It's amazing how people respond to armies in their back yards...
The last I checked, the US had open troop presence in virtually every country in the Mid-East except for Syria, Iran and Libya.
Uh, does that make us the modern Roman empire? or the latest Ottoman Empire? Between those 2, the region was ruled for 2000 years.....
I think the U.S. 'Empire' represents a new kind of entity. The Romans directly taxed their 'provinces'. This was a good source of revenue for them. We conversely make quite a few investments in our 'provinces' (Marshall Plan, etc...). We do not tax them directly. They are free to determine their own form of governance, but if they turn their backs on democracy, we can turn our backs on them. Basically, World War II ended with the complete conquering of Europe. The west, called 'English' by Germans, conquered Western Europe. The east, called 'Mongols' by Germans, conquered Eastern Europe. During the Cold War that division was crystal clear. Which form of empire worked the best was determined when the west won the Cold War. Many former Eastern conquered nations, quickly joined the west and NATO. I think it was fare to call the Eastern Europe Nations conquered lands as part of the Eastern 'Mongol' Empire. The word empire is not accurately applied to the Western nations that were conquered by the Western 'English'. We may need a new word eventually.