You can see the entire program tonight at 8 00 on cspan. Here are some of the highlights for this weekend. Sites, we visit important in the history of the civil rights movement. Highlights from this years new york ideas forum. Charliey, q a with wrangle at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. Reza aslan. H goldstoneht, lawrence on the competition between the wright brothers. Merican history tv on cspan3 a look at hollywoods portrayal of slavery. Saturday night from the 200th anniversary of the battle of bladensburg. How president s make decisions. Find our Television Schedule one week in advance on cspan. Org and let us know what you think about the programs youre watching. Join the cspan conversation. Like us on facebook, follow us on twitter. Eric holder is scheduled to get the latest on the independent federal investigation when he travels to ferguson, missouri today. The Associated Press says hes meeting with fbi and other officials looking at the death of Michael Brown eared that Fatal Shooting has sparked a war than a week of nightly clashes between protesters and police. Quieter last night. Deliberation starts today. Ap writes that president obama is expected today to comment on the beheading of american photojournalist james foley by militants with the Group Islamic state. He was kidnapped in syria in november of 2012. The group says his death was in retaliation for yo u. S. Airstrikes in northern iraq. Next, dennis blair and the south Korean Ambassador talk about u. S. Northeast asia relations. Historical issues between the strained relations between japan and south korea and the Regional Security threats to the u. S. From north korea and china. This is from the Heritage Foundation. [applause] it is funny, you never reference postworld war ii history when you are talking about history. Many decades of japanese contributions to international relations. Nevertheless, we know what we are talking about when we talk about history. At history will look and let it speak for ourselves call it guests american optimism if you would like. I would hope we could get to some conversation here about how that japandisputes and korea have over matters of the past. And talk about ways we can. Anage those issues going forth to lead off the discussion today, we are pleased and honored to welcome dennis blair to our stage. Formere blair is the corrector of the national intelligence. Formerrman of the director of national intelligence. Tokyo. A big speech in we have copies of it out front if you would like to take a look at it. Those of you watching online, you can go to our website and find a copy of that speech. Us in washington for a deep grief on that trip. Trip. Rief on that some of hise thoughts with us today. Thank you. Thanks very much. It is a pleasure to be here to talk about a serious subject. The spanish philosopher once famously remarked that the those that cant remember the past are condemned to repeat it. This ringing phrase has been taken out of context and used to justify false historical analogies for current actions. A bitter quote has been attributed to the french diplomat. They have learned nothing, they have forgotten nothing. Of bothements observations in the use and misuse of history by governments in northeast asia. It seems to me that these three powerful countries in that , all with long entangled histories, are really rolling down the stream of history come a facing backwards on their boats. They are rowing hard with lots of energy. History, facing backwards on their boats. If they are moving faster than the currents. They mostly see their own wake in the water and the water and shoreline behind them. They only see what is ahead when they take a quick look over their shoulders. Ve a dont seem to ha sense of how these larger currents are carrying them down the river. Consider china. Chinese leaders are driven by what they see and are determined to never suffer a time like that again. Yet, as they are steering by the wake of their powerful past humiliations, they are unaware of the huge currents propelling them down the river. The greatest of these are the currents of International Economic relations and globalization. Its true that European Countries and the United States it is true that it is the that hasrcial propelled china to become the secondlargest, secondmost powerful economy in the world. Consider japan. Policiesmaking its new by looking towards the future and by revising a single constitutional interpretation of the past. That interpretation of its ability to exercise the right of collective selfdefense. The currents in the big river, nature of the river bank has changed fundamentally since that time. Militarism of the 1930s developed into rising era of passion system and worldwide depression that bread desperation and extreme activity to political views and many countries around the world. The world of the future is not one of ideological motivated our blocs contesting for world dominance. Rather a world of contesting individual nations come and sometimes acting individually, sometimes cooperating and functional multilateral groups of various kinds. A world in which failing states pose as much danger as to powerful states and which extremist violence can pose dangers to develop and it interconnected world. A world in which a major country like japan needs to deploy diplomatic, economic and military powers in sophisticated ways to cooperate with likeminded allies to preserve security and prosperity for themselves for the region and for the world. Japan requires major changes for security policies, not just Legacy Concepts from a past age. Finally, consider korea. Korean leader attitudes are driven in part historical fears that both japan and china somehow look down on korea based on historical experience. They fear economic domination by china similar to the military domination of korea in the past. They reject japanese apologies for it actions during the colonial time because they do not consider them to be sincere. Korean suspect they did not respect them. They celebrate to National Separate holidays on japanese colonial rule. Independence day commemorating the effort of 1919 march first and National Liberation day august 15. Just this year joining with the chinese they completed a new on boreal honored as a patriot but condemned as a terrorist in tokyo for a fascinating general of korea and former Prime Minister of japan in 1909. Yet the big currents of World Development have propelled korea to a much more secure position than it has upheld in the past. It has a security treaty with the United States, the most powerful region in the world. Territorial conquest has been discredited. Economic prowess counts for more based on hard work, adaptability, other forms of soft power such as cultural influences were increased we import and and by these measures korea is a very powerful country. It can deal as appear with all nations of the world including china and japan, and should take counsel of the ambition not of its fears. History is important. Historical ignorance can cause a country to repeat the same mistake twice. However, remembering too much history, understanding too little is the difference between the past and present can conjure up also historical analogies, restrict the countrys ability to make rugrats and cause it to miss opportunities for positive change. There is another care restrict of the effective history of the countrys International Policies we should note. Psychologists tell us that for most people, individuals, the memory of pleasure is more important and lasting than is the memory of pain. Poor nations it seems to be equally selective but in different directions. For countries it seems past failures, past injustices are the most powerful memories fake can have and compel action. China, for example, still thinks of itself in part as the developing and we country but china is the second largest economy in the world with nuclear and armed forces to match. The rest of the world thinks china is a very powerful country. Japans attitude is somewhat dominated by memories of just 15 years, 19301945 when the ramp control of the government and ran the country into disaster. The veneers of restraint and except larry behavior since that time did not seem as important in japan self image. The republic of korea in many ways thinks of itself is a small, divided country, a shrimp among whales, many times invaded. Rather one of the largest economies in the world with a gdp per capita exceeding more than any of its neighbors. A worldwide reputation for menu fracturing excellence and International Peacekeeping operations and major contributor of peacekeeping and international appeal. Finally, the politics of history that also play a role. Governments exploit history for partisan and power purposes and episodes of history the most useful for the purposes are often the ones most humiliating. Democracy is like japan and korea exploit insults to bid for political power to appeal the groups with whom the issues have special resonance. It is easy to fall under this syndrome, no politician in a dictatorship or democracy ones to be vulnerable to accusations of inadequate patriotism, softness and supporting the countrys honor. They mostly believe they can control it. Not so much that it causes damage to their countries. There is a thin line in any country between healthy patriotism and nationalism. The introduction of controversial historical events in the current policies and politics often blurs the line and sometimes crosses it. Even if nationalism does not become extreme, it certainly prevents progress in other areas. Whatever the root cause is and explanation, the exploit and exploitation of the nations painful past is a conscious political decision, whether it is a controversial wartime trying, raising the comfort women or raising emphasis on an especially brutal long and brutal war. There have been recent extensions to train japan and china on one hand when historical issues did not play such a large and crippling role. Leaders in all three countries understood the benefits of cooperation in many areas, business, cultural, people two people were more important to the countrys development, while not denying or covering up the historical issues and in many cases taking steps to knowledge them and tried to apologize for them. They did not allow it to dominate the relationship that it prevented progress in the other in other areas as is the case now. Historical animosities clearly can be a malia rated as aches the experience with germany and most of rest says rest of asias experience. So much for admiring the problem of historical issues and nationalism and international relations. The much more difficult question is what to do about it. He has two panels that follow our talks that hopefully can come up with ideas about it. Let me give you mine. As i mentioned earlier, the solution ultimately lies with political leadership. They must decide it outweighs the advantages. As i mentioned, this has been the case in the past when relations between japan and china were relatively cordial and cooperative. However, there are other actions that can be taken by others and by their friends and my friends in the United States. As a first step they must understand their own histories in a more sure way. All countries have painful episodes in their past. The United States has a least three major instances of unjust and brutal treatment of large groups of citizens. Slavery against africanamericans, slaughter of native americans and x per creations of their land am internment of japanese americans in world war ii. In most major historical episodes like these, some leaders and some ordinary citizens acted heroically. Some acted despicably. Until a country achieves a full understanding of its country, it cannot handle the internal pressures to simplify and exploit that history for political advantage and cannot handle the external pressures from other countries from repeated apologies for denial or leverage. However, in my mind there is a much more fundamental and important reason for the citizens of the country to understand their history. As human beings we have to make sense of our lives and the know how weve reached the current situation, what our forbearers did and the how that affects us. It applies to individuals, families, nations. There will always be elements of myths in family and personal and national histories, but as we become more mature on the we need to get below the myths and enter the reality, complex mixture of heroism, cowardice, loyalty, endurance and surrender that makes a real history the way it actually happened. Now, it may be too much to hope that china can achieve historical honesty under the current form of government. Dictatorships are basically threatened by their own history, and that is why they work so hard to control it. Even when they try to deal with it, they come up with oversimplifications. They censor serious works of history like the recent biography. However, i do not believe it is too much to hope democracies like japan and korea can pace their own histories more honestly than they do. Facing history is much more than just a sentence or two in a school textbook. It is the encouragement and widespread discussion of serious works of history such as the recent books of japan 1941, an examination of why japan decided to go to war with the obviously more powerful United States. An examination of korean troops conduct in the vietnam war were soldiers had an had a reputation for brutality that surpassed other countries. It is based on facts, not on whether book hurts or helps. Research and books are critical. But so too are movies, documentaries that reach a wider audience, often with more emotional power. The popular director Clint Eastwood made a movie about hiroshima. It is interesting the movie from the japanese view is more popular in the United States. Received more Oscar Nominations than did the one from the American Point of view. Also, based on the american cases of coming to grips with the countrys history never ends. It is not the case of putting the sentence in official school textbooks, entering and accepting apologies and then moving on. A case of continued research on the facts and research of the time, book about africanamericans or in 1960s are very different. In this sense there really is no place for apology for tea. Shameful episodes in National History will always be painful and embarrassing and will have to be faced and learned in greater depth. So getting the history right is one important step but there are others. Opinion makers, public figures and media commentator should emphasize the important trends of the future as much as they talk about the narrow, historical issues of the past. Great games countries have made since the end of the cold war, civil war in china have all been enabled by international operations. The economic miracles in japan and china have been based on Foreign Investment and exports, Political Developments have occurred through political contact with the rest of the world. Territorial aggression has been discredited among advanced nations as a way to increase power. In fact, military aggression whether by the soviet union in afghanistan, United States in iraq is now generally considered to be hugely expensive for dubious games. Things have changed since the 1930s and 1940s and 1950s. So while the opinion makers and influential spokesman should not disregard or cover up historical issues, they should place them in a wider context of changes that have taken place since those years. Most of all, this puts a premium on national leadership. It requires careful calibration of public statements along with private medications. Big public actions, even accompanied by very public statements are simply fodder for exploitation by political opportunist. Public opinion eads to be shaped by smaller steps, thoughtful public statements on days of historical significance, encouragement to private initiative to the history right, public admonitions of statements whether made by a political ally or political enemy, wherever they are made. There is a particular role to be played by leaders who have strong nationalist credentials. They can uniquely lead their countries to put historical animosities behind them without the risk of inciting domestic backlash that might in turn only create a further spiral of acrimony. As Richard Nixons lead an opening to china, an opening to capitalism, so some current or future nationalist leader in japan or korea has an opportunity to leave his or her mark on history. In addition, an important place for very private communications among national leaders. Trusted emissaries need to be used to test whether an overture would be reciprocated. Because public statements and actions are so subject to true intentions they need to be conveyed through trusted channels. National leaders and immediate staff need to resist the temptation to leak everything they do to the press to get the appearance of action and the appearance of masters of the situation. So let me conclude by providing the rest of the store by george santi andos famous quote about history. After warning about the dangers of forgetfulness, he goes on to explain manhunt and true progress in which no events or habits have grasp onto instincts. This is truly the challenge for the leaders and citizens for the powerful countries of southeast asia. They need to understand their own histories and understand what has changed since the time the historical events occurred. They need to avoid history impeding development of a better future, rather than rolling ships a state while facing the stern, they need to face forward on the ground a teller and steer confidently into the future. Thank you. [applause] thank you, admiral. I hope to look into more detail on the program. Heritage has a long history of relationships. None closer with those in south korea. That is why i am honored to introduce you to the ambassador of the <