I've been reading John Helmer (Dances With Bears -- link below)

I know that China is delivering military equipment to Iran and has navy ships in the Persian Gulf.

On the Russian side, it appears to me that Putin is doing shit -- fuck-all/zero/zip/zilch/nadda -- to help Iran as they await an American attack which I now believe will come on Monday-Wednesday of next week as they move military assets into the region.

This summation paragraph, which is a quote from one of Helmer's "well-informed" Russian sources, is just about the most depressing thing I've ever read, given that we may be looking at the end of the world here.

“So what you see is obvious,” says a well-informed Moscow source. “This is not a Sino-Russian alignment but a US-Russian alignment with the Chinese claiming to join the troika. The message to Trump is very clear — we [Putin] want to make deal; we want sanctions lifted; we want our airline flights and Boeings back; we are ready for compromises. Look what we have done! We have been good boys, haven’t we, in Syria? We have made no new troubles in Libya. We have not made trouble in Venezuela. We are only focused on fighting in our front yard. We accept that you [Trump] are the hegemon. We’ll complain about it, but we won’t fight to make you weaker. Your strength, dear Uncle Sam, is our economic survival. It’s fine that you rape a few small boys every once in a while, but we are still being good boys, aren’t we? This is the reality. And the main media are saying this now — Beijing has abandoned Teheran. Moscow has abandoned Teheran. I add that Teheran has abandoned Iran with too little and too late, so what’s left to fight? For us, it’s Ukraine.”

Despite the fact that Larry Johnson and Alastair Crooke have decided that Helmer is old and no longer knows what he is talking about, Helmer provides LOADS of details to document Putin's legalistic negligence and cowardice with respect to Iran (and other situations). I think Helmer is probably right and people like Larry and Alastair are blowing smoke up our asses.

So read this --

https://johnhelmer.net/the-presidents-of-russia-and-china-announce-the-cardinal-points-of-the-obvious/#more-91910