KR: I think acknowledgment of ones past and making amends can help in this caseit will does improve international relations with other countries. It helps form the bonds of trust and perhaps lead us into a new era of diplomacy.

As for those folks who say history is in the past and has no reflection on our current state, may end up looking forward to some other country wanting to invade and then use the same excuse later on down the line to state that this is all history.
History surely repeats it self all the time.