Even though Russia's election season is now officially over, the aftershocks continue to be felt.
There is intense media speculation about the makeup and direction of President-elect Vladimir Putin's new government.
Will it be an economically liberal administration, looking West to the U.S. and Europe for inspiration, or a more state capitalist one, looking East with China as a model.
Putin seems likely to try to balance these two tendencies, as he has previously, but this may not be easy.
The struggle between different factions for prominence in the new government will also continue, as Putin will have to balance calls for austerity and cuts in social spending with his campaign promises to defend ordinary people's jobs, salaries and pensions.
One byproduct of this jockeying for power seems to be a desire to search out "closet supporters" of a so-called "Orange Revolution."
This is not really what it seems, however, as no one in the Russian elites, liberal or otherwise, actually wants a repeat of what happened in Ukraine after 2004 where a disputed election turned into years of factional infighting and economic stagnation.
What is really at stake is government policy, not some postelection coup or mass wave of street protests.
And the question of an "Orange Revolution" itself is probably a red herring. Russia's recent election protests, apart from being about ordinary people's demand for fair elections, as much as anything were about dissatisfaction with the everyday conditions of life.
The question is really whether the government can fix problems such as corruption, poverty, providing a decent future for the country's young people and renewing collapsing infrastructure. This includes everything from air safety and high-speed rail links to modern highways and fixing metro escalators. (In the time it takes Moscow to fix a single escalator, like at Park Kultury, for example, Chinese cities build a dozen metro stations.)
So no, it's not an "Orange Revolution" that Russia needs it's something more basic and yet fundamental. And that starts with fixing the escalators.
Keywords: Russia, Government, Politics - Russian News - Russia
Even though Russia's election season is now officially over, the aftershocks continue to be felt.
There is intense media speculation about the makeup and direction of President-elect Vladimir Putin's new government.
Will it be an economically liberal administration, looking West to the U.S. and Europe for inspiration, or a more state capitalist one, looking East with China as a model.
Putin seems likely to try to balance these two tendencies, as he has previously, but this may not be easy.
The struggle between different factions for prominence in the new government will also continue, as Putin will have to balance calls for austerity and cuts in social spending with his campaign promises to defend ord