A lot of it depends on how you view Prophecy. Ist it Literally going to happen the way described? Is it only Descriptive from the viewpoint of the original Receiver/Writer? Is it Coded, using other Scripture as a Decoder for what is meant?
All 3 of those views(and probably more) have been very popular through the ages and each will lead people to different conclusions. I lean towards the Descriptive, wherein the Receiver saw something(somehow) profound and beyond their understanding then tried to describe it. I also think that those before the events described can't really predict with 100% accuracy who all the players(the various Nations persons, etc described) are or more accurately, they can't predict the players beyond their Present Age.
IMO, the US, in light of what I just said, is a big player in Prophecy. No other Nation of this day can be compared to Babylon as the US is. In Prophecy "Babylon" is described as a dominant Economic and Cultural power that causes all others to adopt Its' ways. So as long as the US maintains its' current status it's the most likely candidate for that part of Prophecy. However, that assumes that Prophecy will be fulfilled or that it will be fulfilled in the relatively Present time.