By George Friedman

There are many people who write history. There are very few who make history through their writings. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who died this week at the age of 89, was one of them. In many ways, Solzhenitsyn laid the intellectual foundations for the fall of Soviet communism. That is well known. But Solzhenitsyn also laid the intellectual foundation for the Russia that is now emerging. That is less well known, and in some ways more important.

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At the business end of defence management in the United Kingdom there is, from time to time, a period when a number of senior departures fundamentally affect the nuance in which the long-term plans for the Department are thought through.

Either by accident or design, Sir Bill Jeffrey also has a (literally) once in a lifetime opportunity to overhaul the MoD's management style because there are so many almost-simultaneous changes in the top management team. But observers fear that he won't, either because of timidity or because civil service leopards can't change their spots, whatever they might say.

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