Washington, Mar 18 (UNI) The US-Russia ties have no prospects during the next term of incumbent Russian President Vladimir Putin, former US Assistant Treasury Secretary Paul Craig Roberts told Sputnik.
"There is no hope for US-Russian relations … The budget and power of the US military-security complex, a powerful lobby encompassing the armaments industry, the Congress elected by campaign contributions, and the CIA and FBI, depends on having an enemy. Russia is the enemy of choice," Roberts said. "Americans were trained by decades of the Cold War that there is a "Russian threat."
Another reason why there is no hope for normalization of Washington-Moscow relations, Roberts said, is that US foreign policy in the Middle East is controlled by the Israel lobby.
"Israel's interests in the Middle East differ completely from Russia's interests," he said. "Israel's interest is the destruction of Iran, which would open a pathway for CIA ‘jihadis’ to flow into the Russian Federation and the former Central Asian provinces of the Soviet Union. Instead of one Ukraine, there would be many."
Roberts went on to say that Putin has the concept of good and evil.
"He is learning that in the West he faces evil. The Russian Church sees it as well and supports him," he concluded.
Vladimir Putin is leading in the presidential election in Russia with 87.29% of the votes after processing 94.07% of ballots, data from the Russian Central Election Commission (CEC) showed on Monday.
UNI/SPUTNIK GNK