Prominent economists have drawn an eerie parallel between today's events and those of the early 1930s when, as the world limped in the aftermath of the 1929 Wall Street crash, a banking crisis in Europe took the world economy into another downward spiral and led to an explosion of extremist politics that, ultimately, set the pathway to World War II.

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It will inevitably disrupt the world, as the dynamics of the global economy, environment, politics and culture will be altered.

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The former KGB agent is credited with stabilizing the Russian economy with various tax policies and bringing some clout to Russian politics on the world stage.

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