This week’s G8 summit was supposed to focus on the key issues of climate change, globalisation and development assistance for Africa, but these matters have been overshadowed by the monstrous spectre of a renewed arms race between the Eagle and the Bear.

The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis should remind us that the United States was never too happy about the Soviet Union placing missiles in its neighbourhood, and now Vladimir Putin has expressed great anger at US proposals to site ‘Son of Star Wars’ in Eastern Europe.

George W Bush argues that this defensive missile system, which will involve bases in the Czech Republic and Poland, will neutralise any menace from the ‘axis of evil’, North Korea and Iran. But evidently Putin sees it as sabre rattling, designed to add an edge to the West’s growing criticism of his regime; and so he has retaliated by threatening to aim Russian nuclear missiles once again at targets in Europe.

It’s hard to tell what the two sides’ real motives are. It has been claimed that Putin is trying to drive a wedge between Europe and the US – and it’s certainly true that a hefty percentage of Czechs do not wish the US to use their soil to ‘project’ its military might, as recent protests have shown. Moreover, according to one expert ‘Son of Star Wars’ would be just as effective against a ballistic missile launched from the Middle East or East Asia if its interceptors were based in Scotland.

It all sounds like the politics of fear, as old enemies are baited and harangued in order to justify military spending or to extend domination over the world’s energy reserves – currently, the Kremlin is about to wrest back control of major Russian gasfields from the likes of BP.

In 2 Samuel 2, the timely challenge of Saul’s general Abner brings an end to a bloody battle between the forces of Saul and David when he appeals to his opposite number, Joab, to end the slaughter of Saul’s defeated army. ‘Must the sword devour forever?’ he asks. ‘Don’t you realise that this will end in bitterness? How long before you order your men to stop pursuing their brothers?’

Let’s pray that as the G8 leaders meet around the table this week they will not revive the bitter rhetoric of the Cold War but instead will strive to find warm words of peace.

Jason Gardner