G8 critics were outraged by the scale of the security operation surrounding the two-day summit. They argue that the cost of safety precautions was vastly disproportionate to the modest results produced by this meeting between the leaders of the world's major powers.

But in fact, those results alone justify the summit. Despite fears of a new Cold War, the mood between Russia and the US is once again conciliatory, while progress on the climate debate has gained new momentum.

The climate issue has become such an inflammatory one that it must be hard to keep a cool head about it. But in fact, the G8 leaders have pulled off a substantial breakthrough on climate change. For the first time ever, the world's biggest industrial nation conceded the need to cut carbon emissions and agreed the US would be included in the United Nations' effort to curb global warming.

It's the very least that could have been expected, but a more ambitious plan would have been unrealistic. For Angela Merkel, it was a diplomatic coup. She succeeding in raising the bar in the climate debate and secured support from the US and Japan.

However momentous, for the time being, the results of the summit will be of little benefit to the emerging economies. China and India attended the talks in Heiligendamm as guests only. But with their rapid current growth -- and all its accompanying environmental risks -- they too will have to accept the UN's climate strategies.

It's all good news for environmentalists. And they're not the only ones to be pleased with the summit's outcomes. Amid all the tense security, the get-together on the Baltic Coast actually managed to diffuse much growing international tension.

The US and Russia used the summit to patch up the most serious crisis in their relationship since the Cold War, after Russian President Putin had threatened to aim his nuclear arsenal at Europe if America went ahead with plans for a missile shield in eastern Europe. But bilateral talks with US President George Bush managed to avert the escalating conflict. Russia may even discreetly accept the US offer to cooperate in the project.

Ultimately the last two days have shown that sitting down and talking is always worthwhile. Even in the age of mass demonstrations and media hysteria, G8 summits have a purpose to serve. Had the meeting not taken place, the gloves would have come off and many a burgeoning battle might still have been fought. Putin might have followed through on his threats and ushered in a new, arms race. The cost would have been enormous -- and international politics would have soured dramatically.

Instead, Putin and Bush were able to enjoy a "relaxed and pleasant" dinner after their tête-à-tête -- as though harsh words had never been spoken. In terms of democracy, G8 summits are hard to countenance. But as a forum for personal encounters between world leaders, they have an obvious justification.

At the end of the day, no one has more of a vested interest in beefed-up security around G8 summits than the demonstrators and anti-globalization activists who so loudly protest against it. G8 summits give them unparalleled opportunities to attract media publicity. And after all, the cost of the security operation is a drop in the ocean of the enormous economic gains yielded for the industrial nations by globalization. Not to mention the billions the world will save by averting climate catastrophe

Daniel Scheschkewitz is an editor for DW-RADIO and Deutsche Welle's former Washington, DC correspondent.