> India also has longstanding border disputes with Pakistan. I always thought (potentially ignorantly) that India would largely align itself with "the West" In

> India also has longstanding border disputes with Pakistan. I always thought (potentially ignorantly) that India would largely align itself with "the West" India is not really west-aligned. The US also isn't exactly unfriendly with Pakistan and hasn't helped stability in that region, which India isn't happy about. India likely also would rather have a useful Russia than China dominate entirely, and has long-standing existing trade etc relationships with Russia, where afaik India has gotten little downside or pressure from. Also, Russia is a source of cheap energy. Along the same lines, the west isn't interested in antagonizing India because it's important for influence in the region, so is unlikely to escalate unless really pushed - and buying fossil fuel which the west also hasn't entirely stopped doing it isn't pushing very hard. India does not fit in a neat this-side/that-side box here, and nobody is interested in forcing them to do so, because they might very well choose the wrong box.