A photo tells all on how much the region has changed in less than a decade

Business Insider revisits this photo from 2010 to reflect on just how much the Middle East has changed in the years following the Arab Spring. Taken at the 2010 Afro-Arab summit in Sirte, “each man had been in power for decades and [they] were viewed as autocratic strongmen.” Seven years later, Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, Tunisia’s Zin El Abidine ben Ali, Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi, and Yemen’s Ali Abdullah Saleh have all been forcibly removed from their posts. If you feel like venturing further down memory lane, go over to The New York Times’ “Five Strongmen, and the Fate of the Arab Spring” for more photos that also add Saddam Hussein to the mix.