1. I think the net only disintegrates if the content is considered non-local. For example I wouldn't expect someone in turkey reading TBB to care about a local protest in Swindon.

ET is international(ish) by definition because the content is either explicitly European or has a Euro angle.

Not every blog needs to have a scope that's quite this wide. You can easily split content into International, Euro-wide, national, local and subject-specific issues, and let people pick and choose which they want to read. If someone on the Euro side finds some local content interesting, they'll very likely translate enough of it to make it worth discussing.

2. You don't need to confuse the user. You can have a themed log-in portal that picks out one stream - e.g. energy news - by default. Then once they're in they can read a note that says 'By the way, did you know there's more...?' and they're off and running.