You're reading: The Daily Beast: Russia ramps up WWIII talk

Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov invited a few friends to celebrate his capital city, Grozny, and his own birthday on Monday. Among them were the leader of Russian-annexed Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, and the Afghan warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum. They pushed a button that sent aloft huge jets of water - supposedly "the world's biggest fountain" - illuminated in brilliant colors. And that might have seemed benign enough.

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