Bumps Ahead in Kosovo Talks

Kosovo peace talks in Paris were humming along Monday after a shaky start over the weekend, but the devil may well reside in the details as both sides begin line-by-line discussion of the NATO peace plan. "The Serbs are objecting to some of the security provisions and to the idea of NATO peacekeeping troops, while the ethnic Albanians are demanding that a date be set on a referendum over independence," says TIME Central Europe bureau chief Massimo Calabresi. "So we can expect a crisis later this week."

The Serbs have balked at plans to leave Kosovo's security primarily in the hands of NATO peacekeepers and a predominantly ethnic-Albanian police force. The KLA, for its part, insists on a referendum date. The threat of force has bullied both factions into starting discussions, but either side could still dig in its heels -- after all, NATO might find it difficult to launch air strikes on a line-by-line basis.