Successful entrepreneurs are well-skilled at discovering opportunities that generate wealth. Small and large alike, they are the builders and sustainers of growing economies, improving the prosperity of partners, shareholders, communities, and nations worldwide. The success of healthy, sustainable businesses is directly correlated to the overall well-being and quality of life of others. 

However, despite the potential gains, every business opportunity is not always in everyone’s best interest. Greed, corruption, and unethical practices are commonplace, especially when wealth, power, and privilege are at stake. Profits shared among stakeholders and employees are good for business. Extortion, where only a few stand to benefit, is great for the dealer but never for those they claim to be helping. When unethical business practices are applied to nation-state dealings, the public has every reason to be concerned. 

This week, two significant international business deals are being discussed in the open, sold as “bilateral agreements” and “peace deals.” They are named as such because they’re being initiated from The White House. In both Ukraine and Gaza, the President and his allies seem to only have personal self-interest and power in mind. Claiming to be for peace, they’re on the brink of a business deal using the collective economic power of the United States—financed by our tax dollars—and enforced by lethal military deterrence. Agreements like these stand to enrich those at the table while millions lose the freedom and power to choose their own future.

A fantastical Americanized Mediterranean paradise on the site of mass devastation and bloodshed is tantalizing for the wealthy elite who love travel, the exotic, and self-pleasure, regardless of the horrors that transpired before it. Restoration of Gaza and its people is necessary when true peace with Israel is finally achieved. The forced removal and ethnic cleansing of a region is hardly a humanitarian pathway forward and only stands to lead to generational hardship. History has already proven America’s own past land agreements have often done more harm than good.

Additionally, exchanging the security of longstanding European allies and the victims of an unprovoked invasion for resources based on a business deal is only as good as the administration that signed it. The proposed minerals-for-security deal is one of the few remaining options Ukraine is left with for its survival under America’s new doctrine of “it’s just business.” Transactional deals intended to end violent wars without capitulation and restitution will not end well. When powerful nations are involved, there are always long-range ballistics at stake when the deal sours or is no longer in the best interest of one of the parties.

The quest of humanity longs for freedom from tyranny, suffering, and violence by seeking prosperity for our own. We are born to create and contribute to our common survival and collective thriving. Experiencing community, comfort, peace, and purpose is how a conscious human interacts in a living and spiritual world. Modern societies believe people are not for sale. The same principles must be applied to sovereign nations and people groups—regardless of how successful or civilized their self-governance may be.

A hopeful world for everyone seeks holistic and equitable solutions that benefit the well-being and self-determination of all people. Such beliefs are built on respect, compassion, and generosity—the understanding that every person has dignity and is more valuable than a casualty of a business deal.