Commemorating World War I has just started, but actually the repercussions of World War I are still going on. The territorial reshuffling of the remnants of the Ottoman Empire in 1920, notably at the San Remo conference, is a direct outcome of World War I. Gaining physical access to Middle Eastern oilfields was the West’s priority, given the importance of oil for all forms of mobility and warfare. First pipelines were drawn, then borders between the new Arab nation states administered as mandates were traced. Iraq was created by the San Remo oil agreement and Iraq risks further destabilization due to oil interests. Subsequent to the invasion of Iraq by the US and her allies in March 2003 new wars have emerged and put Iraq at the brink of collapse. The Kurdish question remains unresolved, but current developments in fighting Daech, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, have triggered a new momentum for Kurdish statehood. While the Kurds were promised a state in the Treaty of Sevres 1920, the Treaty of Lausanne 1923 effectively ended those prospects. The current Kurdistan Regional Government in Northern Iraq actually behaves as if it were sovereign nation when concluding contracts with oil companies