@Rockhead,
It's what we've always done, "walk softly and carry a big stick", only we don't walk so softly anymore.
Our military might has been the force that guides us since the revolutionary war. The way west - Lewis and Clark, was a military expedition.
We've always had an eye toward acquiring resources, and all our seeking is backed by military might.
America has developed diplomacy to an art, but it's still the velvet glove.
We don't need a nemesis when we have an appetite.