The Middle East

In the Vice-Presidential debate last night, the first question related to the Iranian missiles into Israel, the latest chapter in the latest ongoing crisis in what is usually referred to as the Middle East.

This is not an analysis or opinion on the crisis.  Rather, I just want to provide a tiny bit of geography perspective, which we seldom see in words or images of the area.  The United States is inextricably tangled in all of the situations, most recently beginning with the catastrophic actions in the area of Gaza one year ago on October 7, 2023.  There is no simple solution.

Here is my original post about Gaza Oct 9, 2023 (scroll down to originating post content).

Here and below are maps of the general area (the pdf is of the larger region, the jpeg including primarily Lebanon, Israel and Iran: Iran Lebanon Israel area)

I have always found the CIA Fact Book useful to get general information about international countries.

In context with the United States, and even Minnesota, Israel and Lebanon are tiny countries.  Here is a sketch map of Israel in context with Minnesota

Israel, including Gaza, 1995