Thanks, and it's hard to argue with your experience. I don't know if we can blame the Russian soul, though, for Putin's megalomania, but the notion of such a soul (which might infect Dostoevsky's work, as you say) is an interesting one. I wonder whether that soul compares to a Canadian or Nordic soul, given the similar coldness of the environments. Probably not, because of the different histories.

I can see how there would be no atheists in foxholes, but that would apply only to a narrow notion of atheism. For example, I'm currently writing a series on how atheistic naturalism entails cosmicist pantheism. If I were in a Ukrainian foxhole, I'd be contemplating not the theist's God but an atheistic substitute, such as the grandeur of nature, of deep time, and of the inhumanness of the natural order.

The real division isn't between theists and atheists, but between philosophical and nonphilosophical souls, if you like. Even atheists can have their big thoughts which bring them solace.

Keep your head down out there, and I wish you luck.