What a depressing book. The chapters about life in Eastern Europe after the fall of the USSR were utterly heartbreaking. Even the little things like how free Summer camp for kids was abolished was just ... fuck dude. I don't even know what to say
This book actually made me weep. I honestly don't know why it took me so long to read Parenti. 
I also cried after reading Blackshirts and Reds. I’m not sure if this came from B&R but I saw a statistic about how a few weeks after the illegal dissolution of the USSR there were children as young as 10 selling their bodies on the streets of Moscow and I cried for like a fucking hour while also being angrier than I’ve ever been before. The collapse truly one of the greatest humanitarian disasters in the modern era.
there is a mid-1990s video on youtube where a journalist interviews children about this on the streets of Moscow
CW: discussion of child prostitution, drug use, etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2jIYuSycl4&t=7m55s
at 7:55
recommend watching the whole video though