Praise for Blood Diamond, Look Inside the Diamond Industry

post by : NGDlover

Notegolddiamond- First discovered in 1930, the Diamond of Sierra  Leone have funded one of the most savage rebel campaigns in modern hystory. These "blood diamonds" are smuggled out of West Africa and sold to legitimate Diamond merchants in London, Antwerp and New York, often with the complicity of the international diamond industry. Eventually, these very diamonds find their way into the ring and necklaces of bride and spouse the world over.

Blood diamond is the gripping tale of how the diamond smuggling works, how the rebel war has effectively destroyed Sierra Leone and its people, and how the policies of the diamond industry-institutionalized in the 1880 by the De Beers cartel-have allowed it to happen. Award winning journalist Greg Campbell traces the deadly trail of these diamonds, many of which are brought to the world market by fanatical enemies.

These repercussions of diamond smuggling are felt far beyond the borders of the poor and war-ridden country of Sierra Leone, and the consequences of overlooking this African tragedy are both shockingly deadly and unquestionably global

It is always amazing to read about all the corruption and complacency that is in the diamond industry. It makes us feel horrible to know that the rest of the world has hardly extended any real aid in the West African conflict. Campbell does an amazing job at presenting the situation with all the economic and political and most importantly, the human complications. Great read. (librarything.com, mmillet, Dec 14, 2009)

In Blood Diamonds, Greg Campbell traces the path of diamonds as they make their way out of geological soup and are mined in Sierra Leone, smuggled or traded out of that country (often into neighboring Liberia or even Burkina Faso), and make their way to both brides via retail stores including De Beers, and to terrorists who use them to pay for their nefarious deeds. What's amazing is that each step of this convoluted path of high stakes, any paper trail (and fairly minimal at that) is equivalent to some trust and handshakes. Along the way, Campbell encounters bedraggled mine workers, shady diamond smugglers and middlemen, slick De Beers corporate PR people intent on distancing the company from 'Conflict Diamonds', and mutilated refugees who have paid for RUF's (a violent rebel group that used child soldiers and committed atrocities and war crimes and later became part of the political process for a time) in Sierra Leone that diamond wars with parts of their bodies.

I highly recommend this book, though perhaps not for all audiences, as it does not shy away from the violence and atrocities committed during the diamond wars in Sierra Leone. Actually, this was the second time I had tried to start the book - getting through the first bit which described atrocities committed by RUF rebels was difficult the first time around. Once past that initial part, it was a fascinating, if at times gruesome and appalling, examination of the diamond industry, from the mining, smuggling, trade, wars, artificial pricing, history, and even a look at the De Beers corporation. Very well researched and written.

One of the most important and interesting points made in Blood Diamonds is that the diamond wars and the connections with known terrorists is a case in point that is really should be impossible to ignore Africa any longer. Allowing terrorists to transfer wealth into quite mobile and smuggle-able diamonds doesn't make the world a safe place. It drives home the point that there is no such thing as 'regional conflict' anymore, that globalization is not just an economic term, and that ignoring Africa is harmful to international interests and even American interests of security etc. I don't know how, if at all, things have changed since the book was researched and published, or even if the arguments and claims were overstated to sell more books, but even still, it seems worthwhile to pay attention to how diamonds fit in with these other major events.

Given the high stakes, cloak and dagger secrecy, and raw greed and power on display, it felt more like a movie script than an account of a industry based on a geological carbon compound. Indeed, there was a movie made in 2006 with Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Connelly (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0450259/), and I am looking forward to seeing it. Also, I was reminded of the movie Lord of War, with Nicholas Cage - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0399295/ - which was about gunrunning and the small arms trade, with the focal point being the character Yuriy Orlov, based on the real-life Viktor Bout, aka Merchant of Death who was also mentioned in Blood Diamonds. Douglas Farah, who wrote Merchant of Death about Viktor Bout, was also mentioned in this book, as related to the role diamonds played in supporting terrorist organizations including Hizbollah.

In summary, I recommend reading this book to have a greater understanding of where commonplace items, like engagement rings, come from and their journey to a bride's hand. But it is also an important book to recognize the role that diamonds play in both regional and global struggles and conflicts. (librarything.com,
bfertig, Jun 18, 2009)

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