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The air war in the East was peripheral to the course of the First World War, and it became so at a relatively early stage of the Second.
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According to Koller's papers, in 1944 the combat sorties ratio East vs all other theaters was roughly 2:1 (it should also be taken into account that in the Northern and Southern Theater some part of the sorties (sometimes perhaps the largest) were also directed against the Soviet Union, but compared with the main figures, this is not very important).
In January 1945 this ratio was more than 3.5:1, in February 5:1, in the following months undoubtedly even more so.
22.6.41-1942 most of the sorties were also in the East, for obvious reasons.
The number of sorties in 1943 is unknown, but given that even in 1944 most of the sorties were in the East, it is logical to assume that in 1943 the ratio was far more than 2:1.
So why did the Luftwaffe do most of their combat sorties in the "peripheral theater"? What a tragic mistake for them!
And this is not to mention the fact that the air war was an integral part of the war as a whole, and not the most important one.