Welcome to the Jewelry District, a podcast by J.C.K. brought to you by Tracer. Today, Rob Bates and Victoria Gamalski talk with veteran human rights activist and author Ian Smiley.

Hey, everyone.

Welcome to the jewelry district.

This is Victoria Gamelski, editor-in-chief of JCPK and JCP Online.com, calling in from Los Angeles, and I'm with.

Rob Bates, news director of J-CK and JCPOnline.com, calling in from the J-C-K world headquarters in New York City.

Oh, are you actually at One World Trade today?

Yes, I am, because we're having, I think, I think it's like a cookie party.

We're having a party with, well, we're going to eat a lot of things after this.

A lot of delicious sweets.

Oh, I couldn't teleport in for that.

That's too bad.

Yes, it should be fun.

We do have really, a guest today, when you

read through some of his bio, it's quite incredible. He is an author. He's a human rights activist,

considered one of the architects of the Kimberly process. Here's a brief excerpt on his publisher's

website from a new book, a memoir he published

called Underdevelopment earlier this year. And just this will give you a little taste. And then we'll,

of course, introduce him formally. In his travels as a writer, consultant, and teacher,

he had encounters with Graham Green, Wolle Shoyinka, James Baldwin, the queen, and quote, the butcher of Beijing.

He was instrumental in the campaign to halt blood diamonds, and he was the first witness at the

war crimes trial of Liberian warlord Charles Taylor. Miley's story moves from war-torn Bosnia,

the Cairo Pass, and a Paul McCartney quest in Moscow to a just before 9-11 meeting at the

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