MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) – by Max DELANY Lambasted for brutally crushing dissent, Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov kept a stranglehold on power for over 25 years — even at the expense of his own daughter. The veteran leader, 78, whose death was officially announced on Friday several days after he suffered a stroke, played Russia, China and the West off against one other to avoid total isolation as he steered his strategic state out of the […]