I don't think that a leader can control to any great extent his destiny. Very seldom can he step in and change the situation if the forces of history are running in another direction.
The Cold War isn't thawing it is burning with a deadly heat. Communism isn't...
You do have to change things as warfare changes.
The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy indifference and undernourishment.
