The diamond industry teetered on the edge of a serious crisis this summer, as defaults multiplied in India and miners faced a mutiny from their customers. Many are comparing the current situation to 2008, when the industry was paralyzed in the wake of the financial crisis. But there is a key difference, according to one longtime industry observer: “2008 was a financial meltdown. This is a diamond meltdown.” “If you walk down the street in Antwerp or Mumbai, people are suffering,” Guy Harari, president of online rough diamond broker Bluedax, says of the Belgian and Indian diamond trading centers. “They no longer have confidence.” The current problems stem from what many term a “perfect storm” of bad news, including a drop in demand from China and Hong Kong; continued poor sales in other major markets, except for the United States; a lack of liquidity due to banks�