credibility in foreign policy and we can't be a junior partner to the united states of america mccord peo also disagreed over one of the main themes of this year's conference that the west is losing global influence. when i look at the world as it's being shaped and that's the theme of your conference this year there is indeed a weakening of the west that looks you know this idea of what's necessary as the core theme for this year's conference and i'm sure to there many of you who would call yourself a realist. but let me give you an idea of what's real the west is winning. 15 years ago we thought that our values were universal that we were going to dominate the world in the long term that we were dominant in terms of technology military and so on and then a look at the horizon of 10 to 15 years we are going to be increasingly pushed by other agendas another values is the myth of the free west has a far brighter future than illiberal alternatives or winning or doing it together. it was left to nato secretary-general un starting back to try and smooth over the continuing transatlantic tens