Having worked in the middle east and far east also as quality assurance I can assure you the reasoning is quality.
These bases have been able to and have accepted any licence in the past. There have of course at times been language issues but the main problem was not even their skills, it was their safety culture or rather lack of it in comparison to your average Brit or Aussie.
So yes you are right, I can give any European a screwdriver and ratchet set and they will do the same job. But ask about safety and consequence of action or lack of action and most Europeans are left looking at the ceiling.
Very true, especially with some of the work I've seen from our Polish cousins. Rap with the silent "C" is a good word for it!
As for Matmax's English. Sentences in English and French start with a capitial letter. Is your technical French on your documentation as grammatically as bad as your posts on this forum?