One thing I didn't mention when I wrote about the movement of US troops to Poland is that it represents a 180 degree switch from the usual promise. Usually, politicians promise to get the troops home by Christmas (see WWI, for example). This time, Obama is changing the deployment schedule so that the troops leave home before the holidays, and that is a big deal. I am sure the soldiers and officers were/are most upset to have to spend the holidays apart from their families.
This signals two things: the urgency involved--that the troops need to get to where they need to be sooner (before Jan 20) rather than later AND perhaps an effort to signal to the Russians how serious this is. It certainly signals to me that this is a serious move. Some might scoff and say that the holidays don't matter, but doing something like this before the holidays is a real thing, a costly thing since the troops and their families will complain about this.
This realization reinforces my view that this is no accident--that Obama has decided to prepare the US for a Trump Administration that is tied to Russia. The press conference is 15 minutes away, but we are already hearing that the desire for smooth transition is now being overcome by concern about Trump's refusal to acknowledge Russian role in the election.
Perhaps more on this later.
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