We've retired our first sidebar poll, which asked readers: "Who is most responsible for the rise of dictatorship in Russia?" With nearly 2,000 votes recorded, the answer "the people of Russia" was the runaway winner, with 30% of the total (nearly 600 votes). And today we begin a new poll, asking whether, in light of this answer, the people of Russia are worthing fighting for. Is there hope that, if they throw of the shackles of Vladimir Putin, they will finally begin to behave in a responsible manner? Or, if they are lucky enough to get free of his malignant clutches, as they escaped the Tsar and the Bolsheviks, will they simply embrace a horrific new form of reprehensible, abusive regime? We've said many times on this blog that the people of Russia have repeatedly destroyed those who fought to save them, and repeatedly made heroes out of those who sought to destroy them. Is this behavior inevitable? We'd genuinely like to know what you think. By "your life" we don't necessarily mean your personal life, but the life of a Russian patriot who wants to bring democracy and benign government to her (or his) country. Say, if you were Anna Politkovskaya. Or Oleg Kozlovsky. Or Garry Kasparov.