John McHugo

King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia and President Franklin D. Roosevelt converse on the deck of a U.S. warship in the Great Bitter Lake near Cairo after Roosevelt's attendance at the Yalta conference.

Wahhābism by Cole M. Bunzel review

Wahhābism: The History of a Militant Islamic Movement by Cole M. Bunzel is groundbreaking and deserves to reach as wide an audience as possible.

Shia reverence: portrait of Imam Husayn ibn Ali, son of Ali ibn Abi Talib, on a street in Kashan, Iran.

Islam’s ‘Toxic’ Schism

Embodied in the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the Sunni-Shia divide is a schism that threatens to tear the Islamic world apart. Though its origins go back to the beginnings of Islam, its present toxicity is a recent development.

Syria: Caught in a Trap

As the Syrian crisis intensifies, John McHugo looks at the country’s troubled relationship with the West during the Cold War and the continuing Arab-Israeli conflict.