MOSCOW -- Barbarian invasions from the east are old news for old Europe. Over the centuries, restless nomads kept rolling through the area -- sometimes to kill, sometimes to plunder, and sometimes to plunder and stay.

In fact, most invaders chose to settle down on the conquered European terrain, won over by its mild climate, bustling urban culture and easy access to every imaginable trade route, be that to China, Ethiopia or the Canary Islands.

For a few centuries, Europe was left alone, and then the post-World War II economic boom came. By the 1960s, almost every country of Western Europe was enjoying skyrocketing economic growth.