Word: kosovo
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...NATO-authored Serb withdrawal in Kosovo looks less like peace than it does a time-out in a prizefight. Serb troops continued to leave the territory Tuesday, and the irregulars of the Kosovo Liberation Army moved straight back into the towns the Serbs had occupied. As if to emphasize that this is far from over, Serb paramilitaries left the town of Malisevo and then suddenly swept back in a few hours later for a firefight with the KLA. "If the Serbs pull out enough troops, NATO will suspend its activation order for air strikes," says TIME Central Europe bureau chief...
...world turns its attention from Kosovo, Holbrooke is switching his focus to the political intrigue of Washington, where his nomination to be United Nations ambassador awaits. Stalled by a probe into allegations that he made improper contacts with U.S. officials while working as an investment banker, and overshadowed by the political dominance of Senator Jesse Helms, Holbrooke may face a set of enmities in Washington almost as complex as those that cleave Kosovo...
...State Department in Vietnam--he has brought personality to the gray world of diplomacy. Most prospective nominees would have stayed far out of sight for fear of doing anything that might have spoiled their chances. Holbrooke, however, accepted the high-profile assignment to try to stop the killing in Kosovo. The dangers were substantial: a blown peace agreement could wreck his nomination. But for all his personal splinters--critics accuse him of being too ambitious and a publicity hog--Holbrooke has a real willingness to take risks...
...being steel-stiff under pressure. He is, for instance, an expert in the art of intimidation--an essential tool when dealing with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. When Holbrooke arrived in Belgrade on Oct. 5, as NATO planners began to tune up a massive strike against the Serbian forces in Kosovo, Milosevic had the gall to challenge Holbrooke with a small joke. "Are you Americans crazy enough to bomb us over our security police?" he asked. "Yeah," Holbrooke quietly replied, "we are." The deal he won in Belgrade, which calls for a Serbian pullback and 2,000 "verifiers" to help assure...
...also knows the human cost of all this violence. One night two weeks ago, Holbrooke and Christopher Hill, U.S. ambassador to Macedonia, arrived in Pristina, Kosovo's capital, to brief ethnic Albanian leaders on the talks. Holbrooke was exhausted, and emotion percolated into his tired brain as he considered the consequences of a failed negotiation. "We may not see you again before the bombing starts," Holbrooke soberly told Albanian dissident leader Ibrahim Rugova. A quiet settled over the group. Hill said under his breath, "We may never see you again...