Black January in Azerbaijan by Paul Goble The exact place and time the Soviet Union died continues to be a matter of debate. Some say it occurred when Gorbachev handed over the nuclear arsenal to Yeltsin at the end of December 1991. Others argue it took place earlier that month when the three Slavic presidents met to do away with the Soviet leader's job. Still others point to the failure of the Moscow coup in August of that year, the occasion of Yeltsin's triumph and Gorbachev's complete failure to understand what had taken place in his country. And some say it coincided with the Kremlin's murderous attacks on the people of Lithuania and Latvia in January 1991. But perhaps the moment that has the best claim to be the occasion when the Soviet Union died is one that up to now has had fewer advocates. It occurred a year earlier in Baku, when Moscow sought to suppress the Azerbaijanis but unwittingly snapped the fraying bonds of loyalty to the USSR that nation and others as well had...