The (Ex) Washington Realist

Some bits of news that might otherwise go overlooked in the Washington debate (because they can also be quite inconvenient).

Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on national television, speaking about the status of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan exile community: "India will continue to offer him all hospitality, but during his stay in India, they should not do any political activity, any action that can adversely affect relations between India and China."

Nagorno-Karabakh's parliament issued a declaration calling on governments to recognize its independence, citing the same list of reasons often advanced in support of Kosovo's declaration, including the argument that, because of ethnic cleansing and discrimination, "from the moment of the legal collapse of the Soviet Union Azerbaijan has lost all legal and moral rights to exercising governmental authorities over Nagorno Karabakh."

Will any government act on it? Probably not--just as no one has acted on similar declarations elsewhere--yet.