Glitter and Greed: The Secret World of the Diamond Cartel

Glitter and Greed: The Secret World of the Diamond Cartel, Janine Roberts, The Disinformation Company Ltd., 2003

This book takes a much-needed look inside the diamond business. The myth is that diamonds are so expensive at the local jewelry store because they are very rare. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

South Africa is one of the world's major diamond producers. Conditions for the black miners inside the mines can best be described as barbaric. The miners are locked in the mine compound for months at a time, supposedly to protect against diamond theft. Among other things, protective gear is rare or nonexistent, and their pay is microscopic. Apartheid is alive and well in the South Africa diamond mines. In places where diamonds have been found, like the Australian Outback, Botswana and northern Canada, indigenous rights are trampled like they don't exist.

During World War II, America had a very hard time getting sufficient supplies of industrial diamonds from DeBeers, the cartel that still controls much of the world's diamond trade. It got to the point where the US threatened to stop all shipments of fighter planes to England unless the British used their influence with DeBeers to ease the restrictions. The Germans, however, had much less trouble getting industrial diamonds from DeBeers.

DeBeers drives up the price of diamonds by simply keeping them off the market, or stockpiling them. It's common to cut production at a certain mine, or close it completely, in order to keep that type of diamond off the market. Ownership of the various pieces of DeBeers is shuttled around through a seemingly infinite number of shell corporations, most of which are little more than a nameplate on a door of a building in the Cayman Islands or Switzerland. Among other reasons, it's done to reduce the company's tax bill, and the fee paid to the government where the mine is located, as much as possible. If a government wants to change the extremely unfair (for them) payment system, DeBeers floods the market with diamonds from that country, depressing the price.

The book spends time looking at the role of diamonds in recent African wars, like the 1970s war in Angola, and the ongoing war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in which America was deeply involved. Last but not least, did you know that there was a working diamond mine in the American state of Arkansas?

This is a major eye-opener. It is a very detailed investigative piece, the likes of which are rarely seen these days. Diamonds are a girl's best friend? Not after reading this highly recommended book.