Eye on the Diamonds

Book excerpt: In 2007 Terry Crawford-Browne published the explosive Eye on the Money. Primarily an account of the international banking sanctions campaign against apartheid during the 1980s, it also dealt with the early stages of the now well-documented South African arms deal scandal. Eye on the Diamonds provides more information on how the scandal was uncovered and aims to keep the arms deal saga and the venality of the war business in public focus. Focusing on diamonds, Crawford-Browne links the colonial and apartheid histories of South Africa with the close histories of Israel and Palestine. It demonstrates how De Beers, the South African company which dominated the diamond cartel for more than a century, is fast losing control to far more ruthless Israeli players. The author suggests that the diamond trade - critical to the twenty-first century war business - makes every diamond a 'blood diamond'. In turn, he argues that 'blood diamonds' provide the ultimate money laundering opportunity for organised crime, while the Israeli war business thwarts efforts at peaceful resolution of conflict.