THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 1 OCTOBER 1976

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0006466860
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: October 1, 1976

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The President's Daily Brief
October 1, 1976
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Exempt from general
declassification schedule of E 0 11652
exemption caiegory 5Bil),(2),(3)
declassified only on approval of
the Director of Central Intelligence
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USSR:
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
October 1, 1976
Table of Contents
Lebanon: The main Syrian offensive in Mount Lebanon apparently
paused yesterday, .possibly to give the Palestinians a chance
to meet Syrian terms. The "mini summit" scheduled for Sat-
urday may not include Syria. Egyptian Foreign Minister
Fahmi ha's gone to Paris unexpectedly to consult President
Giscard about Lebanon. (Page 2)
Japan: Prime Minister Miki's chances for weathering the chal-
lenge to his leadership and remaining in office through this
year's elections have improved. (Page 4)
China-USSR:
Notes: Iran-USSR; USSR (Kirilenko); USSR
(Pages 7 and 8)
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; Cuba
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USSR:
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*
LEBANON: The main Syr-
ian offensive in Mount
Lebanon apparently
paused yesterday, Pos-
* *
The Syrians will be in no mood to
compromise
sibly to give the
Pal-
estinians a chance
to
meet Syrian terms.
Casualties re-
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portedly are low, indicating that
the Palestinians made little ef-
fort to resist the Syrian advance.
--continued
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An Egyptian newspaper
reported yesterday that
the "mini summit" has
been scheduled for Sat-
urday in Jidda.
Egyptian Foreign Minis-
ter Fahmi arrived unex-
pectedly in Paris yes-
terday to consult Pres-
ident Giscard.
The Palestinians clearly are edgy.
I Sources of the US
embassy in Damascus have reported
that several Syrian battalions,
including armor and artillery, en-
tered Lebanon earlier this week.
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Arab League mediator Hasan Sabri
al-Khuli told moderate leftist
leaders yesterday that five Arab
states--presumably excluding
Syria--have agreed to attend.
We believe that the Saturday date
may be an Egyptian attempt to rail-
road Syria into cooperating. Syria
would be reluctant to attend such
a meeting at this juncture, but
would probably be unable to hold
out against a summit if the Saudis
were determined to hold one.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry told
the US embassy in Cairo only that
the visit involved Lebanon. The
press in Cairo has speculated that
Lebanese Christians are consider-
ing a request for the intervention
of French troops as a peacekeeping
force. Egypt undoubtedly would
fear that the presence of French
troops would further tip the mili-
tary balance toward the Christians
and Syrians.
On the other hand, the Egyptians
probably would welcome and encour-
age a French diplomatic effort for
which they would share some of the
credit.
* * *
--continued
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JAPAN: Prime Minister
Miki's chances for
weathering the chal-
lenge to his leadership
and remaining in office
through this year's
lower house elections
have improved.
CHINA-USSR:
Since the Diet opened two weeks
ago, Miki has clearly gained some
breathing room as a result of the
political truce with his opponents
Liberal Democratic Party leaders
remain united on the need to pass
a number of pending fiscal bills
during the current session, and
Miki has dealt carefully with sen-
sitive issues.
Miki's rivals are increasingly
pessimistic over the chances for
renewing the challenge to the
Prime Minister. That change in
mood has resulted in large part
from dissatisfaction with the ap-
proach of Deputy Prime Minister
Fukuda,
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the party leaders' desire
to curtail political infighting in
an election year and the need of
candidates to start campaigning
will diminish his opponents' abil-
ity to challenge him at the spe-
cial party convention later this
month.
* * *
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--continued
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The USSR
is still taking a con-
ciliatory approach to-
ward China.
These signals are in
Zine with previous So-
viet moves.
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This morning, the Soviets seized
on China's national day to send
two additional signals to the Chi-
nese leadership. The USSR's mes-
sage of greetings emphasizes that
the "normalization" of relations
would serve those "interested in
the building of socialism and com-
munism."
In addition, an article today in
Pravda stresses that the USSR is
prepared to normalize relations."
The article also points out that
there are "no problems" that can-
not be solved given the "mutual
desire to...take into account each
other's interests."
The USSR has tailored its media
treatment of China to appeal to
those Chinese leaders who may fa-
vor some normalization in state
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relations. During his speech to
the UN General Assembly on Tuesday,
Foreign Minister Gromyko also
pointed to Moscow's readiness to
"normalize" relations.
The USSR is building an effective
case that it is striving to im-
prove relations while China con-
tinues to be intractable. The
frequency of Soviet gestures sug-
gests that Brezhnev does not want
to be open to the charge made
against Khrushchev in the early
1960s of pursuing an unnecessarily
militant policy toward China and
of failing to try a more tactful
approach.
* * *
--continued
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Iran\
/SovietV
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Soviet party secretary
Andrey KiriZenko's 70th
birthday last month was
saluted with appropriate
honors, including the
publication of his col-
lected speeches and ar-
ticles.
The USSR may be planning
to send a new crew to
the Salyut 5 space sta-
tion in mid-October.
*
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NOTES
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*
*
As Brezhnev's unofficial deputy,
Kirilenko still seems the most
likely interim successor in the
event of the General Secretary's
sudden death or incapacitation, and
these almost obligatory honors serve
to draw attention to his favorable
position in the hierarchy.
In receiving his second "Hero of
Socialist Labor" award and official
praise for his speeches, Kirilenko
has caught up with the other senior
leaders--Brezhnev, President Pod-
gorny, Premier Kosgyin, and party
secretary Suslov. All except Brezh-
nev have already celebrated their
70th birthdays. Brezhnev, whose
honors came early, will be 70 in
December.
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mission rehears-
als will begin on October 10, with
the launch date perhaps a week or
so after.
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*
The fourth convoy of
Cuban ships returning
from Angola arrived late
yesterday at the mili-
tary port of Mariel,
just west of Havana.
The Salyut 5 military space station
has been in orbit since June 22.
Two cosmonauts manned it for 48
days in July and Au ust
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*
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Photography of the ships,
does not provide any
conclusive evidence as to the num-
ber of personnel aboard. Although
few persons were visible on the
ships' decks, many hatches were at
least partially open and some
draped with canvas awnings, indi-
cating that some passengers were
being carried in the holds. The
attempt at concealment on the lat-
est convoy suggests that Cuba has
tightened security to deny us in-
formation about the contents of the
convoys.
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Ships in this convoy and the previ-
ous one were very similar in appear-
ance. They were all riding high in
the water, for example, and several
carried on deck a type of antiair-
craft machinegun usually associated
with ground forces. More deck
cargo--military trucks and heavy
construction equipment--was visible
than in the third convoy.
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