Outstanding politicians must necessarily be outstanding actors, yet outstanding actors are not necessarily outstanding politicians.
Don't be fooled by the look of those parliament members in the House of Commons, with their hooligan-like disdain for life and death, ready to fight at disagreement; in reality, each and every one of them is a cunning person, the most ruthless realist, and a thoroughbred animal of interest. If they really preferred throwing punches over brainstorming, they would never have climbed to their current positions.
Everyone actually sees the situation very clearly: faced with the empire's assertiveness, the republic has no second path but to bow its head. What diplomats can do is merely to bargain as much as possible to secure a less harsh unequal treaty for the republic.
