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Developments in the Middle East have been occasional, often painful distractions for Americans since the Arab-Israeli wars of 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973 and the resultant oil embargo. Sometimes those distractions -- as in the case of Iran's tumultuous Islamic Revolution more than thirty years ago, Iraq's sudden invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and our own intense involvement in Iraq from March 2003, and the consequences of what has been dubbed "the Arab Spring" over the past half year -- have turned into full-blown international crises prompting observers to wonder whether the area is inherently unstable. The speaker will offer his personal perspective acquired during residence and work in the region from August 1974 through August 2011, first as a Fulbright lecturer in Iran and Egypt and later during a 28-year career as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer that included assignments in Saudi Arabia, Syria, Qatar, Israel (and Gaza), Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and finally Iraq.