Big day imminent; big problems ahead

Washington PostIN HIS valedictory state-of-the-union address Barack Obama devoted only a few lines to his main foreign-policy achievement: the accord with Iran to restrain its nuclear programme. The words he chose, however, could almost be a summary of the Obama doctrine, if there is such a thing. Contrasting his record with that of predecessors who got bogged down fighting unwinnable wars, Mr Obama said that there was a “smarter approach” based on “patient and disciplined strategy” and mobilising “the world to work with us…that’s why we built a global coalition, with sanctions and principled diplomacy, to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran.”