RT America -- January 18, 2018

Permanent US occupation dawning over Iraq?
While the deputy commander of the Special Operations Joint Task Force for Operation Inherent Resolve, Marine Brigadier General James F. Glynn, is “not familiar at all with the numbers,” RT America’s Anya Parampil has the details on the 37 percent increase in private military contractors working in Iraq over the course of the year. Despite the defeat of the Islamic State, there is no end in sight for US presence in Iraq.

Bannon in the jaws of RussiaGate — POTUS next?
Steve Bannon is due to testify for a second time in connection to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. President Donald Trump may be next, is reportedly eager to do so – but will there be traps laid for him to perjure himself? Analysts Amy Tarkanian and Rob Taub join “News with Ed” to weigh in. They also discuss Trump's reported profanity in discussing immigration from Haiti and elsewhere, congressional Democrats’ calls to officially censure him, and the looming possibility of a government shutdown.

What border force?’: US backtracks on arming Kurds

US officials have frantically backpedaled on plans to arm and train Kurdish militias affiliated with the Syrian Defense Force, as State Sec. Rex Tillerson insists the US is “not training a border force at all.” But an enraged Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan remains on guard, vowing to “drown this army of terror before it is born.” RT America’s Manila Chan reports.