In New Delhi, Vladimir Putin joined leaders from eleven nations for a BRICS summit that has grown large enough to contain its own contradictions — Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE now sit at the same table, divided by a war that has reshaped the Middle East since February. India, the host, embodies the summit's central tension: a country that maintains ties with Tehran and Jerusalem, buys Russian energy while its foreign minister visits Kyiv, and now welcomes both Putin and Xi Jinping within the same diplomatic moment. What began in 2009 as a coalition of emerging powers challenging Western ins