Not necessarily disagreeing. But it is equally true that North America could be safer. Stuffing the nose wheel through the front of an aircraft is the sort of thing you expect from the occasional PPL student in a 172. The lack of 'pilotage skill' is on a par with someone who can't manage the aircraft's energy properly at 2-3 miles.
Of course most of us are, at best, making educated guesses about a number of issues.
Yep USA may be safer, but it could do better. I've been in aviation long enough to know that 'good enough' isn't good enough.
Cows getting bigger, Airline piloting skills have gone down world wide. I don't know the Southwest 737 pilot's background, whether she was ex-military or not. But we had the Colgan Air crash in New York State, and that craft was flown by pilots, who were not only non-military background, but didn't even make the wage of rookie ditch digger. I'm the last to say we don't have problems over here, as well. I think that Korea, and possibly other Asian nations, excepting Japan (I think some fine pilots there), has "cultural education" issues, where they learn everything by rote, rather than figuring it out real time, that may hold them back, but the rest of us aren't far behind!