Or rather:
You can design an icon that doesn't need to be localized. But unless you design for it, it very well may need to be localized.
Things like thumbs-up/down, any sort of animal icon... Even trash cans.
http://utkin1.ru/sites/default/files/dragons.jpg
An owl connotates wisdom in many places - but in some parts of Asia it connotates stupidity instead.
I'd consider doing things just to make development a little easier at the expense of many users' ability to operate the UI is most certainly a bug and not a feature.