Rick Sterling

Rick Sterling is a journalist and member of the Syria Solidarity Movement based in the San Fransico Bay area. He can be reached at [email protected]

Inauthentic Behavior: SouthFront is the Latest Victim of the Facebook Banhammer

The censorship of alternative media is becoming more widespread. The latest victim to fall to Facebook and YouTube’s overzealous banhammer is well-known conflict watchdog website, SouthFront.

Facebook Censorship Feature

Where can you find daily news, videos, analysis and maps about the conflict in Syria?  Detailed reports about the conflicts in Libya, Yemen, and Venezuela?  News about the rise of ISIS in Mozambique?  The original analysis of events in the United States and Russia? SouthFront is the place, or at least it was before recently being targeted by tech

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Pilger, Burchett and Assange: Three Extraordinary Australian Journalists That Spoke Truth to Power

Australia, writes Rick Sterling, should be proud of its three native sons that were willing to speak truth to power no matter the consequences.

John Pilger, Wilfred Burchett and Julian Assange

Australia has produced extraordinary journalists across three generations:  Wilfred Burchett (deceased in 1983), John Pilger (80 years old but still active) and Julian Assange (48 years old, currently in London's Belmarsh prison). Each of these journalists made unique contributions to our understanding of the world. Although Australia is part of

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Mexico’s President AMLO Is Delivering the Change He Promised

Mexico is in a period of profound change and President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and his Morena Party are charting a dramatically new path for the country. 

AMLO Feature photo

Jeremy Corbyn lost the election but one of his political friends, the progressive Mexican leader named Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has been in power for one year. He is carrying out the plans and priorities described in his 2018 book, "New Hope for Mexico." With 129 million people, Mexico is the 10th most populous country in the world. It has

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For Sama: A Beautiful Yet Deceptive Documentary That Betrays Reality in Syria

On the surface, “For Sama” is about romance and childbirth, but underneath, it is very political.

For Sama Feature photo

The documentary movie "For Sama" has won a host of awards in Europe and North America. Its producers and protagonists, Syrians Waad Kateab and her husband Dr. Hamza Kateab plus English film-maker Edward Watts, have received gushing praise. And the awards will probably keep coming.  Unfortunately, behind the human interest story, the film "For

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Sorting Facts From Fiction About the US Withdrawal From Syria

If one believes in the restoration of international law and the tenets of the UN Charter, then the withdrawal of U.S. military forces from northern Syria is a good thing. Here are some facts and history that explain why. 

Syria US Feature photo

The foreign policy elite is in an uproar. They claim we have abandoned our allies, they question how can America be trusted, they say the decision to withdraw from northern Syria was a gift to Russia, Iran, and Assad, to ISIS even. It is true that the U.S. and NATO policy of interventionism is failing, but that has been true since the invasion of

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Remembering Hisham Ahmed: Activist, Professor and Palestinian Powerhouse

Dr. Hisham Ahmed embodied the Palestinian cause: overcoming huge challenges, resilient, proud, undaunted and steadfast.

Dr. Hisham Ahmed

Hisham Ahmed was born in Deheisheh refugee camp on the outskirts of Bethlehem, Palestine in 1963.  Blind from birth, Hisham somehow surmounted all odds and ultimately earned a Ph.D. from the University of California at Santa Barbara. He taught for many years at Birzeit University in Palestine, before coming to Saint Mary's College of California in

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NPR Mocks Cancer Survivor in Drumbeat of Syria Propaganda

While NPR snorts about Asma Assad “sporting a chic blonde pixie cut”, Lilly Martin points out that she was recently bald while fighting for her life. 

Asma Assad NPR Feature photo

It may be a new low in propaganda. National Public Radio (NPR) used the news that Syrian First Lady Asma Assad had overcome breast cancer to mock her and continue the information war against Syria.  They interviewed a Human Rights Watch staffer named Lama Fakih who is an American from Michigan now based in Beirut. Do you believe Ms. Fakih in

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