The number one historical driver of wealth and geopolitical power: proximity to resources. On Mars, you're several times closer than Earth to the majority of the resources in the Solar System, on a planet that has terrestrial mineral resources and the ability to support agriculture. Also, not being at the bottom of such a deep gravity well, you're also at a strategic advantage.
There is absolutely nothing scalable or sustainable about it. When people can build a sustainable community in our own deserts maybe we can talk about a sustainable desert community millions of miles away from our homeland.
Next!
Again, you reveal your ignorance. Constraint isn't required for geopolitical advantage.
> closer to far-away minerals
And you are revealing an ignorance of orbital mechanics and their implications. The shift of geopolitical power away from Europe wasn't because resource constraints were starving certain powers. It was because even more favorable conditions elsewhere manifested even larger economic potentials.