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An Iranian American academic writes that an Iranian news site is reporting that Iran has decided to suspend uranium enrichment, "as a goodwill gesture," for a period of six weeks. "This action will be taken in return for no further sanctions, and resumption of negotiations with the 5+1 group during this period based on the latest proposed package."

Laura Rozen of MoJo, citing this Iranian site.

It's been a while since we did this kind of direct action at Daily Kos hasn't it?

The Campaign for a New American Policy on Iran (CNAPI) is organizing an innovative "Time to Talk with Iran" event and press conference on Capitol Hill.  With the U.S. Capitol as a backdrop, Members of Congress, celebrities, former officials, and other citizens will use a row of 60’s-era red "hotline" telephones to talk directly to ordinary Iranian citizens. Concurrently on June 10, the Campaign is organizing a nationwide Call-in to Congress for Diplomacy with Iran so those outside of DC can participate and make their voice heard.

Capitol Switchboard (202) 224-3121

This June 7 editorial on the (mostly) English language Iranian.comcaught my eye.

Iranian neocons go after Obama

It deeply saddens me that two women from my native country of Iran have chosen to degrade feminism. Under the misconception that their gender will shield their hatred and deception, Manda Zand-Ervin & Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi hope that even with flawed logic they can dissuade you from seeking dialogue with Iran.

UNASUR, is an acronym that I believe we will all need to know very well in the coming years.

Friday was a monumental day in the History of the Western Hemisphere, and there was all but a complete blackout in the corporate media about this:

South American Nations Form New Regional Grouping: UNASUR

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez described UNASUR as the culmination of the region’s search for unity since South American independence two centuries ago. "Only in unity will we later have, progressively, complete political, economic, cultural, scientific, technological, and military independence," Chávez commented.

I know, it sounds like a joke, but it's deadly serious.

A plan to show some alleged Iranian-supplied explosives to journalists last week in Karbala and then destroy them was canceled after the United States realized none of them was from Iran. A U.S. military spokesman attributed the confusion to a misunderstanding that emerged after an Iraqi Army general in Karbala erroneously reported the items were of Iranian origin. When U.S. explosives experts went to investigate, they discovered they were not Iranian after all.

Pastor John Hagee has two best friends in the Senate: John McCain and Joseph Lieberman. This video shot by Max Blumenthal show just how crazy this guy is. Forward to about 5:05.

Frank Rich's new March 23 Column in the NYT is a good read. Most of the Column is about the Democratic race and has some interesting things to say about Clinton. These I'm sure will be quoted and blogged about soon.

But his verbal assault on McCain is positively poetic.

More blow the fold.

Let's not forget what actually happened 5 years ago and who did what to enable it. Shining light on this truth is still the primary weapon against McBush.

This 2002 USA Today story is very instructive. From McCain's last major European tour.

Sen. John McCain warned Saturday that the USA is prepared to make Iraq its next target in a widening military campaign against global terrorism.

This must be common knowledge to New York news junkies but I only found out about it today. What an incredible story.

When David Paterson was three months old, he got an ear infection that spread to his optic nerve, leaving him legally blind. Fifty-three years later, Eliot Spitzer’s resignation, effective Monday, will make him the first blind governor of New York.

The only reason I'm giving these assholes the time of day is so we can find out who they and the campaign could be prepared for this so-called evidence. ... that and they're really funny.

His mother then married Lolo Soetoro, who was a radical Muslim from Indonesia. At age six, Barack H. Obama, Jr., moved to Indonesia with his mother and step-father, where he attended a Muslim school but also spent two years in a Catholic school. Obama sometimes conceals his Muslim roots by emphasizing that he attended a Catholic school. Obama's step-father is the one who introduced him to Islam, and he enrolled young Barack in a Wahabi school in Jakarta. Here let it be noted that Wahabism is a Radical teaching embraced by Muslim terrorists waging their holy war against the United States.

A Pakistani TV channel has released new images that show Benazir Bhutto was shot in the head before a suicide bomber set off explosives.

This according to Press TV (Iranian).

The indefatigable husband and wife team Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett lay out the best "what's next" scenario in their NYT OpEd titled How to Defuse Iran.

They start out with a sensible question:

Democrats and others are criticizing President Bush for again having "hyped" a nuclear weapons threat. This criticism, while deserved, does not address the critical policy question: What do we do now?

National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley is live on CSPAN talking about Annapolis.

For years the neo-fascist and racist blog "LGF" has been following the footsteps of right wing propaganda sites (such as MEMRI) in posting without permission images and video from middle eastern news agencies, particularly Syrian, Palestinian and Iranian. Of course, there is no one to fight a copyright infringement for the "axis of evil" so they get away with it. But now, they've started doing it to western news agencies with specific photographic reproduction clauses displayed right on the pages.

To be perfectly fair, the exact words used in this AEI press release are these:

Indeed, as Ledeen demonstrates in The Iranian Time Bomb, the relationship between Iran and al Qaeda over the years has been so close that it is difficult today not to conclude that Iran was involved in the 9/11 attacks.

[Hat Tip to this guy over at Iranian.com]

The Kyle-Lieberman (and now Coleman and Alexander) amendment that I diaried about a few days ago is likely to be voted on today. The amdendment is nothing short of another blank check authorizing military "retaliation" to "contain or roll back" Iran and designate Iran's military a "terrorist" organization. The key part of the amendment says:

(3) that it should be the policy of the United States to combat, contain, and roll back the violent activities and destabilizing influence inside Iraq of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, its foreign facilitators such as Lebanese Hezbollah, and its indigenous Iraqi proxies;

(4) to support the prudent and calibrated use of all instruments of United States national power in Iraq, including diplomatic, economic, intelligence, and military instruments in support of the policy...

Please call your Senator right now and ask for a No vote on SA 3017.

More background info, including statement from Sen. Webb below the fold.

Ahmadinejad's upcoming visit to New York City is providing the perfect opportunity to move us closer to a war with Iran. Our Neofascist friends over at National Review couldn't help spill the beans on the next significant step toward war with Iran which is coming up on Tuesday or later in the week.

The resolution — an amendment to a defense appropriations bill — is sponsored by Jon Kyl, Joseph Lieberman, Norm Coleman, and Lindsey Graham. It expresses the sense of the Senate that the U.S. should "combat, contain, and roll back" Iran’s "violent activities and destabilizing influence inside Iraq." It counsels doing so "through the prudent and calibrated use of all instruments of [U.S. power], including diplomatic, economic, intelligence, and military instruments." It also urges the administration to designate the Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organization.