There is only one "great power"
Answerman, I would counter that the current international environment is defined by a heretofore unseen phenomenon: a uni-polar dynamic. You detail that a great power is defined by a country that can affect the international scene via military and political power. We will all agree that one guarantees the other; France has arrived at political impotence not only because of its espousal of ideas that achieve incongruousness with common sense, but because its navy operates with a singular aircraft carrier, with an almost 40-year heritage, that spends 20 days in dry-dock for every day of ocean patrol.
Simply put, I completely disagree with the aggregate you labeled "great powers". There is little historical precedence, and I would argue none, for the dominance that the United States currently enjoys, both politically and militarily. Some say Rome. I say: Rome couldn't affect imperialistic plans across the globe in 36 hours with two men, a plane, and a refuel mechanism. Officials within the skeleton that remains the Russian military were in utter shock when they witnessed our ordinance-party last March. Yes Slakov - we can launch a single aircraft, which will go arguably wholly undetected from the middle of our land to your doorstep, non-stop, and deliver a bomb within inches of its intended target.
This creates a disparity in military ability that the world has never before seen. There is no other power in the world today that can come within, lets try to quantify this, lets say 60 cents, of what we can, were we to find cause, unleash.
There is only one great power.
