The manipulation has been here and evident to all since at least last summer.
Check the poll I made a few weeks ago (
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/lets-find-out-just-how-powerful-the-manipulator-really-is-61151), there are many people on this forum who say they are playing bitcoin speculation with $1k or more. Look at at the stats from the poll, account for the noise inherent to forum polls, and figure a way to guess how many people are trading on gox with how much. Then realize that how much confidence you place in this method is almost completely subjective.
The wall at 5.60 didn't get taken down, it was removed and the price followed. This has been status qou, if you don't realize there is a hierarchy of "manipulators" with 1k, 10k, 100k, 1M by now you haven't been around very long or haven't been paying attention.
If all the centralized exchanges get taken down it won't be a big deal in the long run unless people get locked out of their money*. Everyone should realize the exchanges are the weak point. What I want to know is the Mt Gox/Bitcoinica contingency plans for this scenario. That is the biggest unknown right now, and perhaps they shouldn't publish it. I bet the people with alot of money in there already have something set up.
*Please correct me on this if someone has fundamental doubts regarding a decentralized exchange.