Tag: Serbia

My Travels to Kosovo

Post-World War II Yugoslavia consisted of the federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia. Though its residents were predominantly Albanian, Kosovo was a province of Serbia. During part of its post-WWII history, Kosovo was relatively autonomous within Serbia, while part of the time it was ruled directly by Serbia. Frictions between Albanian and Serbian Kosovars escalated in the 1990s into armed conflict, which ended only with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) bombing of Serbian Army forces in Kosovo and Serbia proper from March 24 to June 10, 1999.

Following the June 10 end to the fighting, the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) took over the governance of a ruined Kosovo. Among the normal needs to be restored most urgently (food, water, electricity, etc.), was the ability to pay for things. Kosovo’s banks were closed, and its financial and monetary connection with Belgrade and the rest of the world was not functioning. There was an urgent need to revive Kosovo’s ability to make payments while also determining what sort of financial systems to build for a future, more integrated with the rest of Europe.

If only by using it, Kosovars themselves had answered what currency they wished to use—the German mark (DM). But arrangements were urgently needed for how to acquire and maintain DM banknotes and coins (I remember well the tattered currencies in post-war Bosnia and Iraq), and to adjust the procedures of banks and other money handlers to the use and safekeeping of DM, rather than the Serbian dinars previously supplied by the National Bank of Serbia.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) joined with the United Nations, the World Bank, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and other international organizations to provide the needed emergency humanitarian assistance and to help in the rebuilding of a potentially transformed economy. I led the IMF missions to address the money and banking aspects of this effort. The revival and/or restructuring of Kosovo’s monetary capacities needed to be achieved in days and weeks rather than months and years. This was a tall order.

My latest book documents our work to revive and transform Kosovo’s monetary system and some of the challenges and adventures we encountered in the process. Most of us only see the public face of our payment systems (currency, ATM machines, credit cards). In recounting our experiences in restoring and transforming Kosovo’s payment system, I will endeavor to pull back the curtain a bit to expose what is behind and generally out of sight.

If this interests you, you can buy the paperback or kindle versions here. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Warren+Coats&i=stripbooks&crid=10ON15E99H8X6&sprefix=warren+coats%2Cstripbooks%2C63&ref=nb_sb_noss_1  This will also give you the opportunity to rate the book. I hope that you will enjoy it.

War – Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, ??

Current developments in Iraq are depressing but follow the pattern of America’s well meaning but misguided attempts to remake the world in our own image. “Chaos in Iraq prompts soul searching among military veterans” WP /2014/06/18/ For my friends in Iraq the advances of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters is alarming and dangerous. I am truly sorry for them that they have not yet sorted out their internal sectarian (Shia and Sunni Muslims) and ethnic (Kurds and Arabs) issues. However, these developments do not constitute a serious risk to the United States, though reengaging militarily in Iraq to support the terrible al-Maliki government would. I hope that President Obama sticks to his current resolve not to. Our attack of far away Iraq ten years ago was a disastrous mistake foisted upon us by misguided neocon warmongers. See my account of my work and life in Baghdad in 2004: “My Travels to Baghdad”. And Senator McCain would you please shut up before I loose all respect.

For over twenty years I have worked in transition economies (Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova) and post conflict economies (Bosnia, Kosovo, Serbia, Afghanistan, Iraq, South Sudan and West Bank and Gaza) to help them develop central banks capable of supplying a stable currency and overseeing a sound banking system. I have made many wonderful friends along the way and am thankful for the opportunity given me by the International Monetary Fund to have these experiences. My primary motivation, which I think I share with most people, has been the desire to help make the world a better place by sharing the knowledge and expertise I have developed in my field (monetary policy). Often working alongside or with the U.S. military, which is I am sure the finest that ever existed, has convinced me that the neocon dream of forced democracy at the point of a gun is a dangerous delusion. Our post cold war military adventures have weakened our national security, weakened our liberties at home as part of a mad war on terror, and failed to establish better governments in the countries we attacked. We need to engage the rest of the world cooperatively to help build a peaceful, productive, and just world based on the rule of law. Our Army should stay at home to defend our territory.

My longest engagement has been in Afghanistan, starting with a visit in January 2002 and lasting through this last December. I have watched bright and dedicated young Afghans (some still in their twenties) grow up into outstanding leaders in Afghanistan’s central bank (Da Afghanistan Bank). I admire and respect them and have been privileged to enjoy their company. If Afghanistan succeeds in becoming a viable country, it will be because of them and other young Afghans like them. I pray for it to happen. It cannot be made to happen by the U.S. military and President Obama is right to finally bring them home. The rest of the world and its international organizations such as the IMF and World Bank should remain engaged with Afghanistan, sharing its advice and resources. But only Afghans can sort out the country’s ethnic, corruption and governance problems.

A full transition to a truly democratic country based on the rule of law, something badly wanted by the younger generation I have been working with, will take decades of hard work by Afghans. Significant progress has been made. Both candidates for President in Afghanistan’s run off election this past week are capable people who should be able to put together and run a successful government. Success of the election and Afghanistan’s continued progress toward becoming a modern, effectively governed country depends, in my view, more on the Afghan peoples’ broad acceptance of the outcome of the election rather than on who wins. Thus I am saddened (appalled actually) by the behavior of Abdullah Abdullah, one of the two candidates. Today’s Washington Post reports that he “is calling the government’s vote-counting process illegitimate, laying the groundwork for a protracted dispute that could destabilize the country.” This risks sabotaging Afghanistan’s future. “Afghan-presidential-election-thrown-into-question-as-abdullah-disputes-vote-counting”