The Washington Post is asking panelists from around the world how they think history will label Tony Blair 25 years from now. Writing from Damascus, I can speak for how the Syrians will remember him. The man was first regarded as a friend, and welcomed by the Syrians when he came to office in 1997. He reportedly was “personally involved” in the reforms taking place in Syria after 2000, following up with great interest through media reports, and those of the Foreign Office. Relations deteriorated during the Anglo-American war on Afghanistan in October 2001, hit rock bottom during the Iraq War, and have been strained -- to say the least -- since the assassination of Lebanon’s former Prime Minister Rafiq al-Harriri in February 2005. The world remembers the Blair-Assad Summit in London. I would rather recall the Blair-Assad Summit in Damascus in 2001. I happened to be in London when Tony Blair was in Syria and can still remember reading “Syria Scorns Blair” at newsstands scattered all over Oxford Street.

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The Current Discussion:A new poll finds widespread mistrust of world leaders. Are trustworthy national leaders a thing of the past? If not, who's an exception?

I have always been interested in ‘role models.’ Whenever I conduct a personal interview with famous Syrians, I always wrap up with one question, “Who are your inspirational figures; who are your role models in life?” A role model by definition can be a friend or a family member, a living celebrity, or a long-gone iconic figure. I have gotten a colorful variety of answers over the years.

I once administered a survey to my students, three different classes in two consecutive semesters. These were well-to-do Syrians, students at the Faculty of International Relations, born in the mid- to late 1980s. I then administered expanded the same survey to include Syrians of a different age group and different social strata. One question was, “Who is your inspirational figure in life?” This was shortly after last summer’s war in Lebanon and I expected them to say, “Hasan Nasrallah.” So it was a surprise to me when over 60% came out with “None! We don’t have any inspirational figures in our life.” Their parents’ generation would have probably replied, “Gamal Abdul-Nasser.” These young people, however, did not have motivating figures to look up to—nobody to view as a role model. That was a sad reality.

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The Current Discussion: Australia is suffering from a drought of men - about 100,000 of them, most of whom have gone overseas to travel and work. China has the opposite problem - a shortage of women. Which is the more worrisome problem? Should we be worrying about a "depopulation bomb?"

When Syria declared its independence in 1946, an optimistic Prime Minister Jamil Mardam Bey famously declared:

"Syria has been subjected to more trial since the armistice (in 1918) than any other Near Eastern country. All is not lost, however, there is room for hope. The territory we have been left with, greater than the area covered by Belgium, Holland, and Switzerland put together, is a vast playing field for our young people and for their entrepreneurial spirit. The Syrian soil is fertile, we produce cereals, cotton, fruit. We have oil. Our artisans are some of the most ingenious in the world. Our people are sober, tough, resigned and hard-working. Syrians are found all over the world, and everywhere they occupy important positions. The past and the future are ours. We have every reason to believe that Syria will survive."

Mardam Bey never imagined that Syrians would start flocking out of Syria in large numbers as a result of the never-ending coups and counter-coups that shocked Damascus starting in 1949, and climaxed with the ill-fated Syrian-Egyptian Union of 1958. The only logical thing for an optimist like him was for Syrians to learn, live, work, and die in Syria. He never imagined that one day, during his life-time, major depopulation would start in Damascus.

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