loaded with possibilities. this revelation in communication could make it possible for more and more to have a phone in their car or one that travels with you. reporter: motorola was kind enough to lend us a mock-up of their original dynatech phone. it costs $4,000, no free minutes, and weighed 2 1/2 pounds. oh, how things have changed. over the years they have gotten smaller, lighter and cheaper. you can take pictures with them, download music. hello, professor katz. hello, mr. potter. reporter: we talked to james katz of rutgers university, and just for fun, we interviewed him by cell phone, never mind we were in two rooms next to each other. there s no other technology that s dramatically changed the world as quickly as the cell phone has. over half the people in the whole world, over 3 billion people are mobile phone subscribers. reporter: that can be good or bad. it connects families but it can annoy others in public places and the stories of distracted drivers are l
richard engle in turkey on the border. i want to bring in mark katz, professor of government and politics at george mason university. he is also the author of leaving without losing: the war on terror after iraq and afghanistan. dr. katz, good to have you with us on this saturday afternoon. the former u.s. ambassador to syria, theodore kotoof writing in the daily beast, the best hope to avoid syria becoming a failed or radical islamist state is for the russia and u.s. to cooperate. you write that russia may be shifting its pro-assad position. at this point, do you think that russia leadership and the united states can get together on syria? you know, i think that the russians now understand that the regime probably isn t going to survive. however, i don t think that the russians are going to get actively involved with us in any effort to militarily intervene
reflecting afghan popular sentiment, that unfortunately they re long past the point where they regard the american presence as liberators but more as occupiers and unfortunately they see us going and so there s no reason to be friendly toward us anymore. author and professor mark katz, thank you so much, professor katz. do appreciate your time. thank you for having me. coming up, what s the weirdest thing the president has ever gotten for christmas? fruitcake? weird tie? nope. stay tuned. [ male announcer ] with 160 more miles per tank, the distances aren t getting shorter. the trucks are going farther. the new 2013 ram 1500.