Paul Eggert said:
Do you know of groups (other than the Palestinians) that have decided to use THEIR OWN DST dates, independent of their surrounding country? I am
interested in both past and present. Sure, lots of them. The Navajo Nation is one example.
And there was that Mexico [City][Federal District] mess.
I'm afraid it is impossible to list all the countries in the world without offending somebody or another, which is why we defer to ISO 3166 for our list. The other entities that you mention are not on the list. Conversely, ISO 3166 contains other entries that are not currently real countries, in the sense that most English-speakers would think of "countries"; these include Antarctica (AQ) and Western Sahara (EH). Also, East Timor (TP) was on the ISO 3166 list for quite some time before it became a real country again a couple of years ago.
3166 is intended to list territories which can usefully be described as politically *or* geographically distinct; thus it includes Martinique as a separate entry but leaves Corsica as part of France, and includes Gibraltar as separate but leaves Man as part of the UK. It is not intended to indicate political independence (note that Ukraine has *always* been in 3166, even though it only became independent in 1990-ish). Palestine is listed on this basis. -- Clive D.W. Feather | Work: <clive@demon.net> | Tel: +44 20 8371 1138 Internet Expert | Home: <clive@davros.org> | Fax: +44 870 051 9937 Demon Internet | WWW: http://www.davros.org | Mobile: +44 7973 377646 Thus plc | | NOTE: fax number change