Taro Kono (39), son of former Foreign Minister Yohei Kono and twice elected lower house Liberal Democratic Party member, wrote a critical comment on the US president's speech before the Japanese Diet on 19 February. The following is a translated excerpt from an article by Kono published in his e-mail magazine, Gomameno no Hagishiri ( Futile Resistance ), on 19 February. Kono issues his e-mail magazine almost daily. 
	
	
 "During President Bush's speech, I thought of heckling; 'What are you going to do with the Kyoto Protocol?' and 'How about CTBT?' but I refrained. The President used the words 'common values,' but is it really true? I think 'value sharing,' not 'burden sharing' or 'power sharing,' is needed for today's Japan-US relationship. The United States says the CTBT is unacceptable; that nobody cares about the BWC; that there should not be a Kyoto Protocol; that US citizens have the right to own handguns; that land mines are necessary; that the SOFA needs no revision, just a change in application; and then we should attack Iraq together. This is not acceptable. Ambassadors from Middle Eastern countries immediately came and asked me what I thought of the President's speech." This document is based exclusively on the content and behavior of selected foreign public media. It is issued without coordination with other U.S. Government components.