SERPICO, OR ROBOCOP? InstaPundit assesses a prediction on the future of the United Nations going the way of the League of Nations, and Professor Drezner does post-game on the diplomacy. The police metaphor is an old one. Years ago, I read V. M. Hillyer's (Master of the Calvert School, for homeschoolers) A Child's History of the World, and I still recall his "Toughs Again" chapter description of the Ethiopia campaign. It ran something like this. "A KEEP OFF sign cannot keep you off the grass, but a nearby policeman can. The League of Nations was like a KEEP OFF sign without a policeman." But the United States has yet to define what kind of policeman it is.

On the other hand, the United Nations comes in for a bit of stick here, and there's one of those comparisons, in this instance what the United States would be if states had dictatorships in the same proportion as the U.N. does (hat tip: Momma Bear.)

Perhaps there is a nastier putdown of the United Nations than to compare it to a faculty senate. It's more accurate to compare it with the Interfraternity Council. That's the opportunity for the careerists to build their resumes whilst lending legitimacy to the Iota Omicron Betas of the world. (As an aside, is it possible to watch Animal House and be disgusted by everybody?)