As a matter of fact, the same issue did occur to US-based-airlines, and the pilots did catch it. That does not however answer the question of whether they just got lucky, or were more skilled, though there are some indications that it may have been skill.

It's not really the same. Pilots need extensive training for how to handle emergency situations and maintenance crew don't. It's not super harsh to say that pilots in different regions are at different levels for those weird situations. It is super harsh to say that maintenance crews in some regions can't do their baseline job.

Boeing themselves, including their CEOs, kept repeating that bullshit. Even after the FAA finally realised the issue, and refused Boeing's first attempted fix that relied on pilots being able to identify the situation and enact the procedure within 10 seconds (in various tests in a Southwest training center, it was around 30s on average). Then the FAA mandated a full redesign of the MCAS system to actually rely on two sensors and handle disagreements. And Calhoun kept repeating that "this wouldn't have happened with American pilots".