Within Russia, the war has come under growing criticism as Ukraine has ramped up strikes inside the country and Russian casualties keep growing … These deadly attacks are a ‘sign of desperation’ as Putin is realising he might not win the war.
Here is an Invidious alt for the video (4 min) inside the linked article.
So far. Putin also looked not as bad as today before he started messing with Ukraine. I think the same base applies here. We also have no idea what is going on in the head of Winnie and should they actually decide to attack Taiwan it would get more obvious.
No, the oppression of free speech made him look weak and stupid from the start.