NALCHIK, Russia — Three years ago, at a time when Russian politics was reduced to the anointing of a new czar and the dead hand of state patriotism lay on everything, I got bored of my life as a journalist in Moscow and decided to go for a walk. It was less of a stroll, more of a trek — a four-month journey from the Black Sea to the Caspian, across the northern flanks of the Greater Caucasus Mount
![Sword or Samovar](https://cdn-ak-scissors.b.st-hatena.com/image/square/a89487de6c357057aa18bcaf54c30d157cdc76b9/height=288;version=1;width=512/https%3A%2F%2Fforeignpolicy.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2F02%2Fdagestan33.jpg%3Fw%3D625)