As it pertains to China, agreed.  But consider that all major
manufacturers of war planes are doing very well selling "old tech"
fighters and tactical bombers all over the earth.  Sad, but true.
These include the F-16, among other platforms.  And, as we have seen
in Venezeula, it sometimes does not take much to turn a friend into an
enemy.  It would be wise to insure that we always have the technical
advantage, wouldn't you think?

Yes indeed. This is where the process of "ratcheting begins". The US is
spending as much on defense as the next 17 or so countries put
together. You do not need a military establishment of that size to
fight countries armed by the salesman.

I said ratcheting because if you spending dwarfs the rest of the world
you are the person who ultimately supplies the salesman. Venezuela
would not get very far with a war of aggression waged with F16s. It
might be able to produce enough body bags in a defensive land war to
win.

Do you not think that the activities of the CIA in Latin America in
general and Venezuela in particular are part of the reason for
resentment

I think that any country has to have enough conventional foreces for
its legitimate defensive needs. The disparity between the US and other
countries is what gives rise to the perception that the US is
determined to wage wars of aggression. A large disparity is also a
temptation for politicians to get themselves into situations they
cannot easily extracate themselves from.

A disparity in military force on the scale of the US is destabilizing
for the world as a whole. UFOs only serve to incease the unease about
this disparity.