"As cold as the company's response to publicity about conflict diamonds sounds-- the potential commercial loss is "enormous but the moral dimension is merely "big",as if it were an afterthought-- De Beers is at least consistent in it's thinking.Very little, if anything, has been done in the company's lifetime that didn't further its commercial potential, even if it meant funding warfare to do it. Before the conflict-diamond issue gathered steam, it made economic sense to continue to trade with killers since no one was paying attention and it didn't threaten the demand for the goods after the issue began attracting the attention of the human-rights organizations and the people started whispering the dreaded "B" word(boycott), it made economic sense for the industry to wash its hands for good. Since De Beers is the world's largest dealer in rough diamonds, not only was a great deal of responsibility placed at its feet in early 2000, but so were many expectations that the company would act swiftly to end the practice."
Greg Campbell, Author of Blood Diamond
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