Germany joins the Security Council as a non-veto member in January and has strongly opposed war with Iraq.
Even more troubling, the history behind this veto gambit - claiming the exercise of a non-return pocket veto while simultaneously returning the bill to Congress - is a presidential power grab designed to stretch the no-override pocket veto into an absolute veto power that could be used anytime Congress is not in session, giving the president the very power the Founders sought to deny the office.
Brazil and Turkey, non-veto-wielding members who have negotiated their own nuclear deal with Iran, voted against; Lebanon abstained.
The 15-nation Security Council takes on five new non-veto-bearing members today and bids farewell to five that are ending two-year terms.
The most sensible plan gives these four permanent but non-veto-wielding seats, with two other seats provided for Islamic countries and one for an African nation.America has yet to get behind these proposals, but a sharpened Security Council could mitigate the emerging world's objections to UN reform.
In short, Trump can use the mechanics of the law to tie the hands of a recalcitrant bureaucracy while claiming deniability on diplomatic matters (just as the Obama administration said its non-veto of Security Council Resolution 2334 against Israel does not mean it supports the resolution).
William Hague, Britain's foreign secretary, said: "I am appalled by Russia and China's decision to veto a non-political resolution to refer all those responsible for war-crimes and crimes against humanity, regardless of affiliation, to the ICC.
Yet asking for a UN resolution on safe zones is a non-starter because Russia and China would veto it.
Reid and the White House insist that the debt limit must be increased enough now to extend past the 2012 election, saying that any short-term increase is a non-starter and will be vetoed.
But the Premier League told BBC Sport that the move would be a non-starter, with the Football Association retaining the power to veto any proposals.
Finally, Parliament holds a non-binding vote on new EU treaties but cannot veto it.
