The Ukraine war is actually forcing people to adopt a position.
But you can't force an attitude.
One can argue about allegations of individual war crimes, but hardly about Russian aggression.
Putin's ambush, flagrant violation of international law's prohibition on the use of force, and his open negation of a Ukrainian nation are not just interstate affairs.
Anyone who publicly approves of a war of aggression in a inflammatory form is liable to prosecution under German law.
It is not only disturbing that 35 states abstained from condemning Russian aggression in the UN General Assembly, but also the demonstrative waving of Russian flags in this country, as can be seen recently on protest marches against corona measures.
Now, Russia is still a (hard-sanctioned) member of the international community, and the people are not synonymous with its leadership.
But those who use the war symbol "Z" demonstratively and in connection with war, a symbol widely used by Putin's invading forces as shorthand for "victory," apparently endorse the horror of this war and mock its victims.
Anyone who opposes our basic order in this way is rightly being targeted by the rule of law.
At the same time, of course, he has to make sure that in this country – in contrast to Putin's empire – one can argue about the supposedly unspeakable without having to fear a ban on one's profession and imprisonment.
It is all the more important that interpersonal disputes are civilized.
Unspeakable are attacks on Russians, Russian-speaking people, even on everything that somehow seems Russian.
The war is close in many ways, not least because of the many refugees.
No one should simply be held privately jointly liable.
Anyone who preaches violence breaks with the basic order.
This applies to the states as well as to each individual.