Amid statements of pessimism from both the Ulster Unionists and Sinn Fein, Senator George Mitchell's review of the implementation of the Belfast Agreement begins at Stormont today.
Senator Mitchell will hold bilateral meetings with the parties this week, but substantial progress is unlikely until the publication on Thursday of the Patten Commission's report on the RUC.
The UUP and Sinn Fein both decided to take part in the review after separate weekend meetings. But the UUP is refusing to engage directly with Sinn Fein or the fringe loyalist parties following recent violence.
No public deadline has been set for the review, but it is expected to last several weeks. It is understood Senator Mitchell wants to keep it focused and is not prepared to listen to endless circular arguments.
The North's former deputy first minister, Mr Seamus Mallon, said there should be no recrimination. "There is no point in each party trying to put the other in the dock. We were within touching distance of getting this executive set up. We must go for broke at it."
Both the UUP leader, Mr David Trimble, and the Sinn Fein chairman, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, said they did not expect immediate progress.
Mr Trimble said: "I'm not optimistic about the outcome. It seems to me we have a very serious problem, a more serious problem than in July.
"We want to see a future based on peace, genuine peace, not armed peace. I don't want a society tainted and corrupted by those thugs being given power in the way the government proposes at the moment."
Speaking on BBC's Breakfast with Frost, he said London was "turning a blind eye" to murder by claiming the Provisional IRA ceasefire had not been broken and he voiced concern about proposed changes to the RUC. He accused Mr Blair of being "engaged in a process of appeasing evil".
Mr McLaughlin said Sinn Fein was committed to the review but urged the UUP to engage directly with his party: "The portents for the immediate scenario of the review are negative because of the regression of the UUP to a harder and harder position."
Writing in today's Irish Times, Mr Gerry Adams says the "depth or seriousness" of the political crisis should not be underestimated. However, he praises Mr Blair's "positive" approach and urges him to stand up to the UUP.
Ms Bernadette Sands McKevitt of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement said no republican should take part in the review which, like the Belfast Agreement, would not deliver "peace, justice or equality, let alone freedom, to the Irish people. It was about "achieving a smooth transition to implementing a British administration in Ireland".
The DUP is not taking part in the review but will meet Senator Mitchell to voice its objections. Mr Ian Paisley jnr said the UUP was "crazy" to participate.