PRESIDENT Obama, according to US law, will have to quite the White House before the end of 2016. He is said to be concerned about his legacy – what great achievements will he be remembered for? It depends on your perspective. Among Americans, Obama’s popularity is as low as it’s ever been and this is because US citizens have at last twigged that the Great Talker is a great talker, and that’s all. Is there a fresh crisis in the Middle East? Yes, there’s a new one every week. Don’t worry, the president will make a pretty speech about it. Unfortunately, he will do nothing else and the crises will keep coming. Is Russia meddling dangerously in Ukraine, threatening the Baltic countries and reviving the Cold War? It does look rather like that. Never mind, Mr Obama will saturate the whole scenario under an ocean of fine words. If rhetoric were statesmanship, Obama would be the most outstanding politician since Pericles (495-429 BC).

If your country is an ally of the US, you must be nervous about the strength of your alliance. Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia – all members of NATO and the most likely targets of Putin’s belligerence - you probably feel more than a bit uneasy: would the US come to your defence if the Russian threats materialised? NATO’s historic corporate security – an attack on any one member state regarded as an attack on the whole alliance – looks very flaky under Obama’s leadership. And, if you are an Israeli…well, let’s just say that Mr Netanyahu’s assessment of Obama’s conduct and character are unprintable.

However, if you are a militant Islamic extremist, you must be very pleased indeed with Mr Obama’s performance. And there are plenty of such militants about – from Nigeria to Somalia, all across North Africa and the Middle East and beyond Iraq as far as Pakistan. But if you are an Iranian, you will be the most chuffed of the lot with Obama’s record. Here are the recent facts…

Last October, Iran test-fired a nuclear-capable missile in breach of UN resolutions forbidding such launches. The only western nation capable of making a meaningful response to such a brazen act is the US. Obama did nothing. Noticing this, a month later Iran launched a similar missile. Not until 30th December did Obama threaten a few rather weak and pathetic economic sanctions. Then he immediately cancelled these sanctions and the Iranian president ordered his military to go full steam ahead with the missile programme.

Now, if we’re talking legacy, surely Obama is allowed to look back with pride on last year’s nuclear deal with Iran? Part of that deal was that Iran allowed inspection of its nuclear testing facility at Parchin. But once again Obama backed down and allowed Iran to conduct its own inspection of this and other sites. Of course, the Iranians declared themselves clean. The whole crummy farce over inspection of Iran’s nuclear capabilities is as if a big-time bank-robber professed himself an honest man – and we all believed him.

The nuclear deal was meant to constrain Iran’s atomic bomb programme. It has done precisely the opposite. Iran is still seeking to develop nuclear weapons, only for Obama to threaten a definite response – but then back off. Why? Because he fears that, if he were to react firmly, Iran would cancel the nuclear deal. And that would leave President Obama without his peace-making legacy. Let me tell you what Obama’s legacy really is: it is to leave the western alliance in a far more precarious condition than when he came into office eight years ago.