Good Luck in Getting Those Diamond Certificates

[Adam's Apple]

Diamonds Are for Evildoers Too
By Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune
December 13, 2006

...too many jewelers still give you a blank stare if you ask for diamond certification. When Amnesty International and Global Witness two years ago surveyed 246 stores in 50 cities, 110 shops refused outright to take the survey. Of those that did, only 27 percent said that they had a policy on conflict diamonds, only 13 percent provided warranties to their customers as a standard practice and 83 percent of respondents said customers rarely or never even asked.

The best action for the new Democratic-led Congress to take would be to make sure the existing blood-diamond legislation is fully implemented, as the GAO recommends. Spot checks, audits, data-sharing, receipt inspections and other safeguards along the international supply chain have not been fully enforced. They need to be.

And, besides writing congressmen, the biggest pressure consumers can apply is at the retail level. Ask for certification before you buy that diamond. If the store can't provide it, find one that does. Major jewelry chains say they already are getting the message.

Finally, think of it as a blow against terrorism. In fact, it probably is. Evidence gathered by the United Nations Special Court in Sierra Leone indicates that some of the diamond trafficking in that country fed the coffers of Al Qaeda, among other terrorist organizations, before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. To paraphrase an old song, diamonds can be a terrorist's best friend too.

for full article:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...2.column?coll=chi-news-col&ctrack=1&cset=true

 

[Hobbit]

I hate diamonds. Yes, I said it, and I'll say it again..."I...FRICKIN'...HATE...DIAMONDS!" The damn things are so overpriced, it should be criminal. It's gouging in it's worst form. Don't you get it? Diamonds ARE...NOT...RARE! The only way they've managed to keep the price up is by continuing to spoon-feed hopelessly romantic women LIES about how a diamond ring is the only way to get engaged. That tradition didn't start until DeBeers bought up the entire South African diamond market in order to keep their prices inflated and found themselves with too many diamonds. Their only solution (along with that overrated jackass, John C. Rhodes, who owned the company) was to start a massive marketing campaign to replace all traditional European courtship rituals with their bloody diamonds. They even started the anniversary ring to unload their small diamonds, which, by all rights, should be worthless. I REFUSE to ever buy a diamond...EVER. It's a cartel only matched by the Colombian drug lords, and their only advantage is that their product doesn't kill the users. How so many problems in the world can be caused by a tiny chunk of compressed carbon is beyond me.

On a side note, anyone looking for conflict free diamonds should look to import from Russia. They've got enough diamonds to break the cartel if they wanted to, and you can just about guarantee that Siberian diamonds aren't funding Al-Qaeda. About the only thing you have to worry about are Chechen rebels, but they don't have the connections to get diamond funded terrorism.

 

[Adam's Apple]

Fake diamonds look as good as the real ones anyway.

After seeing the movie, I would not purchase a diamond without obtaining a certificate from the seller that his diamonds did not come from the illegal trade. Since these certificates could so easily be counterfeited, there is no way you could really be sure that you weren’t supporting the blood diamond business.

 

[nibor]

Diamonds are only "forever" until you cross the threshold of the store!!!!!


And you're playing into a deviately controled market of worthlessness!