Well, this summer Americans got pretty close to a lesson of their own... It's pretty clear that any unilateral default would be a complete and utter disaster. Also, it's pretty clear that any hostile stance against Greece would result in more pain for the holders of the debt. If Greece is going to default and pull out of Euro, the aftermath would be brutal. To compare it to the fallout from the failure of Lehman Brothers would be like comparing anal sex to gentle foreplay.
So bail it out anyone in the EU with their hand out to the tune of $3T and all is well. Zero sum. A medical analogy. The good news is that you're cancer free, the bad news is that the chemo caused irreversible and fatal cardiomyopathy.
Sovereign default will IMO be coordinated amongst the "white" parts of the G20, excluding Russia, as they've already used up their quota on sovereign defaults.
Russians slick only in small things like picking your wallet. On major items they are outright stupid, treacherous towards their own country and totally enemy like toward other Russians. Look at their governmental decisions in last 30 years and you won't find more stupidity at the top level in any other country.
Buddy if I had suffered for even 20 years under communism in USSR, then choosin Boris Yeltsin as a demigod would have been an easy choice. However the systematic and ugly naked looting of Russia after 1991 had to be tolerated only for 1-2 years at most. Russians tolerated that dance of destruction for nearly 10 years and are paying the price for that. But then Russians also tolerated communism for 70 years which shows something really wrong in their mindset about being 'too patient' about facing suffering. Guess first 20 years of communism since 1917 and the pains of WWII threw their psychology into deep depression, forcing them into inability to take right decisions on major system of things.