ac-
coraing to Nielsen, the Soviet Union is pursuing a psycholog-
ical campaign in Scandinavia, particularly in Norway, against
acceptance of such weapons. The Norwegian embassy in
Moscow has received a "warning or threat" on this matter
at least once, and there has been some propaganda along sim-
ilar lines in the Norwegian Communist press.
Comment
-Apart from its concern over Soviet re-
action to such an announcement, the Labor
government is likely to face opposition from the relatively
strong and vcical pacifist and neutralist elements both in and
out of the Labor Party.
The Soviet warning is in line with the re-
cent general Soviet campaign warning other countries against
the stationing of.American atomic units on their territories,
highlighted by the 23 January TASS statement.
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6. BONN OFFICIAL CONSIDERS TRADE WITH COMMUNIST
CHINA A POLITICAL ISSUE
� A West German Foreign Ministry official
has told the American embassy in Bonn
�
that his government had decided to permit
negotiations for a trade arrangement with
ommtmis China/ because postponement was no longer pos-
sible in view of the coming elections. He noted that the gov-
ernment had delayed negotiations for two years, but that this
trade had already been made a political issue by the opposition
� Free Democratic Party. He believed that a trade delegation
under the auspices of the semaofficial East-West Trade Com-
mittee would provide an effective basis of control.
Comment The American embassy has been attempting
to get Bonn to postpone sending a trade del-
egation to Communist China, but industrial and political pres-
sure for such trade is becoming stronger. The government has
stated that no embargoed goods will be included, although there
is strong agitation for the inclusion of tractors which may be of
some strategic importance.
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8. WIDE AREAS OF SOUTH KOREA FACING STARVATION
Comment
Widespread starvation -is impending in
the southern and eastern sections of
South Korea, UN Economic Co-ordinator
Warne reports. The Korean government
has no relief plan and the Ministry of
Finance says it is helpless as the budget
provisions for relief are severely limited.
Korean rice output in 1956 was down by
17 percent from 1955. In the southern
and eastern sectiondi however, the decrease was from 25
to 35 percent. According to one press report, many persons
in the eastern province of Kyongsang are reduced to eating
bark, grass and roots.
CARE has initiated a relief program for
the. Kyongsang area on the basis of a survey which indicated
that 18,700 farm families in this area are in desperate need
of relief .grain.
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9. CHINESE NATIONALIST PREMIER CITES FOREIGN
POLICY OBJECTIVES
Public endorsement of a seven-nation
Pacific alliance, together with the first
implication that Taipei desires to in-
crease its contacts with neutralist na-
tions, highlighted Premier O. K. Yui's
report to the Chinese Nationalist legis-
lature on 15 February. Yui stated that
the Nationalists contemplate an anti-
Communist alliance with the United States,
Japan, South Korea, Thailand, South Vietnam and the Philip-
pines.
He then added that Taipei would welcome
"co-operation" with all free world nations, including those�
which recognize Communist China. This statement contrasts
with Taipei's past coolness toward nations not recognizing Na-
tionalist China and, together with the pact proposal, "may
introduce an intensified campaign to raise Taiwan's interna-
tional prestige ."A
Nationalist China, which is not a member
of SEATO, has long favored the idea of a regional military
pact. South Vietnam's coolness toward past Nationalist over-
tures, together with the difficulty presented by friction between
Japan and Soup Korea, makes such a pact improbable.
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