BAR HARBOR — Expert Seth Singleton will speak on “Middle East Tumult and Its Consequences,” for the Acadia Senior College on Friday, Sept. 28. This is part of an ongoing Food For Thought, lunch and lecture series, held at Birch Bay Village Inn, Hulls Cove.

Dr. Singleton asks, “What drives the convulsions in the Middle East and what will come of them?

“Along with the civil war in Syria and the transition in Egypt we will consider Turkey, the Kurds, Islamist ideology, the mobile bands of extreme jihadis, Sunni-Shia tensions, and changes in Israel and Israeli policy.

“Is Saudi Arabia immune, and can we expect oil at $200 a barrel?

“How will Israeli or US war against Iran change the Middle East?

“Will the U.S. election make any difference, and what might an intelligent US policy look like?.”

Dr. Singleton studied Russian history and literature at Harvard and political science at Yale, where his dissertation won a national prize of the American Political Science Association. He has taught in small colleges and major research universities, been a Fellow at the Harvard Russian Research Center, and was academic dean at Pacific University in Oregon and of a new university in Ecuador.

He served as a Fulbright Senior Scholar in Vietnam and Bolivia. He has lived and worked in Tanzania, Russia, Ecuador, and Vietnam, and for shorter periods in China and Mongolia, and has lectured in about twenty countries in Asia and Africa, sometimes on behalf of the US government.

Dr. Singleton lives in Hall Quarry and is Libra Professor of International Relations at the University of Maine.

The hot buffet lunch begins at 11:30 a.m. and costs $11; the lecture is from noon to 1 p.m. Reservations are required and may be made by contacting the Acadia Senior College office at 288-9500, or by emailing This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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