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A lot happens every day. Alliances shift, leaders change, and conflicts erupt. With In Brief, we’ll help you make sense of it all. Each week, experts will dig deep on a single issue happening in the world to help you better understand it.***Last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India visited the United States for a landmark official state visit with President Joe Biden, where he was invited to a state dinner and to address Congress, among other high-level meetings. The visit, according to experts, aimed to underline the importance of the bilateral U.S.-Indian relationship as the South Asian country’s importance as a security partner grows amidst competition with China and Russia. India, however, maintains amicable relations with both countries, as evidenced by Modi’s participation in the (virtual) Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit last week, where both Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin were present. We asked four experts to tell us more about the U.S.-Indian relationship, India’s relationship with Russia and China and how the United States might bring India further into its orbit.Tanvi Madan Director, The India Project & Senior Fellow, Brookings InstitutionIndia sees itself as an independent pole and will behave as one. It doesn’t want to belong in any country’s orbit. Nonetheless, it will gravitate toward or align more closely with countries that it perceives as crucial for its interests. This is evident in the increasing weight of the West in India’s diversified portfolio of partners. That reflects, in no small part, Delhi’s deepening ties with the United States, which it sees as indispensable for India’s transformation, and as a balancer vis-à-vis its primary rival, China. Russia remains relevant to India, but less so than before, and their divergences, particularly on China, have grown.Sharinee L. Jagtiani Post-doctoral Fellow Hasso-Plattner-Institut für Digital Engineering University