Outliers.social

Jun 4, 2026

The Architecture of Corruption How Power, Secrecy, and Loyalty Turn Institutions Into Self-Protecting Empires

The scandal behind the scandal Most people think they know what corruption looks like. They picture a bag of cash, a hidden bank transfer, a minister caught on tape, a contractor handing over an envelope in a parking lot. Those images are vivid, easy to recognize, and politically useful. They are also incomplete. By t...

#politics #history #corruption #goverment #humanpsychology

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The Narrow Place That Holds the World

Stand on the ragged heights above the water near the entrance to the Persian Gulf and the first impression is not grandeur in the alpine sense, nor softness, nor abundance. It is starkness. The mountains on the Iranian shore come down in folds of rust, violet, and dust-brown. The Musandam Peninsula on the Omani side r...