While the distraction that is the stock market continues to enthrall most Americans, the big shots in the global monetary which for now are taking place behind the scenes, are getting ever louder. Several recent cases in point:

One person who is paying attention to the failure of the US to grasp that the unipolar world of the 1980s is long gone, is Russia's Vladimir Putin, who earlier today proposed creating a "Eurasian" currency union which would have Belarus and Kazakhstan as its first members, which already are Russia's partners in a political and economic union made up of former Soviet republics.

As Telegraph reports, Putin made his proposal at a meeting with the Belarussian and Kazakh presidents which highlighted the challenges facing the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union following the fall in global oil prices and the decline of the Russian rouble.

"The time has come to start thinking about forming a currency union," Mr Putin said after the talks in the Kazakh capital Astana with Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Not surprising, considering both Belarus and Kazakhstan have spent a lot of time in the past year alternatively devaluing, and scrambling to prop up their currency.

Putin gave no details of the proposal but suggested it would be easier to meet economic challenges by working closely together. Mr Lukashenko and Mr Nazarbayev did not immediately respond to the proposal in public, but analysts say it is unlikely to get off the ground.