The incident originated from information published by Politico, revealing that Mr. Billy Long - who was just nominated by US President Donald Trump as Ambassador to Iceland - made controversial statements in a private conversation.
According to this source, in a conversation held on the evening of January 13, Mr. Long joked with colleagues that Iceland would become the 52nd state of the United States and he himself would take on the role of governor.
This information appeared at a sensitive time, just hours before senior officials from Greenland and Denmark had an important meeting with the US side on January 14 to discuss regional security issues.
Immediately after the information was announced, reactions in the capital Reykjavik were quite tense. The Icelandic Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it had contacted the US Embassy to verify the authenticity of the information.
At the same time, an online petition protesting the appointment of Mr. Long was launched and quickly attracted more than 3,200 signatures in just a few hours. Icelanders shared that the statement, although a joke, still goes against the spirit of respecting national independence.
Faced with increasing pressure from international public opinion, Mr. Billy Long had to speak out to explain in Arctic Today newspaper. He explained that it was completely a harmless joke while having tea with old friends, when everyone was discussing rumors related to the special envoy in Greenland. Mr. Long publicly apologized if his statement caused misunderstanding and affirmed his desire to cooperate with the people of the host country.
However, politicians in Iceland remain cautious. MP Sigmar Gudmundsson of the Liberal Reform Party said that this incident is not simply a joke in the current geopolitical context. He believes that Iceland needs to seriously reconsider national security and sovereignty issues in the face of changes in foreign policy views from the US side.
