In an effort to counter poor media coverage from the West, a group of 114 primarily developing countries have offered an answer: The Nonaligned News Network. Based in Kuala Lumpur, the online outlet bills itself as "a conduit for NAM member countries to tell their story ... to contribute towards the acceleration of the pace of growth in trade among them."

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to place nearly as high a premium on, say, the cultivation of a free and feisty press in these countries, holding politicians to account, or protecting journalists who attempt to do so. The network has even been rubber-stamped by the information ministers of most of the member states, which include Iran, Syria, and Cuba.

In fact, one of the prominently featured stories on the new Web site is a short article titled "Cubans Live Longest in Latin America." That's great news! And that's probably even taking into account those Cubans whose lives are cut short trying to escape.

There hasn't been much written about this endeavor, save for a short blurb in the IHT and a few wire items. It would be great to see a solid force for press freedom and free speech in some of these countries. Western media outlets certainly don't devote enough time to the delicate problems of the developing world. But this isn't it.

I'm not naive enough to think that the administration rhetoric on freedom applies to all countries. But still, look who Secretary Rice hosted this week.   

SECRETARY RICE: Good morning. Welcome. I'm very pleased to welcome the President of Equatorial Guinea, President Obiang.[...]

PRESIDENT OBIANG: (Via interpreter) I thank you so much. We have extremely good relations with the United States. Our country has had good relations with the United States for a very long time and my visit here is simply in order to consolidate and also to establish further ties of cooperation with your country.[...]

Equatorial Guinea's country's state-run radio called Obiang "God" in 2003. The 2005 State Department report on the country says: "The government's human rights record remained poor, and the government continued to commit or condone serious abuses." Obiang came in at number 10 on this year's Parade list of the world's 10 worst dictators:

According to a United Nations inspector, torture “is the normal means of investigation” in Equatorial Guinea. There is no freedom of speech, and there are no bookstores or newsstands. The one private radio station is owned by Obiang’s son. Since major oil reserves were discovered in Equatorial Guinea in 1995, Obiang has deposited more than $700 million into special accounts in U.S. banks. 

But then again, the State Department's background note on Equatorial Guinea probably explains why we're not bothering to fuss about Obiang's human rights record:

Equatorial Guinea is now the third largest producer of crude oil in sub-Saharan Africa, after Nigeria and Angola. Equatorial Guinea's oil reserves are located mainly in the hydrocarbon-rich Gulf of Guinea, containing estimated probable reserves as high as 10% of the world total. As a result, large amounts of foreign investment primarily by U.S. companies have poured into the country's oil sector in recent years.

Hey, we've gotta fill our tanks with gas from somewhere.

My best news Googling effort has produced only one mention of this obvious dissonance this week -- by David Koehler of the PhillyBurbs.com Blogs. Mother Jones has two pieces to provide more background: this profile by Peter Maass and a piece by Dave Gilson on Obiang's role in the Riggs Bank scandal.

Update: I should note that, while the media ignored it, many blogs were on top of this. Examples here, here, here, here, and here.

Despite public statements after the Abu Ghraib scandal indicating that the United States would reduce the Iraqi prison population, the Brookings Iraq Index released this week shows it has more than doubled since June 2004 (pdf report, see p. 17). There are now around 15,000 Iraqi prisoners held by U.S. and Allied forces, in addition to those held by the local authorities. Compare that to the estimated size of the insurgency, between 15,000 and 20,000, and that gives an indication of how wide the net has been cast.