Thank you for being intellectually curious. Regrettably not many people venture into it nowadays.
Sometimes you have to pick a side. I choose the West and democracy (yes I know it’s very much imperfect). It’s up to you which side you’re on. But remember that inaction in the face of aggression is helping the aggressor, and paralysis by analysis is inaction.
Maybe it sounds harsh, but people around me are talking about going to Ukraine to fight. For our principles and for Ukraine. For democracy.
In my case, it's even more complicated. Even though I am not living in Russia, I speak Russian and my family is for the most part of Russian origin.
The Russian community these days is broken into 2 parts which sometimes even results in serious disputes among generations.
Almost no one in Russia supports the aggression, probably except for the older generation who spend most of their time watching the official television where everything is justified
As you said, it doesn't require a lot of intellectual efforts to attach simplistic labels and be satisfied. I am not, however,satisifed with definite answers whether it's in software engineering or even global events