. >> cenk: this is the segment where you find out how boris yeltsin saved the world.is apparently 23,000 nuclear weapons all across the world in nine different countries at least. global zero has done a documentary, really interesting one as you're about to see in the trailer called count down to zero. >> january 25, 1995, united states launched a rocket to study the northern lights. we told the russians we were going to launch that rocket, but somebody in moscow target to password on it. >> that fit exactly the characteristics of the beginning of a nuclear strike. for the first time in the nuclear age the russians actually opened up the nuclear football. they went to president yeltsin put it on the desk and said we're under attack. >> boris yeltsin was given five minutes to decide what to do. >> fortunately he wasn't drunk and he didn't believe what the military was telling them. he said there must be some mistake. >> it is the policy that if you believe you are under attack, you are supposed to launch the missiles, you don't wait for them to land. borerys yeltsin sh

i had the great opportunity to meet boris yeltsin. that was really the only meeting that i did not sit in on from beginning to end. i had the opportunity to meet yeltsin and then they held their talks in private. but i met havel in the czech republic. i met lech walesa and sukova in poland. and in asia, i met with the japanese prime minister and the south korean head of state, and all the chinese communist leaders -- jiang zemin and li peng. c-span: who of all those people impressed you the most -- personally, not their political beliefs? >> guest: boris yeltsin, simply because i'm fascinated by russian politics and russian history, and he's just such a formidable presence. even walking into the room, he's just quite a force in his own right. and i admired him very much for having such a tremendous influence in bringing the end of communism to his state. c-span: when does your second book come out? >> guest: next fall. it will be published by random house. i haven't titled it yet, but it will deal with nixon's foreign policy views and