The 10–10–10 Rears Its Ugly Head Again

The opposition tries to portray the 10–10–10 formula as a compromise.

It happened in the last meeting between Messrs. Amro Moussa, Amine Gemayel, Michel Aoun and Saad Hariri, when a stalemate was reached. An angry Hariri decided to prove to the Arab League’s Secretary General that the opposition is stalling. So he looked into Mr. Aoun’s eyes and asked him: “Let’s suppose we do accept the 10–10–10 formula, would you then accept the immediate election of Mr. Sleiman?”

Mr. Aoun stumbled a bit then unleashed a series of new demands. He said that he wanted discussions on who the next Prime Minister should be. He brought up demands on filling high security ranks and ministerial positions, and then went back to insist on the blocking third. 
Mr. Hariri rested his case.

Now, as Mr. Moussa gets ready to come back to Lebanon and re-host the quadripartite meeting, the opposition floated the 10–10–10 idea again. Mr. Berri, not a stranger to chutzpah, used the exchange above to suggest that Mr. Hariri had accepted the 10–10–10 proposition, and casually included in the package a string of unspecified ministerial arrangements where the Majority’s Christians would be significantly under-represented.

Rubbish! Mr. Hariri thundered to his Almustaqbal TV channel yesterday. The opposition is “distributing roles”, between a hardline Aoun who’s insisting on a blocking third, and a “made-in-Syria” proposition (10–10–10) floated by Mr. Berri. The formula, as regular readers to this blog know, is nonsensical. 

Mr. Aoun is now saying that since the Majority won’t agree with the 10–10–10 formula, Mr. Moussa should not bother coming to Lebanon. The opposition, it seems, is in no hurry to untangle Lebanon.