Is it your contention then, pdq, that the "Middle East" is synonymous with "The Arab World"?

A swift look at the bigger picture shows most of Algeria, and all of Morocco and Mauretania actually West of the UK, and all Tunisia and most of Libya due South of Western Europe.

As I understand it the "Middle East" usually refers to those countries in the area of the old Persian Empire, bounded East to West by Pakistan (in fact all the stans) and Egypt, and North to South by Turkey and the Arabian Gulf.

The Arab World is a considerably larger expanse, and I see considerable cultural difference between the Middle East part and the Western extremities.

Of course, if those Western countries are officially part of what the Foreign Office designates as "The Middle East" then I am obviously misinformed.

Does anybody here know whether this is the case?

Don T.