My reference to politics, is just that! There are some factions within the pilot group, union backed or not and ex pilots who now work as government inspectors that try to make a point or influence the direction of the company by failing large numbers of foreign pilots. What that point is, nobody but they really has any clue.
My thoughts:
Direct entry Foreign Captain employment was implemented during the bad days when so many accidents occurred that the airline was about to be banned from operating in some countries and they couldn't get insurance for the aircraft until they promised to employ foreign pilots and change the way they operated. The fact that we are still being employed is viewed by some as an insult to them. So the more of us they fail the better they feel and the bigger the case they can present for us not being needed. Again so they feel better about themselves. I don't think that foreign pilots are necessarily better but generally we have been trained much differently and that is why we were and probably are still required.