The second meeting yesterday was with the direct descendant from Oliver Cromwell, a professional English diplomat – Matthew (Matt) Evans. Matthew was a Vice President of the BAE Systems Company. The military advisor to governments on conflict resolution is working in serious military companies at the present time.

BAE Systems is a UK defense company. The company is engaged in the arming, information security, aerospace developments. The cooperation with foreign customers, in particular with North America, is conducted through a subsidiary of BAE Systems Inc. It `s the largest weapons producing company for 2008.

Photo 1 – Maksim Golosnoy and Matt Evans at the office of BAE Systems.

Photo 2 – Near the Crimean War Memorial.

As he had had a great practical experience, Matt provided advices and taught me the principles of the statesmanship in the resolving of the military conflicts.

Oliver Cromwell is an English statesman, soldier and revolutionary. The Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England in 1653-1658, the leader of the Puritans. The military leader of the Civil War in England, a supporter of parliamentarism, is one of the organizers of the army of the Parliament of England in the fight against the royal army during the Civil War. He is considered to be the national hero of England, despite his actions regarding royal power in the country and the execution of Charles I.

I had dinner with a major financier and developer Desmond L. Bloom on the 35th floor of the most famous building in London – Shard, which he built with his friend – the legendary Irvine Sellar, whose family now owns 20% of this project.

Before the joining this project, Irvine Sellar has gone bankrupt 4 times. When he hadn`t a place to live, he moved to his friend Desmond. But he got back on track and rebuilt his business, ending his life as a billionaire. This example deserves respect – never give up!

The Shard is a skyscraper in London (310 m high, 87 floors). The building was topped out of 310 meters on March 30, 2012, becoming the highest building not only in London, but also in Europe, the fifth-tallest European skyscraper at the moment. The cost of the project – 5 billion dollars.

For me, as for an architect, everything is fantastic in this project. From the basic idea to its implementation. That`s a pinnacle of engineering. For you to understand – the raising on the observation deck (it costs 30 pounds) brings a net profit of at least 500 million pounds a year. There were proposals to sell only this observation deck for 1 billion dollars, but the owners rejected it. The Royal Family of Qatar owns 80% of the building to date.

Desmond Blum was very pleased with our conversation and expressed interest in cooperation with Ukraine. With New Ukraine…

Right in the photo – Matthew Evans (Matt Evans), who I wrote about yesterday – a former Vice President of BAE Systems and Military Advisor to Governments.

Near the Buckingham Palace

Yesterday I was invited to dinner to the luxurious The Goring Hotel, near Buckingham Palace, London.

More than 4 hours I was talking with Michael Jephson (Buckingham Palace), Patrick Jephson and his wife Mary Jo Jacobi. Mary Jo, a businesswoman, a well-known  politician and financier, has been an  advisor to two US presidents, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush senior. She holds leading positions in banking and financial corporations: HSBC (1993-2000), Lehman Brothers (2000-2001), Drexel Burnham Lambert (1985 – 1990). She also worked in the global oil and gas industry as a Vice President of the Royal Dutch Shell Group (2001-2005), as well as an Executive Vice President of BP America after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill (2010-2011).

Patrick Jephson used to be a PA of Princess Diana. His work for Princess Diana included daily working contacts with British and foreign officials at all levels up to the Heads of the State. He organized the international visits for Diana and traveled with her around the world to the USA, Russia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Zimbabwe, Argentina, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. He is an author of two books about Princess Diana “Portraits of the Princess: Traveling with Diana” and “The Shadows of the Princess”.

He personally signed and presented me with these two books!

Within 4 hours, these most honoured people questioned me about the situation in Ukraine, about the energy sector. Especially, they asked me what I’m fighting for, what I want to achieve.

I replied that I`m fighting for the fact that for the first time in almost 28 years of Ukraine’s independence the Constitution has been FOLLOWED. All these years, the authorities thoroughly and persistently dragged the Basic Law of the State in the mud. Today in Ukraine even references to the Constitution are considered to be a “state treason”. They emphasize that some populist changes must be added to it, but nobody says that it should be EXECUTED.

Briefly, I answered that THE CONSTITUTION IS ABOVE THE POLITICAL AMBITIONS.

And suddenly, the next morning in the car, we heard that almost all radio stations were discussing the news that the Queen of the United Kingdom plans to use her constitutional right (the UK is a valid Constitutional Monarchy ) to resolve the parliamentary crisis that had emerged because of Brexit and maybe for the first time she will appoint a new Prime Minister herself!

Maxim Golosnoy