No one ever obtained at the negotiating table what he had not won on the battlefield. Mao Tse-tung 26. Treaties are just scraps of paper. Non-commissioned officers win wars. The lessons of the past are reliable but discouraging.
Politicians mean what they say.
Politicians aren't going to get any smarter. Politicians aren't going to get any nicer. There are no effective official conspiracies. When foreign governments seem to be conspiring, it is only because people ignore the fact that their plans are not secret. Human nature does not change.