EXTRACT: His KGB background should also make him realistic in assessing Russia’s strengths and weaknesses in dealing with the outside world. There is a tendency to overestimate Russia as an “energy superpower”: it still needs Western technology. This may lie behind Russia’s cavalier dealings with foreign oil companies such as Shell and BP, which it wants to force out of contracts that it dislikes. There are suggestions that Exxon’s new deal with China may prompt a strategic reassessment. But pressure on Shell shows no sign of abating. Mr Putin’s vaunted plain speaking should extend beyond domestic issues to a new realism on foreign policy.
THE ARTICLE
Russians get a chance to question their President
October 26, 2006
President Putin’s acerbic repartee is becoming notorious in the West: the latest example of his penchant for turning criticism back on his critics came at last week’s summit in Finland, when he ridiculed the Spanish over corruption on the Costa del Sol and noted to the Italians that “mafia” was not a Russian word. Russians, however, like a leader who can think on his feet and hold his own. And yesterday they again saw their President at his most fluently convincing when he spent three hours answering questions in a national television phone-in.
The President as shock jock has become an annual event, and this year hundreds of thousands of Russians sent in questions, hoping to be selected to voice their concerns. Such accessibility is welcome, and Mr Putin was well prepared, with a command of statistics and policies that few previous incumbents could match. But the concerns of Russians differ from those of foreigners. Little was said on the state of democracy, freedom of the press, curbs on non-governmental organisations or the independence of the judiciary. Callers, admittedly preselected, focused on economic prospects, social welfare, pensions, transport infrastructure and the environment.
Mr Putin did, however, cover two foreign issues that have caused considerable concern within Russia and abroad: the escalation of Moscow’s quarrel with Georgia and North Korea’s nuclear test. On neither did he give answers that were reassuring. He insisted, sarcastically, that Russia was not seeking to take over the two breakaway regions in Georgia as it had enough territory of its own. But he did not give any promise that Russia would restore energy and communications links or halt the deportation of Georgians alleged to be illegal immigrants in Russia. Nor did he suggest that Moscow would back Western efforts to put pressure on Pyongyang, warning Washington instead not to back North Korea into a corner.
On one issue, however, Mr Putin was unambiguous: he would not seek a third term as president. That will disappoint many Russians, whose attachment to constitutional process is far weaker than their enthusiasm for an authoritarian figure at the helm. They hope that his cryptic remarks about wanting still to have influence in the country presage some device for keeping him as the real ruler. But Mr Putin is sufficiently realistic to understand the dangers of any such fudge.
His KGB background should also make him realistic in assessing Russia’s strengths and weaknesses in dealing with the outside world. There is a tendency to overestimate Russia as an “energy superpower”: it still needs Western technology. This may lie behind Russia’s cavalier dealings with foreign oil companies such as Shell and BP, which it wants to force out of contracts that it dislikes. There are suggestions that Exxon’s new deal with China may prompt a strategic reassessment. But pressure on Shell shows no sign of abating. Mr Putin’s vaunted plain speaking should extend beyond domestic issues to a new realism on foreign policy.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,542-2421796,00.html
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
