Today was a momentous day in history

Did you know that today, December 8, is the 14th anniversary of the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union, and hence the official end of the Cold War? On this day in 1991, national political leaders from the Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian republics issued a joint declaration that the Soviet Union was officially dissolved and replaced by the Commonwealth of Independent States. Thus ended the longest military and ideological struggle that Britain and America had ever been involved in. And yet today, less than two decades later, it is barely recalled.

Although the BBC does not find the fact to be as notable as the introduction of television cameras into the House of Lords (or, in fact, notable at all), I think it is worth reflecting today not only on the demise of the single greatest and longest standing threat to Britain and America since the end of World War II, but also on the great British and American leaders who helped precipitate that demise.