A tweet posted by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo condemning the landing of two Russian bombers in Venezuela as a "squandering" of public money, has quickly backfired, with many eager to point out some glaring hypocrisies.

Russia sent the two Tu-160 strategic bombers on the 10,000km trip to land at Simón Bolívar International Airport on Monday in a show of support for the government of President Nicolas Maduro, which has repeatedly expressed concerns that the US is trying to topple it.

Maduro on Sunday warned of an effort "directly coordinated from the White House to disturb democratic life in Venezuela" and a possible "coup" against the government.

Pompeo eagerly denounced Russia for sending the bombers "halfway around the world," writing that it amounted to "two corrupt governments squandering public funds, and squelching liberty and freedom while their people suffer."

But the responses to the tweet were probably not quite what Pompeo anticipated, with many noting that the US has been known to send its own bombers around the world without much consideration for national boundaries and international law.

Others pointed out that the US not only sends its own bombers wherever it wants but actually has hundreds of bases for them all over the world.

Mike Pompeo is in no position to claim that sending two strategic bombers to Venezuela was a "squandering" of public funds, Moscow countered, saying half of the US military budget is enough "to support all of Africa."

The US Secretary of State produced a lengthy tirade on Twitter on Tuesday, claiming the arrival of two Russian Tu-160 bombers was an example of "two corrupt governments squandering public funds, and squelching liberty and freedom while their people suffer." Later in the day, the remark was met with a sharp rebuke from the Kremlin.

"This is indeed very undiplomatic," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists, adding, "we think it was an utterly inappropriate comment." US President Donald Trump might "give his own assessment" of Pompeo's statement as he did in the past, he said.

Saying that, Peskov made a veiled reference to President Trump's inflammatory tweet in which he accused Rex Tillerson, Pompeo's predecessor, of lacking the "mental capacity" to do his job. "He was dumb as a rock and I couldn't get rid of him fast enough. He was lazy as hell," Trump tweeted.

"As far as the 'squandering' is concerned, we don't agree with that," Peskov stated, noting that half of the bulky US military budget "would be enough to support all of Africa."

[...]

That aside, it has recently emerged that Donald Trump has committed to a $750bn military budget, despite earlier labeling the $716bn previously allocated for defense 'crazy'.

Above all, the mammoth US military budget has long been the largest in the world. According to the reputed Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), it dwarfs the defense expenditure of Russia, China, India, the UK, France, and Germany combined.

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