Merkel's chances of an agreement on climate change had been rather slim ahead of the summit. Her own position was worlds apart from that of the U.S. president, who seemed unyielding in his position of not committing to concrete reduction goals targets.

But last Wednesday, Merkel spoke to George W. Bush privately, while aides worked on strong wording for a climate change communique that would allow all parties to save face.

While Merkel apparently managed to soften Bush's tough stance, the final turnaround came the following morning, when British leader Tony Blair, in a breakfast meeting with Bush, took Merkel's side in the negotiations. It was at that moment, German news magazine Der Spiegel wrote Monday, that Bush finally gave the green light to include in the communique two key passages: The need to "seriously consider" halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and holding post-Kyoto talks under the purview of the United Nations.

While the political opposition in Germany, Greenpeace International and other environmental groups have harshly criticized the wording as weak and insufficient in light of the great threats posed by climate change, others have argued that a more aggressive text simply wasn't possible given Washington's initial position.

"Merkel has held her own. This is more than I expected," Hermann Ott, of the Wuppertal Institute, a climate research think tank, said about the climate change agreement. "The wording is such that Washington can't fall behind again when it comes to climate protection."

Leaders also agreed to commit $60 billion for treatment of AIDS and other diseases in Africa, a pledge that includes money already promised at the 2005 Gleneagles summit and was thus sharply criticized by aid organizations and anti-globalization groups, who staged massive protests in nearby Rostock and Kuehlungsborn, some of which ended in violent clashes with police.

"We are aware of our obligations," Merkel said, rebutting allegations that the G8 came short of what it should have committed for Africa. "We want to fulfill the promises we entered into."

A G8 summit has some of the same effects as a summer camp -- if a small group of people spend a few days in an isolated setting, they often develop a sense of community and connect.

It is unclear whether that happened between some of the leaders and Russian President Vladimir Putin, but a few incidents at least were able to diffuse tensions between Russia and the West.

Bush and Putin met for informal talks that culminated in a joint news conference with an offer by Putin to jointly use an existing radar station in Azerbaijan for the U.S. missile interceptor system plans.

Whether the proposal is feasible or not, it managed to tone down the fierce rhetoric that had raged for the past few weeks between the former Cold War adversaries.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy even used Putin to brag -- walking with the Russian leader, he called someone on his cell phone ("Sarko" was glued to it virtually the entire summit), and then quickly handed the phone to Putin, who said a few words in English. Sarkozy was beaming with joy.

Yet for all the nice words, there were still a few issues where leaders didn't find common ground.

The most pressing problem in Europe at the moment is Kosovo, a Serbian province dominated by ethnic Albanians who are pushing for independence. Most of the West supports Kosovo's bid for independence, yet Russia still would block any way forward.

On Iran, leaders were united, but observers are unsure how Moscow would react in case of harsher economic sanctions, which seem imminent.

And in a few weeks, leaders are likely to spit blood at each other again -- the past has shown that the sense of community and connectivity created at these summits sadly doesn't survive very long.

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