It would be good, :up:

It shouldn't be surprising that I consider this whole thing to be a waste of time, resources, and capital.

There is absolutely no reason for either the US or EU governments to bother themselves or us with this nonsense. It isn't as if we have a shortage of private companies willing to exploit space at zero cost to the general public. It isn't as if any of the research conducted on the ISS is worth what we pay for it when it is worth anything at all, and it isn't as if a joint effort in building a facility miles above the earth is going to somehow improve international relations.

Every conceivable goal of this project can be more readily accomplished through free trade and private space ventures with whatever goals they hope to accomplish using the gains made by private firms instead of trying to circumvent them. This...whatever its supposed to be is just another classic example of government agencies putting the cart before the horse. Actually, they don't even rate that. They're trying to use a cart without a horse, with the obvious, resultant, and repeated inefficiency one would expect.