State is a synonym for country... And I know he doesn't mean US states, because he stated other countries. Kind of obvious guys, put your thinking caps on.
America is often considered a country, more so by outsiders, in exactly the same way that those Americans who have heard of it think that the United Kingdom / Great Britain is a country.
The United States of America are 50 countries in one union. The United Kingdom is 4 countries in one union. Or 3.2 if you consider Ireland as a whole to be one country. And 2.21 if you consider Wales hasn't been independent since the Romans kicked our asses, and 1.3 countries if you consider Scotland in light of it's GDP - unless we give them their oil & gas fields back, in which case we're all Scottish.
One of the reasons the term "nation", "country", "state" so badly fits the context of it's member states or the state as a whole is partly because the entire concept of nation is actually relatively new. Prior to the concept of nations the fuedel system divided the world into organic holdings where allegiences would move readily between lords & others nobles. Some languages do not even have an appropriate word for a nation, the idea developed in the West in comparatively modern times just a few hundred years ago.
Something to think about the next time your country asks you to be patriotic eh
It warrants a facedesk, State is a place in a country, Then you have cities and regions in that state, the country is just what their all bound into, I don't know if that's the same way it rolls around in Europe, But the way I see it Europe is Europe until it splits with Asia.
I don't think you know what you said so let me say how that would sound.
I live in a country called North Carolina, The state is north Carolina, And I reside in Greensboro.
See it doesn't work that way so you would say; I live in a country known as United states of America, My state is North Carolina, And I live in Greensboro
I believe, That did warrant a facedesk, Instead of maybe just 8 or 7 facepalms, It needed about 3 simultaneous facedesks.
A state is an organised political community, living under a government. Did I ever state anything that would make it sound like North Carolina is it's own country? No. You have to remember, the way we use "state" is completely different than what others use it as. And the notion that every one of our "states" is it's own country is just ludicrous(even though it may be written down that they are, but reality is different.)