Russian Conspiracy Theory 101A
The U.S. has "engineered" this global financial meltdown as a way to attack Russia for their invasion into Georgia and thinking that they had become a big swinging dick given their power from the recent crude oil rally to $147.
That's why you heard Bernanke and the Fed talk about INFLATION, INFLATION, INFLATION in their FOMC meeting notes yesterday, and NOT one word about Lehman and other financial institutions being under tremendous stress.
If you don't see a global coordinated "easing" of rates, one could indeed make a case for this conspiracy theory.
Just a thought.