Is Iran ready to negotiate with the West about its nuclear program? Apparently so. Time.com is reporting at Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his country are ready for nuclear talks.

That makes it even more clear that American and European sanctions on Iran are working.

Of course Ahmadinejad says Iran will never bend to the West. Okay, but the evidence says otherwise.

Next December will be the 40th anniversary of man's last moon landing. The 40th anniversary of man's last moon landing! How can that be?

On January 17, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced a U.S./European initiative to create a Code of Conduct for Space. Essentially, it's a movement to stop "congesting" space with more space junk through responsible outer space behavior. That would seemingly prevent mankind from adding to the some 22,000 trackable pieces of space debris that endanger spacecraft and satellites.

Okay, fine. But that sounds kind of "old maidish" given that we're not doing much right now to litter space. I know, one good hit from a loose wrench traveling at 10 miles per second could destroy a communication satellite and shut down phone service along the eastern seaboard.

Bit it's also important to attend the need for human exploration. Those of us who watched Neal Armstrong set foot on the Moon in 1969 thought surely we'd see someone on Mars by 1980. After all, we saw pics from a robot there during the 1976 Bicentennial. Instead we opted to spend thirty years sending the Shuttle into orbit time after time.

The Shuttle was a great program, no doubt. We need reusable craft as part of any effective space effort. Part of any program, not the whole program.

Of course now we're not going into space at all, except on the backs of Russian rockets, and NASA seems to have no direction. Private enterprise space travel isn't going too fast, either.

I applaud the Code of Conduct for Space, but I really wish President Obama hadn't cancelled the Orion program that would have put Americans back on the Moon. Yes, we've been there before, but what if Americans in the 1830s had gone to California once and then never gone back?

When I was a kid I told myself I was going to the Moon before I died. Come on -- I need a ride!

Photo: The Lunar Module of Apollo 9 orbits the Earth in March 1969. It became space junk itself after the mission. It's descent (lower) stage fell out of orbit later that month; the ascent stage remained in orbit until 1981.

Photo courtesy NASA

The U.S. Congress backed away from the SOPA/PIPA internet piracy acts in the wake of heavy opposition by internet users and websites alike. But amid the furor, few people noticed that the Obama White House had positioned itself against SOPA/PIPA well before the web blackout of sites like Wikipedia on January 18.

On January 14, the White House published a blog entitled Combating Online Piracy While Protecting An Open And Innovative Internet. The statement authors are Victoria Espinel, Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator at Office of Management and Budget; Aneesh Chopra, U.S. Chief Technology Officer and Assistant to the President and Associate Director for Technology at the Office of Science and Technology Policy; and Howard Schmidt, Special Assistant to the President and Cybersecurity Coordinator for National Security Staff.

"While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet," the authors write. Essentially, Obama will not sign any current SOPA/PIPA legislation coming out of Congress.

Given his foreign policy position on Internet freedom, Obama could not do otherwise. In 2011 he introduced his International Strategy for Cyberspace which calls for a safe, yet open and uncensored global internet.

No doubt, proponents of SOPA/PIPA will try again, but Obama's already made his opinion known.

In his only real foreign policy speech of the 2012 presidential campaign, Republican candidate Mitt Romney said at The Citadel, "If you do not want America to be the strongest nation on Earth, I am not your President. You have that President today."

In reality, though, Romney's foreign policy plan is little different from Obama's.

In brief, Romney wants an international system conducive to open trade, and political freedom; creative use of hard and soft power in diplomacy; and multilateralism with retained options for unilateral action.

Obama is the champion of multilateralism. Case in point: NATO's successful mission -- with the U.S. a partner among many -- to help Libyan rebels oust dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 2011. Yet Obama also retains the option of unilateral action. Remember the Navy SEALS taking out Osama Bin Laden?

Romney sees a sound U.S. economy as essential for a strong foreign policy, but he ignores the economic chaos that Bush-era military overspending, plus economic deregulation, created. He also skips right by the extra chaos that Tea Party shenanigans wrought twice last year with threats of government shut-downs and debt default.

Romney wants free reign to use both hard (military) and soft (foreign aid, negotiation) power in his international dealings. Obama does both. Romney wants to keep a close eye on China; Obama is shifting American focus to the Asia Pacific region.

It goes on and on. You can check out my brief digest of Romney's foreign policy platform here.

You can also read Romney's policies at his website.

No matter what rhetorical spin Romney puts on any of his policies, he is trying -- to no avail -- to differentiate himself from Obama.

Photo: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney shakes hands with supporters at a South Carolina rally, January 21, 2012.

Photo by John Moore/Getty Images