If anyone got an S-300 anti-aircraft missile system as a Christmas present, can I suggest you return it?

The thing’s a dud.

It doesn’t work.

Send it back and demand a refund.

That’s what the Iranian Revolutionary Government should have done last year when American B-2 bombers flew over Iran and bombed the regime’s nuclear reactors.

The Iranian regime had paid a whole heap of moolah to the Russians for the system.

It was meant to shoot down any foreign aircraft that dared to fly over their skies.

But when the US Air Force came along, the whole system wasn’t worth a dime.

Earlier this week, it was Venezuela’s turn to learn the same costly lesson.

The criminal gangster regime of Nicolas Maduro also shelled out for the Russian anti-aircraft system.

But it was no match for the US Air Force.

In the historic and heroic raid last Saturday, US planes flew over Venezuela and managed to snatch the illegal “president” of that country.

They caught him and took him away without a single wing of an American aircraft even being clipped.

In other words, the Russian system is junk.

And that makes President Trump’s defense announcement this week even more important.

Some people scoffed Wednesday when the president said he wants to double the US’ defense spending.

But the president is serious, and says the increased costs (to somewhere around $1.5 trillion in 2027) can be covered by his tariffs.

Whether that is the case or not, the intent of the president’s statement is what matters most.

There have been times in the past couple of decades when people have wondered what US defense spending is for.

Lunatic leftists and others think the figure should be brought down to somewhere near zero because the world’s problems are caused by US defense spending rather than being addressed by it.

But just take this week’s raid in Caracas.

None of that would have been possible if the US took the attitude that many of our allies do toward defense spending.

Some Europeans and others moaned about the Maduro regime.

They might have had a “long-term strategy” of being opposed to Maduro’s illegal seizure of power.

But there was nothing they could actually “do” about it.

Which is why in recent days, they have been umm-ing and ahh-ing about Trump’s actions.

If you don’t have a hammer, you don’t even want to see a nail.

You just have to hope the nail can somehow be encouraged to find its own way in the world.

That is not Trump’s policy.

But he is only able to pursue his policy because of this country’s technological and military advantage.

One of the president’s key instincts is that America has rivals and competitors chomping at our heels.

None more so than the Communist leadership that runs China.

In recent years, China has been spending (depending on how you calculate it) up to a half of what the US has been spending on its military.

This has allowed the Chinese Communist Party to make all sorts of hostile and bellicose maneuvers in the South China Sea, among other places.

In defense spending terms, the CCP has become the main challenger to the United States.

But the raid in Venezuela helps turn off a cash spigot for the Chinese and a number of other hostile foreign actors and competitors.

If Trump can follow through on his promises, then it is Americans and Venezuelans who will benefit from the country’s oil reserves.

It will not be the Chinese and the Iranians and the other shifty actors who have been making deals with the corrupt Venezuelan regime in recent years.

One of the great things about Trump’s military moves against Iran and against Venezuela is that all of the bad guys suffer.

Vladimir Putin is weaker.

The CCP is weaker.

And you can see the aftereffects in other places too.

Cuba’s dictatorship is now under domestic pressure like it hasn’t been in decades.

It actually looks possible that the horrible crime syndicate that has wrecked that country for generations might finally be in serious trouble.

On the streets of Iran, hundreds of thousands of people are rising up against the illegal regime that has wrecked their country since seizing power in 1979.

It is possible that we will see not just a free Cuba but a free Iran in our lifetimes.

These are all results of America having the world’s best military and that military being used carefully and effectively.

Yet there is one important “but” that needs to be inserted here.

Trump has shown himself to be amazingly effective at deterring and attacking America’s enemies and rivals.

But the flip side is that you also have to be good to your allies.

Some excitable figures outside the administration have been spending recent days trying to suggest that, after Venezuela, Greenland should be next.

Sorry to burst their balloon, but there is something important to remember here.

Whatever the desirability of America having a greater presence in Greenland, there is no world in which the US should militarily threaten its allies.

Its enemies and rivals — yes.

Its allies — no.

Denmark has been a good ally of this country.

It has demonstrated that — among much else — in its defense spending.

While other European countries have lagged behind, Denmark in the past year has upped its defense spending to around 3% of GDP.

That’s above the NATO spending commitment.

It shows that, small though the country is, it takes its responsibilities and its alliances seriously.

I know that in the wake of any military success, people tend to get excitable.

But it is at those moments that hubris strikes and mistakes get made.

Do we even have to mention the number of times that has happened in the past?

The Trump doctrine is now very clear.

And it’s bad news for enemies.

But let’s make sure it’s good news for our friends, too.