The US ambassador to Iceland made an inappropriate comment about Iceland being the 52nd state and was summoned by Icelandic President to explain. A poor joke, apparently.

One almost wonders if the US admin is actively trying to get one of its ambassadors declared persona non grata.

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weinzierl 16 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Is 52 a typo or did he really say that? The US has 50 states, so why not 51?

	▲	mcherm 16 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I suspect that the implication in context was that the 51st state would be Greenland. Which doesn't really help make this less of a diplomatic faux pas.
	▲	bemao 16 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		Probably a reference to the "joke" that Canada would soon become the 51st state
	▲	simiones 16 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		Maybe his views are more heterodox and he was counting Puerto Rico as 51st! (sarcasm, in case this isn't clear)
	▲	csomar 16 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Greenland is the 51 state.

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pstuart 17 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

It would seem like that, but that's bonus. It's really about the spoils of crony oligarchy.