In New Delhi, Narendra Modi hosts Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin for the 18th BRICS summit, staging a diplomatic performance that distills one of the oldest tensions in statecraft: how a rising power maintains its independence when the world's great forces press inward from every side. India's pursuit of strategic autonomy — cultivating ties with Russia and China while remaining anchored to Western capital and security — reflects a civilizational instinct to keep all doors open, even as the corridors between them narrow. The summit arrives at a moment when BRICS itself, expanded to eleven membe