By Andrew Hill
Published: July 17 2007 03:00 | Last updated: July 17 2007 03:00
Good news for Russia’s soon to be expelled diplomats: they won’t want for British-style Formica-topped chopping surfaces. The opening of a B&Q in Moscow (well, technically a Castorama, also owned by Kingfisher), will enable them to spend their first weekend back home struggling with a flat-pack kitchen and an Allen key, just as they did when they lived in Kensington.
The coincidence of cold war-era diplomacy with the announcement of the UK group’s plan to open 50 stores in Russia raises hopes of a self-reinforcing mutual investment programme. The reality is somewhat less rosy. DSG, owner of Currys, dropped its plan to buy Eldorado, Russia’s leading electrical goods chain, only last month, blaming “corporate, economic and political risks”. For all the Foreign Office spin on strong economic relations between the two countries, oil companies such as BP and Royal Dutch Shell have struggled to put a positive gloss on Russia’s clampdown on their oil investments. Let’s hope, though, that economic relations never really deteriorate, for if it comes to tit-for-tat expulsions, the UK’s main options are limited: relegate Chelsea and drive Gazprom out of Cheshire.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
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: 
MORE DETAILS:
A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
