" Mikhail Sergeevich, Some mathematical problems have no solution. They cannot be solved. Mathematics has methods for proving that a problem is unsolvable. Karabakh is such a problem. It cannot be solved. There is no optimal solution. Any conceivable solution will be unacceptable to one of the two sides.16 Alexander Nikolaevich wrote this note to Gorbachev in January 1988. For months, tension had been building between the republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Caucasus concerning Nagorny Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian enclave that was part of Azerbaijan. This was the first region in the Soviet Union to cry foul in the nationalism/internationalism game. "

― Masha Gessen , The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia