50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 558 France, which has gone too far in its pursuit of freedom
However, after the flight was out of danger, Sun Zhiwei felt even more gloomy.

Because the flaws in this external device are too obvious, its safety is greatly reduced once it's on a plane.

The idea of ​​catching bullets in space is unrealistic in practice because his brain simply can't process it.

The speed of a regular bullet is about the same as the speed of sound. By the time you hear the sound, the bullet has already hit you, leaving no time for you to react.

If he were to be attacked by a missile in the air, he would almost certainly be doomed, because missiles travel faster than bullets.

Unless his spatial detection range grows far enough to give him more than a second to react after detecting a target, catching a bullet with his bare hands will not become a reality.

Soon, the plane climbed into the stratosphere, and once the fuselage stabilized, everyone had time to ask what had happened.

At this moment, the skies over the entire Java region were in complete chaos. The air traffic control channels had never been so busy with messages, and hundreds of flights were transmitting a great deal of information.

Through the complex messages broadcast over the radio in the cockpit, Sun Zhiwei pieced together the full picture of today's events.

It turns out that at 5 a.m. today, airports in all major cities on Java Island were closed, and firefights broke out at almost all of them.

Prabovo and Latif have completely broken off relations.

What they didn't know was that not only the airport, but all the ports on Java Island were also closed today.

All planes and ships that did not depart in time are now stranded in the area.

Further afield, the remaining nearly 200 military ships of the Javanese Navy are converging on the island of Java.

It seems that both sides have made Java Island their main battlefield, and they are currently confining their forces in their respective war zones.

Seeing that Java Island was about to become an isolated island, Sun Zhiwei's gaze became even more anxious.

The plane flew for 11 hours and arrived at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport in the evening.

The plane is parked in Terminal 2, which was just put into use this year. It is a wave-shaped symmetrical building with an overall design that is both beautiful and practical.

Although we now perceive France as a fashion capital and a romantic city, in fact, France has always been the leading power in continental Europe throughout history.

At that time, there was no Little Dzungar; Little Dzungar was just a small, fragmented Prussian state.

As a fashion capital and the heart of continental Europe, the French have always been proud. Even today, amidst East-West tensions, they strive to maintain their independence.

For example, France was the first Western country to establish diplomatic relations with mainland China.

That was back in 1964. At that time, we had almost no allies in the world, and we had not yet developed our own nuclear weapons. The Third Front construction in China also began around that time.

Under such difficult circumstances, the successful establishment of diplomatic relations with France was undoubtedly a huge victory for diplomatic work, and it also completely bankrupted the United States' policy of blockading and strangling the new China.

As the famous Hungarian political commentator István Sápo said, "France's recognition of the continent despite the open threats and protests from the United States was a resounding slap in the face to the United States by de Gaulle."

Therefore, for most of the time afterward, even with some setbacks, our relationship with France was generally quite good.

After getting off the plane, Sun Zhiwei checked the airport's flight schedule and actually found a flight to Zaire.

However, this flight only runs once a week, and the last one just took off the day before yesterday. So, if he wants to take this flight, he'll have to wait another 5 days. Thinking back to his last trip to Africa, driving alone along the equator through desolate deserts and grasslands, it wasn't a pleasant experience at all.

Back then, he went to South Africa and Botswana, two countries with relatively high urbanization, and he was already suffering so much. Now, his destination is the most primitive Zaire.

So, after a few seconds of rational thought, he abandoned the idea of ​​traveling from neighboring countries.

Let him wait a few days. He's someone who's lived in modern society for a long time, and he really can't adapt to going back to a primitive living environment.

Considering he would be staying in Paris for several days, he had to exchange some US dollars for some francs at the airport bank.

After leaving the airport, Sun Zhiwei took a taxi to the city center, which is 25 kilometers away from the airport.

Once he got on the bus, he realized how expensive things were here. The 25-kilometer trip would have cost around ten dollars in New York, but in Paris it cost him over a hundred francs.

He saw many long queues along the way and learned from the driver that life was not easy for Parisians.

This year's unemployment rate has reached 10%, which is terrible for a modern country.

More people losing their jobs means more people will need to rely on welfare to make a living.

According to the driver, the Paris City Hall has decided this year to open metro stations to provide temporary accommodation for the many homeless people.

There's a movie called "The Pursuit of Happyness" that tells a story from this era, although the story is set in San Francisco, while this is Paris.

But the underlying issues are the same: countless ordinary people struggle under the weight of social problems such as unemployment and poverty.

What Sun Zhiwei saw here was this scene: on one hand, the rich continued to enjoy life, while on the other hand, ordinary people were struggling with high prices and high unemployment.

However, part of the reason for this is also France's own doing.

Although the global economy has been struggling in recent years due to economic recession and the oil crisis, only France has achieved such a high unemployment rate.

The reason for this is undoubtedly France's policy of opening up its foreign economy since the 60s.

Because of excessive opening up of agriculture, a large number of farmers lost their land and flocked to cities to work.

If the economy continues to perform well, then the influx of migrant workers can actually be beneficial to economic growth.

Unfortunately, this coincided with a global economic recession. There were already many workers in the cities, and then a large number of displaced farmers poured in from the countryside, so the unemployment rate naturally soared.

This is different from the situation in normal countries.

Normally, if the urban economy encounters problems, rural areas would become a safety net for the unemployed, because rural land can absorb a large number of unemployed people.

Just like back then, we sent a large number of young people to the countryside to make a living, which greatly alleviated the economic pressure on the cities.

This is the case in most countries around the world, where every effort is made to protect their agriculture and farmers.

But this time, free France went too far; they opened up the countryside to capitalists. How could things possibly turn out well?

(End of this chapter)