Activists of the anti-globalization organization Attac, costumed as, from left, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, U.S. President George Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, are caught in a net as demonstrators symbolically liberate the world Monday in Rostock, Germany. The leaders of the G-8 nations will be holding their annual summit this week in the nearby historic Heiligendamm sea resort.

Washington ? Germany’s Angela Merkel wants to tackle global warming. Britain’s Tony Blair seeks help for Africa. President Bush wants to change the subject from Iraq to areas where allied cooperation is possible.

All these hopes for the Group of Eight summit could fall victim to rising tensions with the Russians, who are unhappy over U.S. plans to put an anti-missile system in Moscow’s backyard.

A look at the strategies the G-8 leaders will be pursuing at the June 6-8 summit in the Baltic Sea resort of Heiligendamm, Germany:

United States

President Bush is hoping to use his seventh G-8 summit to heal relations frayed by the Iraq war by emphasizing areas where his administration and U.S. allies can agree. He spent the days before the summit rolling out initiatives designed to appeal to foreign critics.

Under international pressure to take action against global warming, the president proposed that the United States and 14 other big polluters spend the next 18 months deciding on a long-term goal for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. While representing a significant change of course for the administration, the Bush plan does not go as far as one supported by Germany and other G-8 nations that would set stringent new emissions limits.

Bush also announced new economic sanctions against Sudan in response to the crisis in Darfur that has killed 200,000 people and called on Congress to double the U.S. funding commitment to help fight the AIDS crisis in Africa and other poor nations.

While Bush is likely to hear less criticism about the Iraq war, he will face a growing rift with Russia over the president’s plans to build a missile defense system to guard Europe against attack from nations such as Iran.

Russia

President Vladimir Putin, who was last year’s host for the G-8 summit in St. Petersburg, is making no secret of his unhappiness over the missile defense plans. In pre-summit interviews, he warned that Moscow could take retaliatory steps if Washington proceeded with a proposal to place a radar system in the Czech Republic and interceptor missiles in neighboring Poland. He suggested the retaliation could take the form of retargeting Russian missiles at Europe.

Germany

Chancellor Merkel, who at her first G-8 summit last year got an unexpected shoulder rub from Bush, has put global warming high on the agenda for this year. She offered muted praise for Bush’s new plan, calling it “common ground on which to act.” Her proposal, backed by other G-8 nations, goes much further. It calls for limiting the worldwide temperature rise this century to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit and cutting global greenhouse emissions to 50 percent of 1990 levels by 2050.

Merkel has moved to improve relations with the United States that were severely strained by the anti-Iraq war stance of her predecessor, Gerhard Schroeder. But she has stuck to Germany’s refusal to send troops to Iraq.

Britain

Prime Minister Blair, who will leave office after a decade in power on June 27, is hoping to use his final G-8 to bolster one of his signature international achievements: gaining pledges from wealthy nations to double support for Africa.

Blair is expected to support any G-8 moves to toughen sanctions against Sudan and is likely to press Putin for more help in curbing Iran’s nuclear program and providing support for the Middle East peace process.

France

President Nicolas Sarkozy will be attending his first G-8 summit, after having won election to succeed Jacques Chirac. He pledged to pull the sluggish French economy out of the doldrums, in part by engendering a work ethic and making the country more globalization-friendly.

Sarkozy has called the Iraq war a “historic error” but has moved to improve relations with the Bush administration that had been frayed by the war.

On climate change, Sarkozy, after his election, said in a phone call with Bush that the United States has the duty to take the lead on the issue because “the fate of humanity is at stake.”

Japan

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, also a newcomer at this year’s summit, has made climate change a summit priority. Japan will also push for a conclusion to the Doha Round of global trade talks and greater efforts to deal with the nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea.

Italy

Premier Romano Prodi, leading a center-left government, marked his first year in office in May.

Relations between the United States and Italy have been strained since Prodi took over. Prodi made good on an election promise and in December completed the pullout of the Italian troops from Iraq. Bush will meet with Prodi in Rome as part of a stop to visit Pope Benedict after the summit.

Stefano Sannino, Prodi’s top diplomatic aide, told reporters Monday that on climate change Italy does not expect the G-8 to agree to binding targets for emissions reduction but rather a general negotiating framework that he said would be “a step forward from the past.”

Canada

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who ended nearly 13 years of Liberal Party rule in January 2006, has not fared well during his initial time in office. His government is facing allegations of torture of Afghan detainees handed over by Canadians to Afghan authorities.

Last month, Harper’s government announced that Canada will not meet its commitments under the Kyoto climate change agreement, but it plans to side with European governments at the summit in endorsing a call for targets for reducing greenhouse gases.