That much was also pretty clear in ST4: Starfleet wanted to keel-haul the mutineers, but the public wanted to beatify them. So, they get a replica starship and avoid jail, but as soon as they have had their fifteen minutes of glory, they have to face reality again: they don't get promoted and they don't get good assignments.But it if was all a PR stunt, why did they send them to deal with the hotspot on Nimbus III?
Yeah, even from the first time I saw the movie (and for the record, I like STV) I got the feeling that it was meant to be a failure.
All three govts. didn't give a damn about the place; Starfleet sent one of the one commander guaranteed to cause a shitstorm in a busted ship and the Klingons sent in a trigger happy glory-hound who gets a woody at the thought of taking on a Federation starship. It was like both govts. were trying to trip off a war, just a race to see who pulled the trigger first.