Years later, in 2011, the Arab Spring occurred, which was a series of revolutionary, anti-government uprisings that swept across many Arab nations and surrounding countries that wanted a change from their repressive governments. In countries such as Egypt and Tunisia, civil resistance resulted in the overthrow of their governments. In Libya and Syria, protestors were met with harsh and repressive violence, resulting in civil wars. As America and other Western nations rallied around intervening in Libya and Syria to prevent their governments from committing atrocities against their demonstrators and innocent civilians, Vladimir Putin (who holds strong anti-Western ideologies predicated on — but not limited to — opposing 'Western-style' democracy, the propagation of same-sex relationships, and the acceptance of liberal beliefs over strict conservatism) was totally against intervention. In the mind of the Russian government, these uprisings were not completely organic. They felt that the U.S. had manipulated these demonstrations to replace pro-Kremlin governments with pro-Western ones.

At the end of 2011, demonstrations in Russia itself began, leading Russian officials to wonder if they would be "next" to face massive civil disobedience. Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defense minister, openly stated that the demonstrations were “used as an excuse to replace nationally oriented governments with regimes controlled from abroad," according to the New York Times. As Putin longed to regain the strength the Soviet Union once wielded throughout the Middle East, he saw the West's role in undermining other governments while spreading their own influence throughout them, as an indirect act of American aggression.

So why would that make Russia turn to hacking?

It's important to note that some nations who participated in the Color Revolutions and the Arab Spring had both achieved the overthrow of governments without bloody coups. Believing that America truly used manipulation and deception to entice foreign citizens to turn against their own governments, Russia saw that as an indication of a shift in foreign war policy. Gone are the days of needing guns, bombs, and threats to control other nations (like what occurred during the Cold War) and now being armed with intel and subversive strategies would represent modern day warfare. Gen. Valery V. Gerasimov, the chief of the general staff of the armed forces of Russia, said, "the very rules of war have changed." The goal of this new strategy was outlined in a report, stating that it "aims to manipulate the adversary’s perception, to maneuver its decision-making process, and to influence its strategic behavior while minimizing...kinetic force use." This is called "new generation warfare." U.S. Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, summarizes it by stating:

“Moscow… now seems to favor an approach based on hybrid or multidimensional war…embracing simultaneous employment of multiple instruments of war, including non-military means where information warfare, such as mass political manipulation, is a major capability. “

Has Russia actually hacked other countries before this election?

Yes. Cyber experts believe Russia hacked Ukraine's presidential election and they have been tied to cyber attacks in Estonia, France, and Germany.

Why did Russia wait until this election to start hacking America?

Well, they didn't. In 2014, the same year Trump bragged on Fox News about meeting Putin, Russian hackers pulled off a particularly "sophisticated" breach of the White House's unclassified servers, hacking some of President Obama's communications.