While the world watches Ukraine fight for its survival, a quiet betrayal is unfolding in plain sight. The Trump administration isn’t negotiating peace. It is brokering a global business deal. And the beneficiaries aren’t the people of Ukraine. They are the same political and financial elites who have profited from chaos and conflict all along.
This week, the White House let the mask slip. U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, a real estate developer with no diplomatic credentials, sat down with Vladimir Putin not to confront him over Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine but to explore what the administration casually calls “compelling commercial opportunities.”
Let’s be clear about what that means. The U.S. is proposing an economic partnership with the same regime that launched an unprovoked war, slaughtered civilians, bombed cities, and shattered international law. In exchange for a temporary ceasefire — not justice, not withdrawal, not accountability — the Kremlin could be offered access to American investment, trade, and a pathway back to global respectability.
This isn’t diplomacy. This is a transnational crime spree, wrapped in the language of statecraft.
While Russia gets the promise of U.S. business and economic normalization, Ukraine is being cornered into a separate deal. One that hands its critical mineral wealth over to American corporate interests. The so-called “minerals deal” offers no real security guarantees for Ukraine, only a future shaped by U.S. profit motives. Ukraine, a nation defending its existence, is being treated like a business acquisition.
This is what happens when the machinery of government is run like a real estate deal. Wars become market openings. Occupation is just a temporary condition, and human suffering is negotiated away for corporate profits. The same cycle that drove Putin to invade in the first place is being rewarded with investment, handshakes, and a fresh line of credit.
But what does this mean for citizens of the United States? This deal is not just a betrayal of Ukraine it’s a devastating blow to the American public as well. Here’s why:
- Undermining Democracy and International Law: By offering Russia a business partnership without accountability, the U.S. is signaling to the world that violating international law and committing atrocities can be rewarded. This further undermines U.S. influence globally and weakens our position as a defender of democracy and human rights. The long-term impact is a more unstable world where rogue states are emboldened, and the U.S. continues to lose its moral high ground.
- Corporate Profits Over National Security: The proposed minerals deal doesn’t secure long-term U.S. interests or stability. Instead, it enriches corporate giants at the expense of ordinary Americans and Ukrainians. This is a classic case of crony capitalism — where political elites and their corporate allies make deals that serve their bottom line, while leaving the American people to pick up the pieces. The true cost of these partnerships will be paid in weakened labor standards, environmental degradation, and an economy that serves the interests of the few, not the many.
- Diminished Global Leadership: Striking backdoor deals with Putin weakens our credibility on the global stage. U.S. allies will continue to lose trust in us, and adversaries will see this as an invitation for more aggression. In a world that looks to America for leadership, this is a dangerous precedent — one where business interests trump the values of liberty, freedom, and justice.
- Increased Economic Instability at Home: These deals aren’t just bad for Ukraine — they’re bad for U.S. workers and consumers. American businesses involved in these partnerships could outsource jobs, compromise environmental protections, and create greater income inequality. The long-term result? A further entrenchment of the power of the corporate elite while the American middle class suffers from stagnating wages and job insecurity.
- Crony Capitalism at Its Worst: This entire strategy reeks of crony capitalism. High-level corporate insiders, well-connected political figures, and oligarchs on both sides of the Atlantic are lining their pockets, using the mechanisms of state power for their own enrichment. The U.S. government should be representing its citizens, not corporate interests, yet this deal — like so many before it — serves the wealthy few. It’s a corrupt system where decisions are made behind closed doors, based on the profits that can be squeezed from war, exploitation, and global instability.
This is the purest expression of the Trump doctrine. Cash over country. Profits over principles. Russia is being offered a lifeline, not held accountable for war crimes. Ukraine is being forced to trade its sovereignty for survival. And the American people are being sold a lie that this is what peace looks like.
But this is not peace. This is capitulation, wrapped in contracts. A new phase in which corruption and greed drive international policy, where the interests of a few will shape the fate of millions.
History will remember whether the United States stood for democracy, or whether it sold it off to the highest bidder.
