<...There are also a lot of countries where the powers that be don't like the idea of the people being able to learn about the world except through the "official news agencies."

I think this is pretty much the whole problem. The places that need the Internet information source the most are exactly those places where the leadership doesn't want them to have it.

I don't see a solution for this until, as you point out, the satellite-to-ground Internet link technology matures a bit more. Once a laptop can hit the Net from anywhere in the world with just a small antenna, then you might have something going.