William Inboden is the executive director of the William P. Clements, Jr. Center for National Security at the University of Texas-Austin. The Clements Center applies the insights of history to current national security policy.
Inboden and Domenech discuss current foreign policy challenges such as North Korea, as well as lessons learned from past affairs such as the Iraq War and the Reagan years.
“My concern with Trump’s stronger and stronger rhetoric towards Kim Jong Un is that is might turn into his version of Obama’s red line,” he said. “Which is that he’s getting very far out with strong threats, and when our nation’s credibility rests on those, you don’t make those unless you’re willing to follow through.”
How strategic was President Reagan in the pressure he put on the Soviet Union and why did it work? “Even when he would use some of the stronger rhetoric agains them…that was done with malice aforethought. He was calling out their illegitimacy and their truly vile behavior,” Inboden said.
Listen to the full interview here:
