Should kurds have a country?

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Remember that the treaty was signed in 1917 right in the middle of the Russian Revolution. Russian claims in the Ottoman Empire were denied following the Bolshevik Revolution and the Bolsheviks released a copy of the Sykes–Picot Agreement (as well as other treaties).Again, kudos Cyberdad for knowing about the treaty. This treaty still lasting effects 100 years when it was signed.

It's interesting the timing...May 1916..Kerensky would be toppled within 18 months, luckily for the Turks the Bolsheviks wanted to appear anti-imperialist (that all changed after WWII)

I'm not sure if you have read "The Geographical Pivot of History" by Sir Halford Mackinder - it provides a very insightful view of geopolitics at the turn of the 20th century and the role of resources in defining national boundaries

Another interesting time was the Bretton Woods meeting/conference in 1944 which basically dictated the new international financial landscape following the rejection of the gold standard

Kerensky did not have a chance of staying in power. It was a doomed democracy from the start. He still continued the policies and commitments in staying with Great Britain and France fearing that the economic situation would become more unstable.Masses of Russian troops were leaving their posts and positions while he vowed to continue the fight. The army was disintegrating owing to a lack of discipline, leading to desertion in large numbers. By autumn 1917, an estimated two million men had unofficially left the army. He was praying for a colossal victory that never came. I am going to purchase that book you recommended. The gold and silver standard has always been a huge source of controversy here in America, especially in the 19th and 20th centuries. It has been the source of controversy for many Presidential and Congressional elections. In January 1791, at the request of Congress, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton issued a report on the currency. At the time, there was no mint in the United States; foreign coins were used. Hamilton proposed a monetary system based on bimetallism, in which the new currency would be equal to a given amount of gold, or a larger amount of silver; at the time a given weight of gold was worth about 15 times as much as the same amount of silver. Since the development of the Mint of the United States, the battle between silver and gold has been fighting for supremacy.Many Americans, however, believed that bimetallism (making both gold and silver legal tender) was necessary for the nation's economic health. The financial Panic of 1893 intensified the debates, and when Democratic President Grover Cleveland continued to support the gold standard against the will of much of his party, activists became determined to take over the Democratic Party organization and nominate a silver-supporting candidate in 1896.In August 1971, the United States unilaterally terminated convertibility of the US dollar to gold. I like the gold standard because the gold standard maintained fixed exchange rates that were seen as desirable because they reduced the risk when trading with other countries.