Scaring voters with the Russian threat didn't work before the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, so German Chancellor Friedrich Merz tried a different tactic just before yesterday's elections in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Berlin. He announced a €0.17 per liter cut in motor-fuel taxes, which even public broadcaster ARD dared to link to the elections. This ploy didn't work either, resulting in what Merz called a "disaster" for CDU in the Mecklenburg vote. Merz and other European politicians, including the Czech government, find themselves in an unwinnable situation. They're trying to address the energy crisis by fiddling with tax rates and regulations, when the underlying causes are instead the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, sanctions against Russia and Iran, Green Deal measures, excessive demand caused by too much central-bank and government money in circulation, and the global realignment accelerated by Donad Trump. To top it all off are new secondary sanctions signed into law by Trump on Friday. It's a perfect storm, and it's only just gathering strength.