"Route 3, 2011'' (three-channel synchronized HD video projection),  by Patty Chang and David Kelley, about a ''new Silk Road that is a stage for local and transnational imaginings about the modern in Laos.'' It can be seen in the "Far from Indochine'' show at the New Art Center, in Newton, Mass., through Oct. 18.

There will be much more of this sort of thing as we approach the 40th anniversary next year of America's exit from the war in Indochina.

And to think that Vietnam is becoming a U.S. ally to stop Chinese expansion.