Keeping up with the Finns: Embassy upscaling in D.C.

Embassy Row in Washington D.C. is transforming into a weird amalgamation of the World’s Fair and the Las Vegas Strip.

One recent sticky summer evening, the Swedish ambassador welcomed his guests with chilled vodka and what he called the most important news of the year: Sweden had just received permission to build a new embassy here.

“This is the most powerful country in the history of the world, and we need a showpiece for Sweden,” said the ambassador, Jan Eliasson.

Then, to underline the seriousness of the venture, the ambassador pointed to a successful Nordic rival, “Like the Finnish Embassy.”