Definitely a reference to a quote at the start of WWI (which I consider to be the key event which shaped the whole 20th century):
"The lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our life-time" -- British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey
No plausible alternative even exists despite $200,000,000,000,000 of debt.
The Euro barely left a dent despite being invented to displace the dollar.
It is going to take Europe, Asia and the BRICS cooperating to create a reasonable alternative like it took the Vandals, Goths and Barbarians(much of the known universe) added together to take down Rome.
or something not happening anytime in the near future.
No nation can be a first world nation without the international banking system. We have a hammerlock on this system like never before in US history. Trump got Turkey out of Syria in 9 days by blocking the Turkish banks access-a world record at getting a muslim nation to heel as an example.