I am sure we have not seen the true extent of this 'crises'. But it does seem to be a crises in the banking sector, not rooted in wider economic factors. It may be the case that the main damage done will be to banks and ultimitly other banks (like Barcleys recent acquisition of Lehmans saving sector) will pick up the pieces and rebuild or profit.

For anyone thinking that the Wall Street crises is going to open the door to other nations to come to the fore in terms of Global leadership, they should wake up to the fact that the Russia stock exchange took a major hit because of its dependancy on the US dollar to prop up its lending system. The Chinese are far from immune either.

Russias main bank lost 33% by close of business yesterday. The effects on China may be less, but only because it does not have an open financial sector. May sound advantageous, but protectionist economies are by their nature incapable of profitting from the global banking system. Double edged sword and all that.

Only the Arabs (like Dubai) may escape this relatively unscathed, but its worth remembering that they are US allies.

Anyone expecting a change in the 'world order' over the sub-prime crises need not hold their breath.