‘Ambassador Hardeep Puri’s book has uniqueness for being an insider’s account, which adds to our understanding of the inner mechanisms of an institution that has at times been called a modern-day Star Chamber.’ – Hamid Ansari, Vice President of India, releasing the book

‘The explosive narration unveils the whimsical decision-making behind bids to maintain international peace and security.’ – Crissie Delvy, Indian American Times

‘Throwing some light and plenty of fresh insight into a tangled web of misjudged decisions by the West is Hardeep Singh Puri, who was one of India’s outstanding plenipotentiaries in important global capitals. Puri rips the veil of faux altruism of these “high-end decision-making, often over $80 per head lunch” and talks of how a small group of the world’s most empowered diplomats represented on the Security Council discuss the use of force on other nations to effect regime change and how this “ill-thought out itch” to intervene results in disastrous consequence for the country, the region and the world. Puri’s conclusions are devastating in their forthrightness and he says categorically that ill-advised military interventions are not the answer to poor governance whose ideological underpinnings may not be in sync with Western philosophies.’ – Tarun Basu, Business Standard

‘[T]he book’s anecdotes on how diplomacy is made to work at the UN under seemingly hopeless circumstances are applicable to domestic political discourse. Puri’s account … holds valuable lessons for both [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi and Congress president Sonia Gandhi on how to take the country forward if they seriously consider the UN model.’ – K.P. Nayar, Telegraph

‘Puri’s terse and often gripping narrative, backed with excellent sources, shines a sharp light on the Security Council’s response—or lack of it—to some of the most terrible events of our day … [T]his [is a] badly needed book.’ – Arvind Sivaramakrishnan, Hindu

‘It is a book that every Indian diplomat should read because it models the kind of thoughtful engagement with international affairs necessary for diplomacy. It is also a book that should be read by close observers of international politics, because it removes the varnish off the wood and allows us to see what lies beneath.’ – Vijay Prashad, Wire

‘[The book] details the unravelling of mutual accommodation among the five permanent members of the [Security] Council, each with veto power, on issues of forcible intervention in the Middle East. With a bird’s-eye view on this significant geo-strategic train wreck, and a role in the action as the little-heeded representative of a major emerging power, Puri pulls the reader into the plot from the very outset of this fast-moving drama.’ – David M. Malone, Indian Express

‘Sitting at the high table of the UN Security Council, Hardeep Puri had a view of the many discussions that took place among the great powers planning to make “perilous interventions” across the globe.’ – Saikat Datta, Scroll.in

‘The book makes a powerful case for why reform of the UNSC is so crucial … [W]hat makes the book interesting is that much of the insights come from an insider.’ – Simran Sodhi, Tribune

Hardeep Singh Puri is a former Indian Foreign Service officer who served as the Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations in Geneva from 2002 to 2005 and in New York from 2009 to 2013, coinciding with the period in 2011-12 when India was a non-permanent member of the Security Council. He was president of the Council in August 2011 and November 2012.