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NATO exists primarily to deter aggressive action against any of its members.

It’s a weak excuse, given that Canada had four years to prepare for this exercise, which is of critical importance to NATO and Western security. The reason given for Canada’s absence, according to Department of National Defence spokesman Daniel Le Bouthillier, was “it was a planning decision given many of our aircraft and personnel are currently committed to modernization activities.” In other words, it was too busy dealing with an aging fleet and preparing for the new aircraft. Canada and Portugal are the only NATO countries with fighter jets that skipped this landmark exercise. Slovakia recently retired its ex-Soviet fighters and is awaiting 14 F-16s ordered from the U.S. The first five have no fighter aircraft, or in some cases no air force at all. Of NATO’s 31 member states, eight are not participating: Albania, Iceland, Luxembourg, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Portugal, Slovakia and Canada. Given its size, the exercise is intended to demonstrate NATO’s solidarity and capability to Russia.

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