The Trouble with Cassandra

"Destiny." says Cassandra in Jean Giraudoux's Tiger at the Gates, ''is simply the relentless logic of each day we live." Yet the logic of the day is not always immediately apparent. A great many days are filled with portents of doom, but destiny may look quite different.

Europe last week seemed like Cassandra's backyard. Imminent and grave crisis was predicted over Berlin (see following story). Yet the relentless logic of the cold war suggested that while the danger was considerable, the Russians really had little room for maneuver if the West stood firm.

Pessimism was voiced over British entry into the Common Market; as bargaining resumed in Brussels, Negotiator Ted Heath made new demands, including a swifter conference schedule, which the six were in no mood to grant. De Gaulle did not seem any more cordial than before, and Adenauer remarked ironically that they were not exactly exchanging "declarations of love" at Brussels. Yet the relentless logic of profit as well as progress made it virtually certain that Britain will enter.

The Common Market issue also seemed to threaten a split in the Tory Party as it met for its annual conference, just as Labor's earlier move against the Market had threatened to split the nation. Yet the relentless logic of politics brought overwhelming victory to the Tories' pro-Market forces (see Great Britain).

The Western alliance, as usu al, seemed in disarray, and practical moves toward Western European unity were for the time being suspended. Yet the relentless logic of what Harold Macmillan called Europe's new Renaissance made it plain that union will come, and that it will strengthen the alliance.

Finally, gloom was inspired by France, where, in theory at least, the government had fallen, evoking evil memories of the chaotic Fourth Republic. Yet the relentless logic of Charles de Gaulle suggested that he will win his presidential referendum (TIME. Sept. 21 ), and that, one way or another, he will probably survive the subsequent parliamentary elections. A French cartoonist caught the idea when he switched a famed line and had De Gaulle say: "After the deluge, me!"

Cassandra may yet be proved right about many things: she has all too often been right before. Still, gloom is not necessarily foresight, and pessimism is not the same as logic.

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