Centres of Power is a book by veteran diplomat Chinmaya R. Gharekhan. He constructs it around his two critical postings, first as joint secretary in Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s office — in two stints, but mainly from 1982. He continued to serve with her successor Rajiv Gandhi till December 1985, when he proceeded to New York as India’s permanent representative …
Mikhail Gorbachev became General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in March 1985. In his insightful book, The Great Game in Afghanistan: Rajiv Gandhi, General Zia and the Unending War, Kallol Bhattacherjee records that immediately after becoming the Soviet Union’s supreme leader, Mr. Gorbachev had met the Pakistani dictator in Moscow. Now, a new U.S. leader, President …
