things resonate with people through the russian land mass, which is what, 13 time zones across. even as he cultivated his image at home, prime minister putin remained focused on world events. beginning in 2010, a wave of protests against authoritarian governments erupted across the middle east. the arab spring. when medvedev didn t object at the u.n. to president obama s initiative for an american-led intervention in libya, putin was no longer willing to stay behind the scenes. the arab spring is the pivotal moment where putin decides, a, we are dangerous. we the united states of america and barack obama. and b, medvedev is naive about how dangerous we are. and that drives putin to decide he s not going to let putpu medvedev stay in the presidency, he s going to come back himself. putin ran and was elected