One suggestion which might help put things in country-specific context (rather than resorting to geographic forum splits) is to make it mandatory for all users to display a City/State/Country in their ID on the LHS of the posting area.
I doubt that anyone would have a "privacy issue" with this, but it would immedialtely let you know where someone was coming from (literally) !
It might also help to get members together - if F.Smith & H.Jones just have Locn = USA, they might never know they are near neighbours - this has happened here in Oz, where people have been posting away for ages, then someone asks the magic question & it turns out the other bloke only lives 20 mins away.
Kind Regards,
Peter D.