WHETHER Islam Karimov, who has ruled Uzbekistan with astounding brutality for the past 27 years, is dead or alive, his era is almost certainly drawing to a close. Two questions now hover over his hapless people. Who will succeed him? And will they get a better deal? The one they have suffered under for so long could hardly be worse. Of the five post-Soviet regimes in Central Asia, Uzbekistan’s is widely regarded as the nastiest, its leader the most mercilessly paranoid.
News of Mr Karimov’s death went viral among Central Asia watchers on Twitter on August 29th, when it was reported by Ferghana News, an independent Moscow-based agency that writes about Central Asia, citing unidentified sources. Rumours of the 78-year-old president’s imminent demise have circulated for years in Tashkent, but this time they were more solid. In its first official announcement concerning the president’s health, the secretive regime revealed that Mr Karimov was in hospital with an undisclosed ailment. His daughter, Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva, then took to Instagram, disclosing that Mr Karimov had suffered a brain haemorrhage. His condition, she said, was stable, his...Continue reading
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