Just when you thought the "rules-based international order" couldn't get any more fake, the UK Foreign Office is about to get absolutely exposed for running PR for a genocidal militia. Nathaniel Raymond, a human rights investigator and director of Yale University's Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL), is heading to Parliament on Tuesday to drop three years of encrypted messages, internal memos, and phone records. The receipts are expected to show that the UK government literally suppressed intelligence on the Sudanese civil war because they were too scared of upsetting their wealthy buddies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

According to Raymond's upcoming testimony to the Commons international development committee, the British government had intelligence way back in May 2024 showing that Ethiopia was backing the genocidal Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia in Sudan. But instead of doing the right thing and blowing the whistle, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) decided to memory-hole the information. Why? Because they faced "significant private pressure" from the UAE. It turns out that keeping the diplomatic champagne flowing with Gulf elites is way more important to Whitehall than stopping a literal genocide.

The results of this elite-tier cowardice were entirely predictable. Last October, after an 18-month siege, the RSF captured the city of El Fasher in Darfur. The United Nations—usually known for its mild-mannered statements—declared that the capture had all the "hallmarks of genocide" after a staggering 60,000 civilians were systematically slaughtered. While the ground was literally covered in bodies, British diplomats were busy worrying about how this would look on their spreadsheets.

This is where the story goes from typical bureaucratic laziness to absolute clown world. When Raymond privately briefed the parliamentary committee that at least 60,000 civilians had been wiped out, an FCDO "atrocity-prevention" official actually reached out to him to ask if the number was "too high." They weren't upset about the deaths; they were upset that the math was making their foreign policy look bad. To these midwits, 60,000 dead human beings isn't a tragedy—it's just a "political problem" that might mess up their relationship with the UAE.

Raymond, however, wasn't about to play their games. In his written testimony, he states: "I explained the math. I stated that, in reality, the number of people that the RSF systematically killed after capturing the city could have been higher." He had to explain to these overpaid bureaucrats that his estimate didn't even count the people who died from the crushing famine or the constant bombardment during the siege. Imagine having to explain basic arithmetic to an "atrocity-prevention" official while a genocide is actively happening.