It’s a major show of force, the biggest ever in NATO history. A message to Russian aggression?

Perhaps. The multinational Air Defender 23 exercise which kicked off June 12, includes 25 nations training together in the airspace above Europe. The massive exercise was initiated by Germany in 2018, planned out in subsequent years and takes place through the summer under German leadership.

The trouble is that Canada, a founding member of NATO, isn’t there. Japan is, even though it’s not a NATO member and its core interests are on the other side of the world. So are many other nations — 25 in all — including Finland, which only just joined and Sweden, which has yet to join.