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- [00:01]
Meta Narrator
Meta's AI infrastructure is bringing jobs to local communities like Las Lunas, New Mexico. Phil, who grew up in Las Lunas, has seen the positive impact that Meta's ongoing $600 billion investment in American jobs and infrastructure will bring.
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Phil
I had to travel for work, missing.
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Moments I can't get back. Then Meta opened a data center and brought new jobs.
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Now I don't worry about missing out anymore.
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Meta Narrator
Learn more about Meta's investment@meta.com buildingamerica.
- [00:34]
Caitlin McCabe
As talks to end the war in Ukraine continue, we look at Germany's secret plan preparing the country for a major conflict with Russia. Plus, President Trump sets his sights on another Latin American country and why it's bad news that Gen Z shoppers aren't spending big this holiday season.
- [00:52]
Quentin Webb
Gen Z is already a significant force in the economy, so about 8% of retail spending today. But on top of that, you've got to think that these are people who are primed to become much bigger part of the retail economy.
- [01:04]
Caitlin McCabe
It's Monday, December 1st. I'm Caitlin McCabe for the Wall Street Journal and here is the AM edition of what's news, the top headlines and business stories moving your world today. U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump's son in law Jared Kushner are headed to Moscow later today as talks to end the war in Ukraine continue to intensify. Both men met with Ukrainian negotiators alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Florida yesterday in a four hour meeting that both sides called productive. A senior official said the talks covered possible timetables for new elections in Ukraine and the prospect of land swaps between Ukraine and Russia. Still other critical issues remain unresolved, including the nature of security guarantees for Ukraine and whether the Kremlin will continue to demand international recognition of the territory it has seized. Speaking after the meeting, Rubio told reporters the talks were delicate and complicated with a lot of moving parts.
- [02:08]
Steve Witkoff
We continue to be realistic about how difficult this is, but optimistic, particularly given the fact that as we've made progress. I think there is a shared vision here that this is not just about ending the war, which is very important. It is about securing Ukraine's future, a future that we hope will be more prosperous than it's ever been.
- [02:24]
Caitlin McCabe
Trump said yesterday that Wyckoff will likely meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin sometime next week. But after more than three years of war, it remains unclear whether Putin is willing to make concessions that would get both sides to agree to peace. Last week, Putin said he was ready for serious discussions, but reiterated demands that Ukraine must withdraw troops from two cities in its eastern Donbass region, including areas not controlled by Russia. The talks for peace come as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is facing increased political pressure at home with his government reeling from a corruption scandal that forced his right hand man and top peace negotiator to resign late last week. In the wake of last week's shooting of two national guards in D.C. homeland Security Secretary Chrissy Noem said yesterday that the suspect, 29 year old Ramanala Lock and Wall, was radicalized since coming to the US from Afghanistan in 2021. There, Lock and Wall had worked with the CIA, which made him eligible for a visa. Michelle Hackman, who covers immigration for the Wall Street Journal, says the shooting has triggered the Trump administration to halt all immigration and pending asylum cases for Afghans.
- [03:42]
Michelle Hackman
The Trump administration is claiming that there wasn't sufficient vetting before they brought people to the United States. Now we have reported that they were actually looking at a lot of the ideas that they are now implementing as a result of the shooting. They were looking at let's open all refugee and asylum cases approved under the Biden administration, which just to give you an idea, is hundreds of thousands of cases. They now presenting this idea like it's a response to the shooting, but was actually something that was under consideration beforehand. They have said that they're going to reopen all of these refugee and asylum cases. They have paused all applications submitted by Afghans. And then on top of that, they've said anyone who's now applying for asylum, we're not deciding any cases, so we're going to leave those people in limbo as well.
- [04:30]
Caitlin McCabe
Meanwhile, President Trump's focus on Latin America is intensifying with yesterday's election in Honduras. Trump last week endorsed Nasre Tito Asfara, who now holds a narrow lead over a conservative rival after the president said U.S. aid to the impoverished nation hinged on Asfara winning the vote on Friday, Trump also said he planned to pardon former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was convicted by a New York jury last year and sentenced to 45 years in prison. Prosecutors said that he helped smuggle 400 tons of cocaine to the US and turned Honduras into a narco state. Speaking to reporters on Air Force One yesterday, Trump claimed it was a setup.
- [05:12]
Phil
You take any country you want. If somebody sells drugs in that country, that doesn't mean you arrest the president and put him in jail for the rest of his life. And that includes this country. Okay? To be honest, I mean, if somebody does something wrong? Do you put the president of the country in jail? They said it was a Biden set up. It was a Biden administration set up.
- [05:33]
Caitlin McCabe
The proposed pardon makes little sense to some Hondurans since Hernandez was convicted of the same sort of accusations Trump has made against Nicolas Maduro, which the Venezuelan president has denied. Meanwhile, the Republican led armed services committees in the House and Senate said they are opening bipartisan inquiries into the possibility of war crimes related to Venezuela following a report in the Washington Post that the US Targeted survivors of a strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean. The Wall Street Journal hasn't independently confirmed the Washington Post report. Over the weekend, Trump also said that the airspace surrounding Venezuela should be considered closed, yet another sign that he is considering striking targets on land in the country as he continues to pressure Maduro to crack down on drug traffickers. Coming up, Germany is preparing for a potential war with Russia. We've got some of the top secret details next. Plus a look at the biggest retail weekend of the year, but not so much for teens and 20 somethings. Those stories after the break.
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Trustage Announcer
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- [07:03]
Caitlin McCabe
Roughly two and a half years ago, a dozen senior German officers convened at a military compound in Berlin and began to work on a secret plan for a war with Russia. Now they're racing to implement it. Operation Plan Germany, as it's known, details how hundreds of thousands of German, US And NATO troops would be mobilized. German officials have said they expect Russia will be ready and willing to attack NATO in 2029. But a recent string of spying incidents, sabotage attacks and drone incursions in Europe, many of which Western intelligence have attributed to Moscow, suggest the country could be preparing to pounce sooner. The Journal's Germany bureau chief, Bertrand Benoit, has been digging into the secret plan. Bertrand, give us the details.
- [07:52]
Phil
So shortly after the full scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the German general staff and the government began to prepare for what they thought might happen after that, which is a war between NATO and Russia. And they began drafting a plan about what it would take for NATO to be successful in such a scenario. And it turns out that the role of Germany is pivotal, a sort of giant logistical operation to ferry NATO troops from west to the front line in the east. So it means for instance, that if a convoy, if a military convoy, big detachment of troops lands at a port in northern Germany on its way to, let's say, Poland or the Baltic states, it will need to transit through very densely country. And that means relying, for instance, on the police to ensure that the convoys have priority while they travel on the highway, the railways. The railway system is now a company. It used to be a government department. In the Cold War, the main airline no longer belonged to the state. The post office and the main career transport companies are no longer state owned. And so the military, in order to transport the goods and transport the material and transport the hardware where and the soldiers would have to rely on the private sector and on civilian organizations.
- [09:27]
Interview Host
It's quite an undertaking, as you lay out there. But there are just a lot of logistical hurdles as well, right? Your story mentions issues with Germany's infrastructure, for example.
- [09:39]
Phil
Yes, absolutely. Part of this context, the given, if you like, that the military is having to work with, is the very poor state of repair of German transport infrastructure and communication infrastructure, and so on and so on. Now, the plan, and in fact it is the most secret part of the plan, is about how to circumvent the bottlenecks where bridges can no longer carry heavy military convoys. It is also about making sure that whatever work can be done to improve the infrastructure is being done as quickly as possible and prioritise the military routes towards the front line.
- [10:19]
Interview Host
Bertrand, your story mentions that German officials expect Russia will be ready and willing to attack NATO in 2029. I'm sure a lot of our listeners would be alarmed to hear that.
- [10:30]
Caitlin McCabe
What do we know about that potential threat?
- [10:32]
Phil
What's worrying not just the Germans, but Western Europeans and NATO is that Russia is adding more military capacity than it needs in Ukraine, and therefore that the objective of this and the purpose of this would be to wage a bigger war with NATO. And I was talking to one of the contractors who is pitching for one of the contracts under the plan, and he was telling me that if it were Russia, then the first thing they would do would be to disrupt the infrastructure and to destroy the network, block the ports, destroy the railways, launch drones against infrastructure. And these are things that we see in a small way still are beginning to happen. When airports are blocked for hours and closed for hours because of drone incursions, and when important railway data cables cut, preventing traffic for several hours, these are all attacks on infrastructure that has a big military component.
- [11:30]
Interview Host
Now that's the Journal's Germany bureau chief, Bertrand Benoit. Thanks, Bertrand.
- [11:35]
Phil
Thanks.
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Caitlin McCabe
Holiday shopping season is officially underway following Black Friday last week and the start of Cyber Monday today. So far, economic worries don't seem to be causing consumers to pump the brakes on spending. With one big exception. Gen Z Shoppers, the group, which runs from teens to late 20 somethings, said in a recent Deloitte survey that they expect to cut holiday spending by an average of 34% more than any other age group. A separate survey from PricewaterhouseCoopers found that they aren't just feeling choosier about the holidays either. They're also pulling back on travel to dining out and clothes shopping.
- [12:17]
Quentin Webb
The Gen Z demographic really is feeling the pinch.
- [12:20]
Caitlin McCabe
That's Journal deputy finance editor Quentin Webb. He says that Gen Z consumers are facing myriad economic pressures, rising living costs, student loans and for recent college graduates, a 6.8% unemployment rate, the highest in a decade. Outside of the pandemic, Quinton says a pullback from this social media savvy group has big implications for retailers and the economy.
- [12:45]
Quentin Webb
There's two issues, really. One is that Gen Z is already a significant force in the economy, so about 8% of retail spending today is Gen Z. But on top of that, you've got to think that these are people who are primed to become over the next few years a much bigger part of the retail economy. They're going to grow their spending power, spend more, and also they have outsized influence because these are the people who are on social media the most. Their opinion kind of tends to sway things. So they have an economic impact which is then amplified by their social media influence and by the fact that they're going to become bigger spenders. Or they would in normal years have become bigger spenders in the years ahead.
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Caitlin McCabe
And that's it for what's news for this Monday morning. Today's show is produced by Hattie Moyer and Daniel Bok. Our supervising producer is Sandra Kilhoff and I'm Caitlin McCabe for the Wall Street Journal. We'll be back tonight with a new show. Until then, thanks for listening.
- [13:52]
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