The recent death of Uzbekistan’s dictator has revived focus on the dangers of Central Asia’s strongmen

Uzbekistan’s 78-year-old president Islam Karimov was rushed to hospital on Monday, prompting a wave of reports that he was dead or at least in no condition to rule again. With no experience of power changing hands in Uzbekistan for over a quarter of a century, speculation about who would succeed the leader was rife. It is…