Genting bankruptcy charts new cruise course

Same ship, different brand. (Photo provided by Resorts World Cruises)

Covid coupled with massive ill-timed bets on the Asian cruise market led to bankruptcy for Genting Hong Kong, the company that began as Star Cruises. But for Genting chairman Lim Kok Thay and family that control the global gaming and leisure group, bankruptcy seems little more than a course correction.

Former US diplomat and broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is Asia editor at large at ICE 365, a contributor to Forbes, columnist for Asia Times and author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about TV news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his bio, online archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com; follow him on Facebook, Twitter @MuhammadCohen and LinkedIn.

The Lazarus Heist details North Korea cybercrime

I’m reading The Lazarus Heist, adapted from last year’s BBC World Service podcast of the same name about North Korea’s cybercrime wave that includes my comments on its casino angles. Author Geoff White puts Pyongyang’s high tech trespass in the context of the ruling Kim dynasty and the post-Cold War world. It’s a fascinating true crime read laced with geopolitical insight.

Note: The book repeats the podcast’s error of identifying me a Macau resident. Although I’ve been visiting Macau for decades and have on occasion spent weeks there on assignment, I have never been a Macau resident and never identified myself as one. White is working on a correction for future iterations of the book, and I’m grateful for that.

Former US diplomat and broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is Asia editor at large at ICE365, a contributor to Forbes, columnist for Asia Times and author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about TV news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his bio, online archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com; follow him on Facebook, Twitter @MuhammadCohen and LinkedIn.