Ariane 5 had not been launched when the redesign was undertaken, nor was today's Russian-EU cooperation in place.

Neither the design nor inclination of the ISS is what either you or I or many would have chosen, but then that's pretty much moot, now isn't it.

Those responsible did as best they could given the conditions of the time, and it really is pretty good.

Technologies developed include:
1) assembling large structures in space
2) developing international co-operative strucutres
3) developing multi-language operations
4) developing technologies for continuous operation in space

Items 1 and 4 are required for manned Mars flight.

If you think that manned Mars flight is likely to have to be internationally financed, and that is my own conclusion, then items 2 and 3 become essential as well.

My guess is that Griffin's/Zubrin's go it alone plan is going to crash and burn, and I'm not aslone in this. I watched this type of wreck before with Bush Snr's SEI, and it will be painful. It's hard to say what the future will hold in store, and things will look dark for a while, but the outcome will most likely be that manned space flight will survive.