The Obama administration, not content to let an opportunity to antagonize Russia pass by, has announced the acceleration of pre-planned troop deployments to counter “Russian aggression” in eastern Europe.

The decision was announced publicly following a meeting between Polish Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz and Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, the commander of U.S. Army Europe.

Macierewicz said he was “very happy that a decision has been taken by the U.S. side for an earlier deployment.”

The United States will reportedly deploy the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, a component of the 4th Infantry Division currently based at Fort Carson, Colorado, to the western Polish city of Zagan sometime in early January.

According to Hodges, the unit has already left Fort Carson and is preparing to travel by ship to the German port city of Bremerhaven.

In addition, a separate battalion currently based in Germany will be re-deployed to the northeastern Polish city of Orzysz at the start of April.

Orzysz lies near the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, where Russian President Vladimir Putin has accelerated the deployment of nuclear-capable Iskander-M missiles.

The continued deployment of troops to Eastern Europe is expected to serve as a deterrent to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s alleged expansionist intentions.

“I’m confident in the very powerful signal, the message it will send [that] the United States, along with the rest of NATO, is committed to deterrence,” Hodges said. “I’m excited about what my country is doing and I’m excited about continuing to work with our ally, Poland.”

The decision to accelerate U.S. troop deployments to Eastern Europe prior to Donald Trump’s inauguration follows a decision, reached at a NATO summit in Warsaw this past July, to permanently station four battalions in the Baltic states and Poland.

The continued provocation of Russia by deploying troops to countries along its border is made more troubling by the jingoistic rhetoric by many of the establishment in the United States, who are suggesting we are already at war with Russia due to the Russian government’s supposed manipulation of the American presidential election in favor of Donald Trump.

“We are at war with Russia,” said Keith Olbermann. “Or perhaps more correctly, we have lost a war with Russia without a battle. We are no longer a sovereign nation, we are no longer a democracy, we are no longer a free people, we are the victims of a bloodless coup — so far a bloodless coup engineered by Russia with the traitorous indifference of the Republican Party.”

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