Well that certainly made for some interesting reading. If anything it confirmed what we already knew.
My thoughts are, if I was the PM on that sector I would sure as hell push those thrust levers up myself at any speed below VREF. I have had to take corrective action twice in my aviation career so far - once from a captain and once from an FO and I'd do it again if necessary. At the end of the day it is your arse on the line too, so who cares what the other guy thinks just get in there and do it if he/she is clearly unaware. If they have an issue with it you can sort it out later on the ground when everyone is still alive!
It goes to show the level of complacency we now have with automation. I won't go into that as it has been done to death in here, but it really does boggle the mind that two seemingly professional pilots could not complete one of the most basic aviation maneuvers that any pilot should be able to do with their eyes closed. Maybe it is a training issue, or an experience one, who knows, but something needs to change because we are heading down a dangerous path that has been decades in the making. Either take the pilots out of the cockpit altogether or give them a lot of training to make them much better!