I've read of certain things (such as a fleet of diesel submarines to defend against the much more expensive american naval fleet), drones, and others where they

I've read of certain things (such as a fleet of diesel submarines to defend against the much more expensive american naval fleet), drones, and others where they get more bang for the buck than american investments. ... and as if our military's 640 billion in spending isn't grossly inflated by corruption by the small number of defense contractors. If a country has ICBMs and nuclear warheads, it is certainly NOT a paper tiger. This kind of thinking, besides disrespectful, leads to stupid generals conceiving of "acceptable losses" in nuclear exchange wars and other horrifying fantasies. And it almost happened several times in the Cold War.