Kicking Russia off the UN Human Rights Council is an empty gesture

(JNS) — After the recent revelations of war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine, the world is looking for ways to make life harder for President Vladimir Putin’s regime and to express its outrage. So when America’s ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced that the United States was going to ask the U.N. General Assembly to boot Russia off of the world body’s Human Rights Council, the initiative was widely applauded.

Given the atrocities committed by the Russians in their illegal war of aggression, removing Moscow from the UNHRC is certainly justified. But it’s also...