Alarm bells are jangling worldwide about the stunning election victory by loud and aggressive ultra-nationalist Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky.
But I see no reason for seeing the success of Zhirinovsky's forces as a fascist cloud hanging over Russia.Instead of becoming panic-stricken, it would be better to think about the lessons to be learned from the election - and what needs to be done next.
It would be a serious mistake to think Russians have lost their wits and their sense of reality to a point where they would vote for the slogans and promises of a man who preaches contempt for ethnic minorities, advocates a xenophobic rebirth of the Czarist empire (including Poland and Finland; he once even demanded the return of Alaska) and promises to fix all of Russia's domestic problems in a few months.
That's not it.
As other commentators have already noted, the vote was a cold slash of reality, a protest against the shocks of tumultuous national politics that have left many Russians abused, impoverished and resentful.
It was a bitter backlash against Boris Yeltsin and his people who, having declared they had a monopoly on democracy, have stalled government reform and wrecked the economy so 30 percent of the population now lives below the poverty level and another 30 percent lives just barely above it.
Some have said that Zhirinovsky's upset of Russia's Choice, the pro-Yeltsin party headed by Deputy Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar - a party which began the campaign sure of victory because of its control of the state's administrative apparatus - resulted from complacency and poor leadership.
Others talk about "errors" in their mass media campaign. But these are secondary causes of Gaidar's failure, singled out in order to hide the major reason.
In reality, we have before us the end of an illusion which the leadership of the country indulged itself in over the course of the past two years. The illusion that it's possible to impose on the people any plan no matter what the social costs.
The stability promised time and again by the Yeltsin, by the prime minister and by their deputies has not been realized. The crisis continues. Homelessness, crime, corruption and unemployment only worsen.
Large factories, like the Kirov in St. Petersburg, have closed. Hundreds of others are in the process of closing.
It's necessary that the present leaders, instead of organizing ridiculous TV shows to celebrate a very dubious victory, give some thought about the changes they must make.
The essential thing is to understand that they must come to terms with the country's main dislocation: the failing economy.
It will dictate the future political coalitions, which, at the moment, are completely unpredictable.
In the near term, a reasonable, rational and conciliatory solution must be sought - one based on the national consensus that there must be a swift change in the government's policies in order to improve the day-to-day life of the Russian people.
It is time to stop playing personality politics and get on with much-needed nation-building.
But it appears that many, including Yeltsin, cannot rein themselves in.
Their priority is to hold on to power, whatever the costs, and to that end they are prepared to sacrifice many things to the detriment of democracy and the peoples' well-being.
This is the reason so much attention was focused on the approval of the new constitution, which legitimizes enormous powers of the president without imposing any checks on them. Yeltsin can now legally ignore the parliament or dismiss it outright.
It is noteworthy that immediately after the polls closed, the president's spokesmen cynically stated that the president was ready to collaborate even with Zhirinovsky.
The latter, for his part, has given his unconditional support, right from the start, to the president's constitution.
Evidently this new constitution fits in nicely with his ideology.
Obviously a leading contender in the next Russian presidential elections (yet to be scheduled), Zhirinovsky no doubt hopes that he will be able to make full use of those new powers some time soon.
The success in the elections of the revamped Communist Party is also an integral part of this political picture.
Although they have different points of departure, Zhirinovsky and the Communists are attempting to exert pressure on the president and draw off concessions and adherents from him.
Even if Yeltsin has the constitutional powers to disregard the new parliament, he will not manage to get rid of it so easily after what happened in October - and all the more so since this parliament has been legitimized by a popular vote.
If Yeltsin seeks out positive contacts with Zhirinovsky and the Communists, it is not out of the question that they could arrive at some understandings that will prevent further chaos and stalemate.
Russia needs a president and a parliament willing to negotiate their differences through to compromise, not bloodshed.
Is there a possibility for a return to the past? To the Communist past?
I'm convinced that cannot happen. No force is strong enough to bring it about.
But the danger lies elsewhere: a battle of all against all could lead the military to enter the fray.
Even without resorting to the use of arms, the military might be able to persuade the civilian government to hand over its powers.
And, by way of a postscript, let me make a suggestion to the West.
Give your support to a set of policies rather than to particular political leaders.
If you don't, you run the risk of reducing to zero the number of people you can have dialogue with in Russia, and you might find that the very people you support end up pursuing very different policies from the ones you favor.