Non-American SE's can compete with Google & Yahoo. Unless I'm mistaken, Baidu has a larger market share in China than Google.
The article you quoted mentioned that the name, Quaero was awkward. I think that's an understatement. The word "Google" is odd, but even when it was obscure it was easy to remember and spell. I have a hard time believing Quaero will be so easy for Americans, Australians, Brits, Japanese, and other large markets to remember. Additionally, many Americans have an aversion to anything French, so that's going against them, too.
The only way anyone (American company or otherwise) new will be able to put Google on the ropes is for them to offer something completely new and innovative. Even then, they will have to survive the attempts by the larger SEs to buy them (and their ideas) before someone else does.
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