Social media says that Islam Karimov is already dead, although I can't find a news organization confirming that yet. There are just articles about how sick he is like this one. But just the fact that the UZ government is letting anyone openly discuss Karimov's illness is a clear sign that things are really serious. If you follow the official news, I don't think the guy has ever even had a runny nose since he became president in 1991.
In any case (and I'm stealing this from a FB friend), if you want to impress your friends with your arcane knowledge of Uzbekistan's internal politics, go read this post. TL;DR: If Karimov has really kicked it, Rustam Inoyatov is the one to watch. (And no, he is not the Uzbek president's dentist. Maybe the dentist would be the next one to watch. Am I the only one secretly hoping for a succession-by-dentist tradition to develop in post-Soviet Central Asia?)
In any case (and I'm stealing this from a FB friend), if you want to impress your friends with your arcane knowledge of Uzbekistan's internal politics, go read this post. TL;DR: If Karimov has really kicked it, Rustam Inoyatov is the one to watch. (And no, he is not the Uzbek president's dentist. Maybe the dentist would be the next one to watch. Am I the only one secretly hoping for a succession-by-dentist tradition to develop in post-Soviet Central Asia?)
