You have an amazing book. You are a member of the [indiscernible] you have worked for the New York Times, the daily news. In america and around the world. You have been in 85 countries. And you are also an author. You have written three books, and the last one is on the table. And now i let you discuss this reykjavik summit. [indiscernible] [applause] david thank you very much for hosting this event this evening with the extraordinary man next to me, the author of a great book, reagan and gorbachev, the summit of 1986. As it happened, i was a reporter. Let me start off with a little personal anecdote. In january 1981, president reagan was about be sworn in as president for his first term. I had just left the New York Times and come to cbs as a correspondent. I was in washington dc. I was the lowest person on the totem pole. I had just arrived there, but cbs was a pool for that event, which means i have nothing to do the night before. The next day, i followed reagan around all day in case something happened. The night before i went to dinner. Richard tietz was a professor, specialist in russian and soviet affairs. He was about to become president reagans person on the National Security council for european and soviet affairs. We had dinner together. He was no fan of the soviet union. He had many terrible anecdotes to tell about the way he was treated there. So he leaned forward and said, i have to tell you something very important. Some time in the next eight years, trying to be optimistic reagan had not even been sworn in for his first term some time in the next eight years, we will bring an end to the soviet union. I thought this was madness because the soviets have communism, it would last forever. So i took my head away and said, how would you do that . It is simple. We will spend them to death. So i did not think much more of it. I passed it off as the ravings of an antisoviet lunatic. And years later, i began thinking about it. I called them up, and it happened. I said why do you think it happened . He said it was strategic defense initiative. That is what spent them to death. That is what persuaded the soviet union. They could not win. They could not beat the United States at its own game. They could not afford to. Let me start with that. So the thing is the centerpiece of europe. It really plummets for the first time, kremlin and white house archives. All of us come back to sdi to a degree. It was so adamant that gorbachev would consider this. And for the end of the soviet union, do you share that belief why you think reagan insisted on it so definitively and gorbachev could not accept it . You guillaume yes and no. First maybe we should present the context. The reykjavik summit had been in october 1986. And it is after reagans second term, and gorbachev arrives in power in the spring 1985. Before that, no u. S. President or soviet leader had met since 1979. So both of them were very eager to meet, especially since gorbachev taking power. It is a man we can work with. Sorry. Better than bush, he went to the funeral. When gorbachev needs him for the first time, he says, we can work with this guy. There is an attempt in finding a trust between the two, and at this time, in the mid1980s, the people have gone crazy. There is 17,000 Nuclear Warheads on the planet, most almost exclusively between the soviets and americans. A little bit french and british. A so the two of them talked about reducing nuclear weapons, even before they met. Actually reagan said even before he was the president. So that is the context. Indeed in 1983, Ronald Reagan announces the sdi project, labeled as star wars. The idea to summarize for the people here was to arm satellites in space, in orbit, that would destroy with lasers soviet missiles that could come potentially to destroy washington dc or new york. So another time, when it was introduced, the International Community and science, but also american scientists, were all against it saying, this administration is crazy. This is not only technically impossible in the next 10 years, but if we spend out of money, even from a strategic perspective, it was contested. David it never has been really developed. Guillaume and even today. The Republican Party is a party of reaganomics. So gorbachev in the summer 1986 after they met the first time in geneva sends a letter to president reagan, and he is asking for these formal meetings a in reykjavik. And actually the preparations of the meeting they have in the book, very rush. They only have a few weeks to organize with the government of iceland, and basically gorbachev is coming in reykjavik to dry to convince reagan to get rid of sdi. There was this fear in the soviets, especially in the police bureau, that not only would it be morally accepted, that they couldnt win, that the soviets, this arms race anymore. So actually yes. You talked about the defense initiative, and it played a role in in the days of negotiations in reykjavik. David but gorbachev gave, as you describe so brilliantly in the book, became a mandate for a truly revolutionary concept in nuclear, the nuclear age really. Tell us about that. You guillaume so gorbachev comes with an agenda. He has the full mandate from the police bureau. You should look at the documents. That is probably the time in the gorbachev era where you have the full support inside the kremlin of the nomenclature. Maybe he had a narrow window to try to do something with the americans