The rise of Vladimir Putin - former lieutenant colonel of the KGB - to the presidency of Russia in 1999 was a clear sign that the country was moving away from democracy. However, in the years that followed - as America and other global powers continued to pursue a strategy of appeasement towards him - Putin evolved not only into a dictator but also into an international threat. With vast resources and a nuclear arsenal, Putin is at the center of a global assault on political freedoms and the modern world order. For Gary Kasparov, none of this is news. He has been a fierce critic of Putin for over a decade and also led the pro-democracy opposition in the farcical presidential elections of 2008. However, over the years, as he sees his dire prophecies about Putin's intentions come true, he realizes a darker truth: Putin's Russia, like ISIS and Al-Qaeda, identifies itself as an adversary of the free countries of the world. As Putin grows even stronger, the threat he poses grows from local to regional and ultimately global. In this book, Kasparov shows that the collapse of the Soviet Union was not an end point in history - only a change of era, as the Cold War ended and brought a new spring. But now, after years of complacency and poor judgment, winter is coming again. Through the intelligence, argumentation, and hopes expressed for his country, Kasparov reveals what Putin truly is: an obvious existential danger.