Islam Karimov: Uzbekistan strongman's death confirmed

[Warpy]

Source: BBC

he Uzbek government has confirmed the death of President Islam Karimov, six days after he was taken to hospital with a suspected brain haemorrhage.

One of Asia's most authoritarian leaders, Mr Karimov, 78, died after 27 years in power.

Mr Karimov has no clear successor. There is no legal political opposition and the media are tightly controlled.

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-37260375

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This is going to be the next big mess. Karimov thought he'd live forever.

[matt819]

1. Not to turn this back to the US

but I can't help but wonder whether Drumpf will comment on this or go to the funeral.

[left-of-center2012]

5. "This will mean more Uzbek votes for Trump"

Then someone will explain they can't vote in our election.

And Trump will say:
"Bomb the Hell out of them!"

[Spitfire of ATJ]

2. This guy was a Republican's wet dream....

He even had his own daughter locked up.

[Warpy]

3. The only "good" thing about him is that he kept the country secular

instead of letting the Islamists run riot.

That's one reason it will be a mess now that he's gone. They'll fight back.

[JonLP24]

4. He boiled muslims alive

He also hosted black sites, a terrible country for human rights.

Human rights in Uzbekistan

Human Rights Watch state that "Uzbekistan's record of cooperation with UN human rights mechanisms is arguably among the worst in the world. For the past 12 years, it has ignored requests for access by all 11 UN human rights experts, and has rejected virtually all recommendations that international bodies have made for human rights improvements."[2] IHF have expressed profound concern about "wide-scale violation of virtually all basic human rights".[3]

Religious freedom is one of the most challenging issues in a predominantly Muslim environment, where only two mainstream religions - Orthodox Christianity and Judaism - are recognized and tolerated by the country's traditional society.

The U.S. Department of State has designated Uzbekistan a Country of Particular Concern for the religious persecution practiced in the country,[4] and have defined Uzbekistan as "an authoritarian state with limited civil rights".[5] Human Rights Watch, however, says that the US government have "resisted imposing any serious policy consequences for Uzbekistan's dismal rights record, viewing Tashkent as a key ally along the Northern Distribution Network (NDN) that it is using to withdraw supplies from the war in Afghanistan."[2]

According to the reports, the most widespread violations are torture, arbitrary arrests, and various restrictions of freedoms: of religion, of speech and press, of free association and assembly.[6] The reports maintain that the violations are most often committed against members of religious organizations, independent journalists, human right activists, and political activists, including members of the banned opposition parties. In 2005, Uzbekistan was included into Freedom House's "The Worst of the Worst: The World's Most Repressive Societies".
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Uzbekistan

[salin]

7. Didn't this guy

used to boil people to death?

Yes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_by_boiling

[Warpy]

8. That's the story

I'm not certain how much credence to lend it but torture was endemic to his regime. His control was iron fisted, opposition was not allowed, and elections were total shams. He was a totalitarian dictator in every way you can think of and he never appointed a successor. I suppose he thought he'd live forever.

He did manage to keep the country fairly secularized but the means were so brutal it's unlikely to last very long now that he is dead. Most likely the Islamists who fled into Afghanistan will be back, setting up shop for the Taliban.

His regime was one of the foulest, worldwide. Now there is a power vacuum.

The US better have contingency plans for the bases there.

[JonLP24]

9. US would do best to stay out of it

Dictators like the one they have are excellent for recruiting for Wahabbi terror groups, which the US allies with a few Wahabbi states. Besides that muslims were tortured and murdered for simple things like praying.

[cstanleytech]

10. I dont think Warpy meant getting involved in the succession rather

a plan to either beef up the base security or a plan to pull all the personal out while destroying anything that could be used before leaving.

[lunatica]

11. I agree

It's about protecting our bases and military.

There is going to be a bloodbath in that part of the world. And no one is going to love us.