Prices are so bad that De Beers is for sale?!

BHP’s bid for Anglo American, which owns De Beers, is playing a role too.

I agree. Although this crackdown –for lack of a better term– is arguably setting a new precedent that may socially and politically (not morally) justify similar actions by other governments and also serve, to some extent, as a political, legal, operational and diplomatic blueprint, not every detail of it –however appalling– is news of worldwide relevance.

The erosion of international laws and norms –insofar as these were ever a thing and not merely a hopeful illusion– did not begin with Israel’s Gaza campaign; by the time Israel started bombing Gaza, international laws and norms had already been put into question by the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, the 2008 Russian invasion of Georgia, the 2003 invasion of Iraq led by the United States and the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, among others. The list is not exhaustive and any bias unintended.