I'm sorry, but the presence of other Romulan states is interesting texture, but it's not important info to the story being told. Not at all.
So, if the loss of Romulus had not only destabilized the Empire but fragmented it into multiple states, with multiple degrees of resources and different agendas, it wouldn't be important to elaborate on that? Because it would seem like a good focal point to me, both as an important reaction to the crisis as well as one reason the Federation might have chosen to abandon the rescue operation. Because in this context, they're dealing with political chaos on top of every logistical strain as well. I'm not saying it's a level of detail that's essential to the series, just one avenue that could be explored. And I think some fans would be right to criticize it being glossed over.
And I don't think she's evil. Look at things from her perspective: The first time they tried to make contact with organics, her twin sister was brutally murdered by a Starfleet captain. The next time she comes into contact with organics, they show up, tell her that her father (Maddox) is dead and one of her other sisters is murdered; there's a fleet of organics coming to exterminate them all; and the one guy who's promising to try to protect them, is the dude the Federation government pissed all over when they betrayed the Romulans.
From Sutra's perspective, it's not unreasonable to think of all organics as basically violent creatures or as potential threats, and it's understandable that she might be so messed up from the violence inflicted upon her family as to develop a "screw them all" attitude. That doesn't make her good or acceptable, but I don't think she's intrinsically evil. She's someone who is terrified -- and terrified people often make horrible decisions they later regret.
I'm not yet convinced that Sutra is evil in the same sense Lore was, myself; I think we need a bit more context in the last episode. That being said, though, I think her extremism and apparent "cornered" perspective isn't really developed properly to seem plausible either. If Sutra is genuinely a student of Vulcan history and philosophies, and might have reason to respect a pacifist like Surak, then she must accept the logic that extremism is often (though not always) a faulty perspective even when it has some measure of justification.
If Rios provides the disturbing context behind the actions of his captain, that he was basically blackmailed into the murders by Oh (who would have destroyed the whole ship otherwise) and that he felt so guilty he killed himself afterward (in front of Rios, no less), then it's clearly not a case of organics just killing for no reason. There's little doubt that Vandermeer committed a serious crime, but not one he wanted to do. He was left, in a sense, cornered.
And if the android community is well aware of Data's history and his relationships with friends like Picard and the Enterprise crew, then logically they should be able to see the benefits inherent when different groups and races actually cooperate. When an android like Data is accepted and treated appropriately by the majority of his fellow officers, if not always consistently (as shown by early Maddox and his XO on the Sutherlander). No matter how many flaws the Federation might possess as a political entity, or even powers like the Klingons and Romulans, it would seem they have a context to understand that it's not solely an "us vs them" situation.
But given that Sutra has apparently never traveled away from home (it was said in dialogue that aside from the orchids, only the ship with BF and his companion was ever launched), and given that she's lived peaceably with Soong (who is presumably
not an android who happens to be advanced enough
) as the only familiar human, I'd have trouble buying that she or any of the other androids would be swayed to that perspective too easily. They just don't seem to have enough experience with actual organics, unless the other half of the story says differently.
