One lesson I learned very early on in the service was "believe none of what you hear, & only half of what you see." This certainly applies in this case. I enjoy hearing the comments from "someone who knows someone who heard something." I value such statements for their entertainment purposes only.
As far as the foreign students go, I think it was Baronman who put it best about how they're here, but not really a part of what the rest of us do. I can sympathize with Chunk, I felt the same way when I returned from the Gulf War ten years ago. Now recent events have reopened old wounds, but that is a whole other story. If you look at it from FlightSafety's point of view, a lot of their credibility and raison d'etre is based on their ab initio training of pilots of major foreign carriers. Think about it, these students have already been screened by their airlines & have jobs waiting for them. The only screening the rest of us have is our medical certificates & our Key loan applications. Of course they are going to bend over backward for these foreign students. Is that right and/or fair? Who cares, often times goals worth attaining are difficult to reach. Every week there are regular joes like you & me coming here to train, which of course they appreciate, but coming on our own without an airline sponsorship doesn't add to their image. Airlines can choose to send their new hires anywhere, & FSI does all they can to keep them coming here. Is there a huge problem of foreigners taking our CFI jobs? I wasn't aware of it...but what do I know. My CFI is an American. I do know that the competetion for CFI jobs here at FSI is pretty high, as one would expect when there is little action further up the career ladder.
While the picture may not look as bleak as it did a few months ago, as there is some hiring activity at the regionals, everyone should have realistic expectations of the time & effort it is going to take to get to where you want to be. I have not until recently taken an active role in this board, but I do remember a post from a while back from someone who was griping about how FSI's marketing dept. told him the truth about the current employment outlook. That says a lot about people's expectations. They don't want to dwell on the facts, but cling on for dear life to innuendo.
Just some food for thought.