APEC in Hawaii were the good old days

It’s been less than a year since Honolulu’s giddy hosting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation. But in venue and tone, this year’s APEC seems light years from President Barack Obama’s "Aloha APEC."

First, the venue: This year’s summit, under way this weekend, is being held in the Russian seaport of Vladivostok, home of the Russian Pacific Fleet and a city that was officially closed to foreigners during the Soviet era.

Second, the tone: Unlike the generally cooperative one projected in Hawaii last November, many of APEC’s nation neighbors this year are squabbling over territories instead of promoting growth. The Associated Press reports: "South Korea is feuding with Japan, Japan with China, China with many of its Southeast Asian neighbors. … "

Sounds like there won’t be much "cooperation" in APEC this year.

Warriors at Coliseum was good TV

There’s no UH Warriors’ football today but some good news to hold us over until next weekend is that the team’s season opener against the University of Southern California a week ago was a television success.

Broadcaster Fox said the game drew 2.7 million viewers when it started in prime time on Sept. 1. Viewership started to drop off within the first half hour after the Trojans jumped out to a 20-0 lead by the end of the first quarter, but the average audience still was 1.8 million, which pleased Fox executives as well as UH officials.

No doubt USC being ranked No. 1 before the game, and that its quarterback is a Heisman trophy contender, were factors for the attention that the game received. But it’s flattering to think the Warriors might be an attraction themselves — and they did, after all, perform admirably, the final score of 49-10 notwithstanding.