[C19fan]

DeBeers is not going to happy. Diamonds are so over-rated.

[caver]

Who is going to buy these diamonds, Mugabe? You can’t eat them.

[GOPJ]

Mugabe doesn’t understand that if he floods the market, the diamonds he has won’t be worth crap? God, what an idiot...

[Tax-chick]

I hope he does.

[LaineyDee]

“Diamonds”......that’ll shut her up....

[Red Badger]

That would be stupid. But DeBeers has had to deal with these threats before. They hold all the cards. Not Mugabe.............

[cripplecreek]

Hey Mugabe. Remember when your country could feed itself and half of Africa?

What happened?

Just die already.

[YankeeReb]

Mr Mugabe acknowledged that key infrastructure - including power and water utilities, roads and transport services - fell into disrepair and housing programmes were at a standstill over the past decade.

So how's he supposed to get these diamonds out of the ground with no infrastructure? Is it me or does he sound like a certain kenyan Marxist we all know and loathe?

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Mugabe is a nightmare, but it would be sweet to see him torpedo DeBeers into extinction.

[MrB]

[Adder]

LOL! DO IT!!!!

[SueRae]

Anyone remember a 60 Minutes segment with Ed Bradley in the Russian diamond vaults? They have tons of diamonds them. I remember him opening a drawer, holding a handful of 10 carat rocks. I don’t think Mugabe wants to pick this fight...however, he is deranged, so anything is possible.

[bill1952]

Impractical - The wholesalers will boycott him & anyone else who tried to do this just like they have for a century.

I would be happy to see him killed.

[existtoexcel]

A lot of people are distracted by bright and shiney objects. Reminds me of the beads for land trade the pilgrims pulled on native americans way back.

[ScottinVA]

I am amazed Mugabe hasn’t been long ago “dealt with” and buried deep in various parts of Zimbabwe.

[Sudetenland]

Diamonds are one of the biggest cons and cruelest jokes on the public there is. Even a "deeply discounted" diamond is only worth about a third of what some poor unsuspecting fool pays for it. The Atlantic Monthly - published an article about them some time ago entitled "Have you ever tried to sell a diamond?" They are basically worthless and the entire industry is based on a marketing ploy aimed primarily at idiot Americans.

If the current supply of already mined, cut and polished diamonds were to be released, they literally would be nothing more than a pretty pebble as far as value goes. Wake up stupid Americans and stop buying the hype. /roll eyes

[Buckeye McFrog]

uh oh....you can thumb your nose at the UN, Euros, USA, maybe even the ChiComs...but get the DeBeers cartel angry at you and your days are numbered, pal!

[JimRed]

But if Mugabe is smart enough to sell them off in increments at a moderate discount, he can continue to live large (while “his people” continue to starve).

[CharlesWayneCT]

The only difference between diamonds and gold is that we haven’t found the huge supply of gold that would require direct manipulation to prop up the market like we have for diamonds.

Diamonds are like beanie babies; only valuable because the “manufacturer” has deliberately limited the supply while hyping the demand. And at any time, that “manufacturer” can decide they need more money and open up the supply chain, ruining the value of the existing holders.

[N. Theknow]

He will probably try to do this covertly to hide what he is doing.

So....

Beware of a "Looney in disguise with diamonds."

[RadiationRomeo]

Australia threatened to sell their diamonds without going through DeBeers some years back. DeBeers threatened them with a devaulation of diamonds. I just noticed that Australian diamond production has dropped to almost zero.

http://geology.com/articles/gem-diamond-map/

DeBeers won.