Quote from Larson:
This is a inane, provocative comment. It might be true if Russia and China did not exist.
Larson,
We do have the most powerful military in the world. You are making a somewhat valid point, but your argument is premature of the facts.
China is rapidly growing its military, but they still have quite some time before they equal or surpass the US. For instance, China is buying it's very first aircraft carrier (a decommissioned Russian variety, if I remember correctly) this year. It's hard to argue that China is even remotely close to military power when they lack some of the most basic building blocks:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/china/cv.htm
Russia's military is still a joke compared to ours; it was depleted in the 1990s and only in the last few years have they decided to rebuild (thanks V. Putin). BTW, after USSR fell we found out just how poorly-prepared the USSR military was during the Cold War... they had raw numbers, but they could barely keep their planes in the sky... as an analogy, consider having an NFL running-back who averages 4.5 yards-per game, but is consistently injured 1/3 of the season.
The kicker is that the US is neck-deep in regional conflicts, we are so saturated (financially & manpower), we cannot possibly take on any more engagements. That is the reason we must continue bargaining with Iran; and (sadly) they know it. I'm not a war hawk, but it does little good to have a strong military when your biggest threats know you're already pinned to the mat.
Russia and China are cooperating to take the US down (at a minimum, economically). In fact, it would not surprise me at all if they were encouraging Iran to continue behind the scenes. However, it's perhaps another decade before individual Russian or Chinese forces could come close to rivaling ours. However, we are doing everything we can to help them win the game; we just have to continue bankrupting our economy. In another couple of decades, economic reality will force our military power to significantly lower levels.