Typical bullshit article that has no idea what it's talking about (the drawings are nice though):

• Outer Space Treaty does not forbid the formation of a nation on Mars. It does not even forbid staking individual land-claims by settlers. What it does forbid is staking land claims by earth-nations.

Copying from Wikipedia:

Key provisions of the Outer Space Treaty include prohibiting nuclear weapons in space; limiting the use of the Moon and all other celestial bodies to peaceful purposes; establishing that space shall be freely explored and used by all nations; and precluding any country from claiming sovereignty over outer space or any celestial body.

Mars settlement passes all of these checks.

Furthermore, people want to go to Mars, not the Moon. Bringing up the moon is only confusing.