He is the former Washington correspondent for the London Daily Telegraph, and most famous for leading the exposure of President Bill Clinton's involvement in the Arkansas "Whitewater" affair and now its International Business Editor .

You may say: This is not foreign policy, but the Greek Debt Crisis and the response in the form of German inspired austerity measures, which now is leading the world into a doubble dip recession - is very much "foriegn policy" - which I'm sure Stephen Walt will agree. And whereas Paul Kurgman also have some very interesting blog-posts and column's, there is sometimes some very specific economic stuff that is quite difficult to understand for laymen. But Ambrose actually are able to explain it so that people can understand it, and it is done in very original and inspiring prose. For instance, see his column from June 11:

(my emphasis)

[Slick] Deutschland über alles does not mean a trickledown recovery in EMU

Crudely, Germany is doing to Spain, Italy, and increasingly France, what China has been doing to the rest of the world – but more so – by holding down its exchange rate.

In Europe's case, this captive arrangement is written into EU Treaty law. This is not a German conspiracy. The German people never desired the euro. The countries that are now caught in the EMU trap were the ones that foisted the project onto Berlin.

Be that as it may, we now have an untenable socio-strategic situation in which German unemployment has been falling for 12 months in a row to 7.5pc, while Spain's unemployment has vaulted upwards to just under 20pc. This immense gap – with everything it implies about the state of a society – has surfaced in little over two years.<

The delayed effect of German wage discipline over the years has at last hit EMU with volcanic force. The same time-lag is underway in Spain with opposite effect as the property slump grinds deeper. Wishful thinking lingers, but the harsh truth is that the Spain's housing crash has barely begun. The Madrid consultancy RR de Acuna sees an implicit overhang of 1.6m housing units. It will take six years to clear. By cruel contrast, Hans Werner Sinn from Germany's IFO Institute said his country is on the cusp of a property boom. "Germany is the winner of this crisis," he said.

This contrast will become even crueller because Germany is also benefiting from a devalued euro against the dollar, yuan, yen, rouble, and even sterling (lately). The euro has fallen by 20pc or so. This has rescued Germany's 80,000 strong solar industry – for example – from annihilation by Chinese competitors. The EMU effects of a weak euro are asymmetric. Germany's export machine is highly-geared to Asia and America

*
*
*
*
The IMF is frankly in a muddle as well on the big picture. Its World Economic Outlook said the surpluses of Germany, China, and Japan, will rise from $586bn (£377bn) last year to $758bn by 2015, perpetuating the imbalances that led to the credit crisis.

Brian Reading from Lombard Street Research said that if this occurs, it assures a global slump because the deficit states of the Anglosphere and Club Med cannot keep the game going by adding further debt. They must retrench, and therefore global demand must implode. The IMF evades the conclusions of its own logic.

As for Berlin, it eyes the world through a provincial lens, as a pseudo-morality tale with good imbalances (Germany's surplus) and bad imbalances (the US/ Club Med deficits). This childish view did not matter as long as market forces could impose a currency revaluation on Germany every few years to keep relations with the rest of Europe in kilter. It matters a great deal now. EMU has shut the escape valve.

[Click] NOURIEL ROUBINI, JULY 19: Fasten seatbelts for a double dip

The global slowdown will accelerate in the second half - and policymakers are running out of tools

by NOURIEL ROUBINI
05:55 AM Jul 19, 2010

The global economy, artificially boosted since the recession of 2008-2009 by massive monetary and fiscal stimulus and financial bailouts, is headed towards a sharp slowdown this year as the effect of these measures wanes.

Policymakers are running out of tools. /strong<
Additional monetary quantitative easing will make little difference, there is little room for further fiscal stimulus in most advanced economies, and the ability to bail out financial institutions that are too big to fail – but also too big to be saved – will be sharply constrained.

So, as the optimists’ delusional hopes for a rapid V-shaped recovery evaporate, the advanced world will be at best in a long U-shaped recovery, which in some cases – the eurozone and Japan – may be long enough to stretch into an L-shaped near-depression. Avoiding double dip recession will be difficult.

In such a world, recovery in the stronger emerging markets – the great hope for the global economy – will suffer, because no country is an island economically. Indeed, growth in many emerging-market economies – starting with China – is highly dependent on retrenching advanced economies.

Fasten your seat belts for a very bumpy ride.

h/t Paul Krugman

[Vlivk] Interview with David Obey

The problem for Obama, he wasn’t as lucky as Roosevelt, because when Obama took over we were still in the middle of a free fall. So his Treasury people came in and his other economic people came in and said “Hey, we need a package of $1.4 trillion.” We started sending suggestions down to OMB waiting for a call back. After two and a half weeks, we started getting feedback. We put together a package that by then the target had been trimmed to $1.2 trillion. And then [White House Chief of Staff] Rahm Emanuel said to me, “Geez, do you really think we can afford to come in with a package that big, isn’t it going to scare people?” I said, “Rahm, you will need that shock value so that people understand just how serious this problem is.” They wanted to hold it to less than $1 trillion. Then [Pennsylvania Senator Arlen] Specter and the two crown princesses from Maine [Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins] took it down to less than $800 billion. Spread over two and a half years, that’s a hell of a lot of money, but spread over two and a half years in an economy this large, it doesn’t have a lot of fiscal power.

"Does Israel really own USA?"

Well, I know that all prospective US Presidtential candidates go along to the AIPAC conference to declare that they are Israel's Unswerving Friend. Do they do this with any other state? Also AIPAC has boasted that it can get signatures of 100's of lawmakers within 24 hours.

I once came across a photograph of Hilary Clinton taken at AIPAC. She seemed to be doing some kind of dance. The photograph showed her mid step, grimacing, with her arms straight out in front of her. I don't know what it was all about but all I could think of was Braaaaaaains.

I wish I could find a link to it, but it seems to have disappeared.