Is there all that much international cooperation going on regarding Mars, if we regard what ESA & the Beagle 2 crew are collaboratively doing as nevertheless being in a competitive relationship with a much more expensive NASA? Meanwhile, although Nozomi's having trouble, Japan's not getting that much help from other nations on that endeavor, is it?

In contrast, ISS no longer has MirCorp to push it to reach its potential. The result has been predictable. But I bet more would be achieved if only Europe was doing Mars through offering competitive prizes instead of through its regionalized socialism....