紧邻冲绳的石垣岛，本可以作为宁静的旅游胜地。但外媒报道显示，日本计划在石垣岛部署的导弹基地已经开始动工，初具雏形。此前有消息称，日本防卫省计划在2022年底前在此部署规模为500到600人的自卫队导弹部队。

日本方面大搞“西南岛屿武装化”，实际上是给美国加紧在亚太推动“遏华战略”做帮衬，俨然把自己视为仅次于美国的“印太副警长”。只是，日本政客幻想的战略威慑，除了展现其想玩火的狂妄，别的什么作用都不会有。如果他们胆敢向台海发射导弹，中国完全有实力让它的导弹基地变成炮灰。

对于日本右翼势力的玩火心态，国际社会也应保持高度警惕。日本军国主义曾给亚洲乃至世界众多国家带来深重灾难。

就在本月7日，珍珠港事件爆发80周年纪念日，近百名日本议员参拜供奉了14名甲级战犯的靖国神社。令人遗憾的是，对于这种公然为历史罪人招魂的行径，美国政治精英竟然表现得麻木不仁——或许是为了换取日本的战略配合，他们对此睁一眼闭一眼，不惜辱没美国当年反法西斯战士的英灵。

日本政客正在做着插手台海的黄粱美梦，还希望把日本民众也跟着带偏。石垣岛的导弹基地并不能让他们的臆想变成现实，反而只会让它碎成满地玻璃渣。

Omicron was probably in N.Y.C. well before the first U.S. case was detected, wastewater data suggest.

Midtown Manhattan on Christmas Day last year. The Omicron variant of coronavirus may have been present in the city for more than a month by then, even before the first U.S. case was detected.Credit...Brittainy Newman for The New York Times

Omicron was probably present in New York City’s wastewater more than a week before the first case of the new variant was detected in the United States, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and researchers across the country.

The samples suggest that someone in New York City may have had the Omicron variant as early as Nov. 21, four days before?South African scientists first announced cases of the variant and ten days before the first U.S. case was reported. Researchers in California and Texas also found evidence of Omicron in wastewater samples from late November.

The findings suggest that at the time, the Omicron variant was more widespread in the United States than the case data alone would indicate, and provide more evidence that wastewater surveillance can serve as an early warning system about the spread of new variants.

“At first it was uncertain whether this variant was going to come to the United States,” said Alexandria Boehm, an environmental engineer at Stanford and an author of the paper. “The wastewater answered that question way before the clinical samples could, and the answer was yes.”

The research does not provide conclusive evidence that Omicron was present in these cities. The virus present in wastewater is fragmented, and while the researchers detected many of Omicron’s telltale mutations, the findings do not prove that they were all present on the same genome.

Still, the results are highly suggestive, and are consistent with what scientists have learned about how quickly Omicron spreads and where it was likely to pop up first, said Amy Kirby, the program lead for the C.D.C.’s National Wastewater Surveillance System and an author of the paper.

“I don’t think anyone is surprised to see a new variant show up in a major city like New York first,” she said.

A team of scientists from several institutions — John Dennehy at Queens College, Monica Trujillo at Queensborough Community College, Davida Smyth at Texas A&M University and Marc Johnson at the University of Missouri — have been tracking the coronavirus in New York City’s wastewater since the summer of 2020. The team typically collects samples weekly and then sequences the virus they find.

The scientists collected one of their routine samples on Nov. 21 and sent it for sequencing two days later. By the time they got the results, in early December, the Omicron news had broken, and they “immediately recognized” the new variant’s distinct mutations, Dr. Dennehy said.

Dr. Boehm’s team took a different approach in California, using P.C.R. tests capable of detecting some of Omicron’s specific mutations. They got their first hit on Nov. 26, from a sample collected in Merced the previous day, Dr. Boehm said. They got another on a sample collected in Sacramento on Nov. 30.

The first confirmed case of Omicron in the U.S. was announced on Dec. 1.

“We have really rapid turnaround and really frequent sampling,” Dr. Boehm said. She added, “This just gives information way earlier than clinical sequencing can.”