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Many governments have leverage to prevent atrocity crimes, yet lack the machinery to turn warnings into consistent, accountable action before it is too late. Now that three of the five permanent members of the Security Council are undercutting the postwar legal order, middle powers most close the gap.

LONDON—“Never again” to genocide is one of the international community’s most brittle postwar promises, often invoked only after the killing has begun. Yet mass atrocities seldom arrive without warning. Attacks on the rule of law, discrimination, dehumanization, and impunity for earlier crimes are familiar, easily discernible precursors.