India, Oct. 26 -- On October 20, external affairs minister S Jaishankar met US secretary of State Marco Rubio and UAE foreign minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed in Mumbai for a quiet trilateral on energy and connectivity. On October 22, Poland Prime Minister Donald Tusk was in New Delhi to talk defence, space, and nuclear energy. And by the end of last week, Jaishankar arrived in Baku - marking the first bilateral visit by an Indian foreign minister to Azerbaijan in eight years. But why the Caucasus, and why now?

For a country that showed little interest towards Central Europe in recent years, this is remarkable and perhaps indicative of important changes in New Delhi's view of how the Iran war is altering the strategic geography around ...