[stuartcr]

What is it now that we are in the 21st century?

[Cronos]

What is it now that we are in the 21st century?

Yeah, left that out ;-)
The poitn is that using the term Middle East for Arabia-Iraq-Persia-Cyprus-Greece raises two issues:
1. Where is the Near East??
2. If Persia is the eastern part of the Middle east and China is the Western part of the Far East, where do the countries of the Indian continent and of south-east asia fit in??