"How this plays out is anybody's guess"

Sebastian Mallaby, a man who's not given to panic, says the following in the Washington Post:

"Now all of these currency bets are exploding. The currencies that used to be cheap to borrow are soaring in value, and the ones that reaped rewards for owners are plummeting. In the past month, the Japanese yen has jumped 34 percent against the Australian dollar and 18 percent against the ruble. A lot of speculators in a lot of places are getting pummeled. The more they rush to get out of their positions, the more they reinforce the currency moves that cripple anybody who's still trapped in the carry trade. And the more havoc all of this wreaks in emerging economies.

How this plays out is anybody's guess. The same bug-eyed panic that was evident among bankers last month has seized traders of emerging-market currencies. The really scary thing is that the crisis has migrated into parts of the financial system that are tough to rescue. When push came to shove, the Federal Reserve, the Treasury and their European counterparts could stand behind the banking system. But now we are talking about hedge funds, which lie beyond the traditional reach of regulators, and emerging markets, some of whose governments lack the cash to stage bailouts. Unlike your standard horror movie, there's no telling when this one will end."

Here's my comment:

"But now we are talking about hedge funds, which lie beyond the traditional reach of regulators, and emerging markets, some of whose governments lack the cash to stage bailouts."

Isn't the IMF going to have to fill in the role of national banks? What other possibilities are there? We can hardly stand idly by while the periphery collapses because of a crisis which began at the center.