at this point serves no purpose except to give our enemies something to claim victory withSo what. Sometimes allowing somebody else a "victory" makes it easier to reach your own goals. Brinksmanship may not be the best strategy against people who distrust your every motive and are willing to be suicide bombers.
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
