Foreign policy is not an easy thing, said Emory University professor Kenneth W. Stein during a speech Monday in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union.

Stein did not speak on specific American foreign policy in the Middle East as such, but discussed the history of the region and the reasons why there are political problems there.

The discussion also returned many times to the same set of objectives, such as how to do deal with the USSR, securing oil, backing national stability and pushing for regime change.

“The region isn’t exactly what you’d call your next door neighbor,” Stein said.

Stein, trying to summarize the differences between the United States and the Middle East, said it came down to the fact the Americans “have an interest in institutions,” and in the Middle East, the leaders are only interested in leaders. These leaders tend not to care about the lower classes as well, Stein said, and political animosity usually ensues.

The main theme of the night often returned to who is making the rules in the Middle East, be it the British, the French or the United States. Prior to World War I, Stein said, the British and French controlled the region, making deals with the various tribal leaders to consolidate their own power interests, mainly the Suez Canal region for control of oil exports.

Stein said when the British and French decided to divide up their regions, they divided them up into zones that created lines between ethnicities and religion.

Before World War I there were no real borders in the Middle East. During the time before World War II, the Palestinian governments sold large amounts of land to the migrant Jewish population. Stein pointed out that as a result, Zionism is a huge point of conflict in the Middle East.

After World War II, the state of Israel was born, although Stein said the “state within a state” had already existed for many years. The existence of Israel, Stein said, is a thorn in the side of other Arab countries whose economies are dwindling and government leaders only truly exist to control their own power structure. These Arab countries, Stein said, see Israel as a “reminder of their own failures.”

“Israel, as a state, is built on western values,” Stein said.

Stein summarized the other factors for instability in the region as a runaway demography, stagnant economies, geology, geography, religion and ethnicity. Stein said there is a “new cold war” between the Sunni and the Shia Islamic sects, which will shape the future of the region.

Erik Bunker, sophomore in accounting, attended the lecture and said it was an educational experience.

“I thought he made good points, and now I have more education on the issues in the Middle East,” Bunker said.