Doesn’t this whole Khashoggi thing show us how hard it is to even keep a relatively minor conspiracy secret?
Not at all. All it says is that the Saudis are crap at being evil geniuses. Many minor conspiracies, especially in years gone by, remain hidden. These days that is still the case, which is why anti-corruption bodies in some countries take a long time investigating things before acting.
Some conspiracies are known, like the rape of children by priests, but are not acted upon because other conspiracies protect them (like police being in league with the Church).
The conspiracies are flagrant and repeated, like the suppression of voter registration in some states in the USA. Unlike Australia, the US does not have an independent Electoral Commission - who conspired to bring that about?
To a fair degree our history in the west is a network of conspiracies - an infestation of dishonest, corrupt and debauched individual working in concert to benefit each other. Only the inept and the unlucky get caught. In this case the Saudis were inept.
Richard D Hall (Rich Planet TV) on YouTube does a detailed analysis of the Madeleine McCann case. The actions by the UK government and police, and the McCanns themselves border on the bizarre and ludicrous. The stench of corruption involving pedophilia among the upper crust of English society is so seemingly evident the determination to brazen out the growing accusations of gross and flagrant misconduct is breathtaking.
Its not on the scale of 911 in magnitude, but the evidence points pretty much to the same thing - corruption and conspiracy is so well-entrenched and normalised at the level of the 'elites' that even exposure of flagrant misconduct is treated with disdain. Apart from the inept getting caught out we need also to consider what the consequences might be. There is a lot of theatre about Khashoggi's murder, and there will be ritual outrage to placate the chooks (chickens), but nothing will happen.
Conspiracy is the psychic equivalent of fungi in a culture. It reaches everywhere. Now and then some unlucky/inept or punished sucker is thrown to the crowd, who bay for their blood - and it is duly shed. I have been in the public service in Australia off and on (mostly on) since the mid 60s. And even in a not especially corrupt country I can tell you that what passes for 'politics' is very often corrupt to some degree - that is to say that lies and hidden self-interest are involved. In certain respects, if we take a very literal perspective, public administration is always on the edge of being corrupt - in the sense that the public interest is not always served.
I say that is the home ground - taking a strong philosophical stand - that is present in even the best public service cultures. There is good evidence from psychology that we under-estimate our self-interest and over-estimate our capacity for fair-mindedness. So maybe corruption and conspiracy are not aberrations so much as normal expressions of human potential.
The ideal of pure selfless service is a fantasy. We are a community of folk with self-interest at stake, and some cultures create practices and values that support corruption and conspiracy, if they do not actually promote it. The USA makes a particular public issue about corruption - well it does abroad at least. It sets itself as the paragon of virtue and the finger wagger in chief. Ain't fooled by that!
Here's a question. In a democracy how can so much wealth and power end in in so few hands without conspiracies and corruption? It ain't merit or necessity that sets that outcome to run. Its a willingness to figure its okay to have more than you need while your neighbour has not enough.