You have had wars with China because you dared defy them. Why is the Ukraine situation any different?
We are not lead by our nose by Western powers. China understands that we have an independent policy. We will decide relations with China by what policy it has for India. At the moment, it extends to restrictions on business and participation in Quad.
You're missing a whole dimension here. Ideology.
In the west, at least, nominally, the people have power. As they do in India. China is not democratic. The Chinese government does not represent the Chinese people. The Chinese government represents the communist nobility. The Russian government represents Putin and his closest oligarch chronies. Not the Russian people.
A big problem with hating USA is that, as far as super powers go, USA is extremely benign. There is no other example in human history of a super power not exploiting it to the max (at everyone else's expense). The world's most successful super power, Great Britain, was an absolute catastrophe for everyone, including Great Brittain itself. As I am sure you.... an Indian... are aware of.
The world is always going to have one country that is the most powerful. If I had to pick one, I'd go with USA, every day of the week. Yes, they've done a lot of questionable things. But not as much as the rest.
That's why I find Aupanyav position so baffling. It doesn't seem to belong to any camp.
Yeah, I am in no camp. I am independent, like my government. I do not think my government's policy is any different.
I am aware of that westerners tend to be a bit locked into the western perspective and blind for the real politik realities of non-western countries. India has every reason to be friendly with China and Russia. I'm not holding that against India. But that doesn't mean Indians need to find justifications for Putin's war of aggression.
You seem to conflate being friendly with Putin as justifying Putin's actions. India is a huge country with a lot of people. Many of which aren't doing so well. They don't really have the luxury to have higher ideals. Modi knows that what really counts is having a strong Indian economy. The rest of bonus. That's not the same thing as agreeing with Putin.
Encircle or invade, basically the same objective.
Yes, the objective was the same - Remove NATO influence on Ukraine.
But why? NATO is a defensive pact. NATO will only have influence in Ukraine if, and only if, Russia choses to attack it. Russia did attack Ukraine. So obviously NATO needs to defend it. Or Ukraine will fall. Your position sounds so confused