«Putin and Xi: a Laurel and Hardy duo for the modern age – except it’s no joke. Both have much to answer for, or would in any open society. If either man were subject to genuine democratic scrutiny or free elections, he’d be booted out without a second thought – then put on trial.
Putin has remade Russia in his image: lawless, vilified, distrusted. Flailing Xi’s offence, if anything, is worse. He’s endangering the Chinese “miracle” – decades of big post-Deng Xiaoping, post-Tiananmen economic and social advances – in a messianic drive to wield unchecked personal power.
Xi hopelessly mishandled the Covid pandemic, ordered draconian lockdowns, then U-turned without a blush. That hasn’t rescued China’s damaged economy, its private tech companies already hobbled by Xi’s control-freak insistence on party oversight and direction.»
— Simon Tisdall writing at The Guardian about the world's most high profile dictators.
Anybody who thinks that dictatorship is a very good form of government just hasn't been paying much attention.
Because dictators don't like people disagreeing with them, they never get necessary candid advice from subordinates.
Putin has his disastrous invasion in Ukraine and resultant isolation from the global economy while Xi has his unsound COVID-19 response and mismanagement of the economy which has actually caused the Chinese government to hide youth unemployment statistics.
Beware of politicians who say stuff like "only I can fix things".