The U.S. often gets knocked for its skepticism of multilateral institutions, but these groups often prove America’s point. See the news that Russia is being welcomed back to the Council of Europe, which calls itself “the continent’s leading human rights organisation.”

In 2014 Russia lost its voting rights in the Council’s Parliamentary Assembly over its annexation of Crimea and occupation of Eastern Ukraine. In response Moscow stopped paying its annual €33 million dues in 2017, and the Russians threatened to leave the organization...