Shell is not the Dutch government, and I'd be fairly surprised if the Dutch government would let its intelligence services be co-opted in this way. The 1950's have not been forgotten here and Ken Saro Wiwa has streets named after him here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Saro-Wiwa

Nah, just a gigantic fraction of the economy, their largest company (the second largest company in the world), and an operator in the world's most cutthroat extractive industry.

Virtually every major city in the US has a street named after MLK, but there are still cops here that single black people out for beatings.

Even if true, there is a huge differential in capability and therefore power.

Right, from Shell's perspective Dutch intelligence services are probably expensive and ineffective. Manipulating Nigerian officials to incarcerate activists is much cheaper and achieves the same goals.

But let's not assume that the Dutch government is therefore off the hook. I would not be surprised if Dutch diplomats extract trade information (through pacts, treaties and simple espionage) that gets passed on to Shell.

We might be low on the James Bond style intelligence signals, but as a country that's an order of magnitude richer than we should be by any sane measure you can bet we've got our trademark smiling men in suits wherever the money flows.

I agree that that's true.