Russia, China and Iran - The axis of "oh crap here comes World War III"

Things are not looking good on the international peace scene. Vladimir Putin is making comparisons with the Cuban missile crisis and the US's proposed European missile shield, He has condemned Condoleezza Rice's new sanctions imposed on Iran, likening the US to "mad people wielding razor blades" and he is supplying Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards with weapons.

Iran are treating the sanctions with contempt, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said: "The hostile American policies towards the respectable people of Iran and the country's legal institutions are contrary to international law, without value and, as in the past, doomed to failure."

China are investing heavily in the Iran and their foreign ministry said Beijing was "opposed to imposing sanctions too rashly in international relations", saying it "can only make the situation more complicated".

When you add to all that the rumours that Vice-President Dick Cheney is pressing for a military strike on Iran before the Bush's Presidency is over, peace with the East is definitely not looking good at the moment.