[tz] [PATCH] Revert recent pre-1970 changes.

[Paul Eggert]

Stephen Colebourne wrote:
> The Theory change reinstates the one zone per ISO-3166
> region requirement.

I'm afraid that's incorrect.  That change would strengthen
the requirement beyond what it ever was, by requiring a Zone
to be present for every country.  That has never been
required and has never been the practice in the tz database.

There is no timekeeping reason to undo the changes already
agreed upon in this area and incorporated in the 2013d
stable release, nor is there any timekeeping reason to add
the proposed requirement.  It's purely a political
requirement.

The other changes in that proposed patch seem to be an
attempt to implement the Theory change.  While not affecting
timestamps (they are internal administration), they use a
style that emphasizes the roles of countries more.  This
would increase the future political pressures on tz database
maintenance, and I don't see how that would be a step
forward.  We should be deemphasizing political issues, not
emphasizing them more.