Mid-Afternoon Map: The Monkey Paw Map of the New Middle East

Welcome to Mid-Afternoon Map, our exclusive members-only newsletter that provides a cartographic perspective on current events, geopolitics, and history from the Caucasus to the Carolinas. Subscribers can look forward to interesting takes on good maps and bad maps, beautiful maps and ugly ones — and bizarre maps whenever possible. Wishes for a new Middle East seem cursed to come true in the worst possible way. On Sept. 22, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented the U.N. General Assembly with a map of “The New Middle East,” extolling the blessings it would bring. Reread a month later, however, his words are