Sputnik: In what ways can you see the US and Russia actually very shortly begin, in the nearest future, some kind of cooperation?
Doug Wead: The big one is economically, and it can be applied in so many areas. It can be applied, for example, in the relationship with Syria and in dealing with Daesh*. A lot of money and expense can be saved; in dealing with Iran a lot of money and expense can saved. Russia has its own needs; America can participate and help. Trump has brought up this whole thing about the gas pipeline, there are ways that the United States could be harmful to Russia and there are ways that the United States can be helpful by backing off on some of these issues.
The people of the United States do not understand Russian history. I will try to explain to them: 'Hey, Russia invading the Crimea he is like the United States invading Texas; in fact, Crimea was Russian before Texas was American.' Americans don't understand that; they don't get it. The history is too complex for them to understand, I try to explain that Sevastopol is such a critical port that much of the Russian nuclear deterrent is based out of Sevastopol, and therefore they strategically are not going to back out of Crimea. It's hard for Americans to get that and the Democratic Party, that is opposed to Trump, they know that, they understand that and they're playing to that ignorance of history that Americans have to make the relationship a political issue.
READ MORE: Trump: Ties With Russia Have Never Been Worse Due to Years of 'US Foolishness'
Sputnik: Mike Pompeo said the meeting would be beneficial for the US, what do you think his main goals are?
Doug Wead: I think that's what I've just earlier said, that they are economic, and they're related to weapons and disarmament, and military exercises. If Russia is conducting military exercises over a potential war in the Baltic states then NATO will have to conduct military exercises on the same subject, if both of them back down, millions of dollars are saved, and neither has an advantage over the other. I think that's what's coming to mind with Pompeo and then, of course, the fact that millions of dollars can be saved by pulling resources in dealing with terrorism. There are things that the American intelligence is going to stumble on to that can be of great value to Russia and would be very expensive for Russia to try to confirm and learn itself and exactly the same for America.
Sputnik: This is all coming right after the NATO summit, of course, Russia sees NATO as one of its main threats, strategically, in any case, and there was a lot of a concern that Donald Trump would meet with Vladimir Putin prior to the NATO summit, which didn't happen, and that was really a relief many people, what do you think coming out of the NATO summit, is there anything going to be brought from the NATO summit to this meeting with Vladimir Putin?
Doug Wead: Yes: Very good and very bad. I think it might be encouraging to the Russians to see that the United States is kind of demanding that the European nations pay their fair share and if they don't, NATO is weakened and even threatened. Yet, at the same time, Russia has to be very alarmed that Donald Trump has raised this whole issue of the gas pipeline and the new sources of money for Russian in their trade agreements with Germany. The United States under Donald Trump has moved remarkably quickly towards energy independence; we've never had anything quite like that in recent years. Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan — they would be absolutely stunned at the idea that America could be energy independent.
The views and opinions expressed by the contributors do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.
*Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist group banned in Russia
