CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00975A001700620001-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 12, 2003
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: September 8, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

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20041'P- SI i -8 '00976 ' - /
8 September 1954
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Copy No.a /
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/ CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
/ ~
/ DOCUMENT NO. / NO CHANGE IN CLASS,
[: ] DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: TS S C "?
/ NEXT REVIEW DATE: SQL QQ -
RUTH: HRH-70.02'
S DATE: I-ZA- (L REVIEWER: 25
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/ State Department review Office of Current Intelligence /
completed
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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2004/4M4 . I (-9W0097
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25X1A SUMMARY
FAR EAST
1. Ambassador Briggs warns of "dangerous" Korean situation (page 3).
SOUTHEAST ASIA
2. Thai believe Pridi now in South China .(page 3).
EASTERN EUROPE
3. Yugoslav wheat shortage reported spurring trade talks with USSR (page 4).
WESTERN EUROPE
4. Campaign for East-West talks improves French Communists' pros-
pects (page 5).
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CIA
FAR EAST
1. Ambassador Briggs warns of "dangerous" Korean situation
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"disquieting" and. "dangerous," Ambassa-
H
b
The present situation in South Korea is
hional state could readily lead to irra-
tional conduct.
er e
dor Briggs warned on 5 Septem
said that President Rhee's disturbed emo-
Briggs believes that Rhee's increased
intransigence, which has led to reckless public attacks on the
American troop redeployments and economic and military aid pro-
grams, and on Japan, stems from Rhee's failure to persuade the
American government to renew the Korean fighting,
Briggs stated that since Rhee still believes
Korea can be united in his lifetime only by force, he is willing to
create an incident with a view toward provoking war.
SOUTHEAST ASIA
2. Thai believe Pridi now in South China:
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The Thai press is headlining Taipei reports
that former premier. Pridi. Phanomyong has
established headquarters in Yunnan as a
preliminary step to launching guerrilla
operations in Thailand, according to the American embassy in Bangkok.
The chief of the Thai Criminal Investigation Department has informed
the embassy that he believes Pridi is in .Kunming, the capital of
Yunnan.
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Meanwhile, Thai Communists have
issued a.lengthy manifesto welcoming Pridi's "new political philos-
ophy" and calling for an all-out struggle against American "imperi-
alists and their puppets:' The manifesto also advocated a 10-point
program including establishment of a government upholding "peace,
freedom and democracy" and opposition to Thailand's participation
in SEAP.
Comment- The manifesto issued by the
outlawed Thai Communists ~ represents the first important propa-
ganda gesture they have made since being put under heavy police
surveillance.by the Phibun regime in late 1952.
Reports from Taipei on Pridi's whereabouts
are not reliable, but many Thai officials believed over a year ago
that he was connected with the Thai autonomous area established by
Peiping in southern Yunnan.
EASTERN EUROPE
3. Yugoslav wheat shortage reported spurring trade talks with.USSR:
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Yugoslav Foreign Ministry counsellor Kopcok
informed the American, embassy on 6 Sep-
tember that Belgrade has agreed to Soviet
requests for trade talks only because of
Yugoslavia's critical shortage of wheat. He said that the Soviet Union
first suggested talks at Geneva last spring, and had brought up the
subject several times since then.
Kopcok said he hoped the trade talks would
initially be concerned with small quantitates. He added, however,
that the trade potential between Yugoslavia and the USSR, if Moscow
would supply wheat, was "regrettably large:' Yugoslavia also hopes
to obtain industrial products in exchange for meats, other agricul-
tural products, shoes, textiles, pyrite ores, bauxite, and hardwoods.
Comment: Yugoslav officials have re-
peatedly stated that trade with the Orbit must be reopened if rela-
tions are to be put on the same "normal" basis as Moscow's rela-
tions with other non-Orbitt nations o These officials have expressed
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the belief that such trade would not reach a large volume. In this
case, Kopcok's alleged fear of a large potential trade, as well as the
timing of the acceptance of trade talks with the USSR, may be an
effort to make Washington more receptive to a recent Yugoslav re-
quest for 700,000 tons of wheat annually for a three-year period
under the American surplus commodity act. The American embassy
estimates that because of current crop failures Yugoslavia is in
urgent need of 400,000 to 500,000 tons of wheat.
It is unlikely that the USSR would be prepared
to supply these needs in view of its own expanded domestic require-
ments under the new course program and the poor prospects for this
year's harvest.
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WESTERN EUROPE .
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4.. Campaign for East-West talks improves French Communists' pros-
pects:
The American embassy in. Paris anticipates
that the French Communist Party, through its
campaign for new four-power talks and
against German rearmament, will increase
its chances of regaining "decisive influence in French political life"
Despite the recent drop in party strength, the Communists are able
to concentrate on an issue bound to gain the support of many Social-
ists, neutralists, and nationalists.
The party's central committee indicated in
a 2 September statement that it expects even greater Socialist sup-
port than it received in the fight against EpC.
Comment: The Communist Party will most
certainly try to exploit Socialist opposition to German rearmament
without strict controls. The Socialists split over the EDC issue, but
are apparently still united. against participation in a government in-
cluding the Communists.
Should the Communist'' present tactics
designed to prevent German rearmament fail, they will probably
adopt a policy of strikes and riots.
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