The Kremlin is still shocked by Russia losing 8 percent of its GDP last year, more than any other G-20 nation, despite having the third-largest international currency reserves in the world.

Yet Paris has many advantages: a large number of international Banks, from BNP-Paribas to credit Agricole; more international companies than Frankfurt; and easy access to regulators.

Nobody was ever better at chess than Bobby Fischer. Likewise, programming languages and techniques are widely known, but it was Zuckerberg who intuited how he could link them with a networking site.