This explainer clip provides the general information about Central Asia as a region that serves as a "bridge between Europe and Asia" and that makes it of such great geopolitical interest to powers like Russia, the United States and China. These five states - a slowly-opening Uzbekistan, relatively liberal Kyrgyzstan, closed Turkmenistan, rich and authoritarian Kazakhstan, and dictatorial Tajikistan - all make up a fusion of interesting and complex political systems and societies.