Russian President Vladimir Putin (AP)

If last year's was the rock star summit, with its Live8 ode to world poverty, this year's G8 gathering near St. Petersburg looks to have more classical, almost Cold War overtones — with of course a little war and peace thrown in.

The first of the G8 conclaves to be held in Russia — at the sumptuous Konstantin Palace, a former czarist playground which Russian President Vladimir Putin had upgraded at considerable cost — this was to be the summit that consolidated Russia's membership in the elite eight.

It's been a member since 1997 and before that an official hanger-on, as China is this year with President Hu Jintao attending for a series of high-level "bilaterals" with other leaders as well as a so-called outreach meeting later in the program.

But Russia's presence at these chin wags has always been a bit stilted, as if it weren't sure it really belonged. After all, this is supposed to be a gathering of the richest and most industrialized countries in the world and Russia's economy ranks either 14th or 15th, depending on how you do the count.

Because of this, perhaps, Putin has tended to be pretty low-key and polite at these events. But that does not seem to be the case now, not when he's on his own turf.

Maybe it was the shot across his bow earlier this year by U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney, who went to neighbouring Lithuania and questioned whether Russia was turning its back on democracy. (That same charge was amplified earlier this week by a prominent U.K. think tank, the Foreign Policy Centre, which has close ties to British Prime Minister Tony Blair.)

In any event, Putin has come out swinging. He's publicly challenged George W. Bush and other Western leaders on their handling of Muslim insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq. And he's threatened to raise the spectres of Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib if Bush so much as breathes aloud his concerns about Putin's crackdown on the Russian media and other institutions.

He's also playing tough with one of the few financial carrots he has at his disposal: Putin is offering to include a couple of the West's biggest oil and gas companies on the next big natural gas play in Russia, which promises to be one of the biggest fields to be developed in the world. His asking price for this is that the U.S. drop its objections to Russia joining the World Trade Organization, which looks like it will happen.

A summit in transition

The upshot to all this, apart from the quaintly anachronistic uptick in Cold War rhetoric, is that this G8 summit, which starts officially today, will likely be one of the more broadly polarized than most that have gone before.

On the big issues up for discussion — the Middle East, Iran's and North Korea's nuclear ambitions, world energy supply, the WTO talks and the war in Iraq and Afghanistan — there should be many more evolving alliances pitting Russia and Europe, and Russia and China, against the U.S. and whatever momentary allies it can muster.

Not that the world should probably give a fig about how the G8 does its business, especially this year. The Russian meeting has to be seen as a transitional summit.

It is the first for Canada's Stephen Harper and Germany's Angela Merkel, and the first in years for Italy's new prime minister, Romano Prodi, who used to attend when he was the head of the European Commission.

More importantly, it is the last for Japan's Junichiro Koizumi as well as probably Britain's Tony Blair and France's Jacques Chirac. The latter excepted, this changing of the guard means fewer big-stick allies for Bush at gatherings like this and could explain the recent Time magazine cover, which heralded a kinder, gentler George W. and "The end of cowboy diplomacy."

Canada will undoubtedly be a much more vigorous backer of Washington this time out. Harper supports Bush on such key issues as Israel's right to defend itself strongly and curtailing Iran, and Harper could well be the one who takes on Putin over energy, making the case for unfettered free trade.

But welcome as that might be from an American point of view, Canada will never be mistaken for Britain when it comes to having a big voice on the world stage.

The big issues

As at any gathering such as this, there is the formal agenda, which officials have been beavering away on for months, and there are the real concerns that take over at the last minute.

These include the outbreak of hostilities in the Middle East; the extent to which sanctions can be brought against Iran and North Korea to try to curtail their nuclear ambitions; Russia's energy development plans; and whether this last, tortured round of the WTO talks can be saved.

The Middle East conflict mostly pits Europe and Russia against the U.S. and Canada and possibly Britain, the latter countries being the strongest supporters of Israel's punishing retribution on its two Arab neighbours.

• IN DEPTH: Middle East

The implications of the Middle East situation will be felt at the UN Security Council where the U.S. and most of Europe wants to invoke economic sanctions against Iran and North Korea. Russia and China, both Security Council members, have been opposed to sanctions, although in recent days they seem to have been coming around on Iran, which has so far refused proposals to have its nuclear enrichment facilities independently investigated.

Israel's "overreaction," as some see it, in response to the hostage taking of three of its soldiers, will also be up for UN debate and could cloud the sanctions discussion at the G8 on these other matters.

As for energy, this is the host's chosen issue. Russia is the second largest oil exporter in the world and one of the biggest natural gas providers as well, especially to eastern and central Europe.

But it needs Western help in developing its huge reserves and appears to want either direct backing or long-term contracts before it takes the next step. And many Western governments (this was part of Cheney's attack as well) are wary because of the way Russia shut off the gas spigots to Ukraine in the middle of a cold winter last year because Kiev would not agree to a readjusted contract with a 300 per cent cost hike.

Just days before the summit was to begin, France's Chirac sent a letter to certain newspapers in which he argued that the G8 should become the primary vehicle for the fight against global warming.

Many saw this as an attack on the U.S., and possibly Canada, for abandoning the Kyoto accord on climate change. But some analysts saw it more as a shot at host Russia for promoting a new generation of oil and gas development without having the means in place to ensure these are carried out in an environmentally sound manner.

Welcome to the castle at St. Petersburg, where the royal family that once owned it would certainly understand the jostling for power and influence that is taking place in its confines.

[an error occurred while processing this directive]