[cooperation-wg] RIPE Principles

This is a response to 
https://labs.ripe.net/author/chrisb/a-matter-of-principle/.

As a community we know quite well what RIPE is about. People are here 
for a reason. I am not convinced that we need another meta discussion.

Talking about principles we should remind ourselves of those we have had 
from the very beginning of RIPE:
the "RIPE Terms of Reference" 
https://www.ripe.net/publications/docs/ripe-001.
For a document written in 1989 this co-author believes that it holds up 
pretty well.
Even the essence of "a globally interoperable, unfragmented Internet" is 
there, worded more than 30 years ago as:
"RIPE promotes and coordinates interconnection of IP networks within 
Europe and to other continents."

Personally I am happy with these principles even after more than 30 
years. They guide us well.
Maybe we just need to remind ourselves of these principles from time to 
time and interpret them in the current context.

Should we agree that we need to work on revising our principles, we 
should start from ripe-001
and word them as much as possible in terms of what we actually *do*.

I also recommend seeking broader community consensus before spending 
much time on this.

Daniel