In the last section of my book “Grand Deception”  (currently banned, but available here in kindle, nook, or pdf formats), titled “Toward the New U.S. – Russian Alliance” I wrote that, “Perhaps more than at any point in history, the future of humanity lies in the hearts and minds of the people of the United States and the people of Russia. Do we dare imagine the world we could all build together if we rejected the needless fear and hostility?” Recently the relations between Russia and the West have deteriorated, triggering a new Cold War that could degenerate into a hot one, whose consequences would be too harrowing to contemplate.

In order for us to avoid making a massive mess of things, U.S. leadership must rise above the relentless hostility towards Russia and to engage instead in friendly and constructive cooperation. Today, President Trump’s administration took another important step in this direction by holding a high-level meeting between the Chairman of its Joint Chief of Staff, General Joseph Dunford and his Russian counterpart, General Valery Gerasimov.

These high level meetings and the diplomatic footwork that makes them possible, should be lauded and encouraged. Whatever the differences exist between Russia and the United States today, they should be worked out through open, friendly and constructive engagements that should in turn further the mutual understanding and respect between the two nuclear powers and help dissolve the Cold War hostilities. The importance of this process should not be underestimated. Here’s another excerpt from my book’s concluding remarks:

“… in absence of hostility, the two powers could take steps to rid the world of nuclear weapons and end the senseless and costly global arms race. That would free up vast resources that could be allocated to building a future with far more prosperity and freedom than ever before.

I don’t know whether we can attain utopia, but I do know that we don’t have to destroy the world. Perhaps, just like in the 19th century, the future lies in the hands of the Russian and American people. On June 22, 1944, American mystic and reverend Edgar Cayce said:

In Russia there comes the hope of the world, not as that sometimes termed of the communistic, or Bolshevik, no; but freedom, freedom! That each man will live for his fellow man! The principle has been born. It will take years for it to be crystallised, but out of Russia comes again the hope of the world.

I believe that this hope depends on what the world does with it. Still, the most important struggle perhaps, is the struggle to engage the American people who I believe hold the keys to the future of humanity. As Georg Friedrich Hegel prophesized in his 1830–31 lectures on the Philosophy of History:

“America is therefore the land of the future, where, in the ages that lie before us, the burden of the World’s history shall reveal itself.”

Whatever one may think about President Putin or President Trump, we all should hope that their respective administrations can work together in a constructive way and move humanity step by step toward a lasting peace. Then the history of the world might reveal itself as something good to look forward to.

Alex Krainer is a hedge fund manager and author of one book on commodities trading and one “geopolitical thriller” which was banned from publishing in the land of free speech. It is now available online in electronic format under the title “Grand Deception: The Browder Hoax.” Paperback version will soon be in distribution through traditional channels.