Kosovo: Separation Anxiety

ADAM BERRY / BLOOMBERG NEWS

BITTER DIVIDE: A heavily protected bridge connects Albanian and Serbian areas of Mitrovica in Kosovo

It took 77 days for NATO bombs to drive Serbian forces out of the small Balkan province of Kosovo during the 1999 war. The effort to get Serbs and Kosovars to agree on the implications of that outcome has taken eight years, consumed billions of dollars and entangled a legion of diplomats. It's not working. By Dec. 10, Serb and Albanian negotiators are supposed to sign on to a detailed, internationally vouchsafed plan for a peaceful separation of Kosovo from Serbia. But Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders are on the verge of scuppering the already deadlocked talks by unilaterally declaring independence. And...

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