LEWISTON – As a follow-up to a discussion last month about the United States and Iraq, Bates College will present a panel discussion about the United States and the Middle East at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 13.

The talk will take place in the Edmund S. Muskie Archives at the corner of Campus Avenue and Franklin Street.

The public is invited to attend at no charge.

Participants are moderator James Richter, professor of political science at Bates College; Arlene MacLeod, associate professor of political science at Bates; Dov Waxman, assistant professor of government at Bowdoin College; and Jon Eustis, a U.S. Marine Corps captain and a member of the Bates College Class of 1991, who will participate by speaker-phone.

Panel members will offer remarks and then open the discussion to the audience. Planned topics will range from the war in Iraq to religious fundamentalism to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.