When the United States government yesterday ordered a new series of weapons tests in the atmosphere, it took an inevitable step forward in the nuclear dance macabre. The President had announced, after the Soviet resumption last September, that this country would prepare to test, allow some time to capitalize on world opinion, and then decide whether to follow suit. The negotiations and crises de conscience that followed now appear to have been sham.

At Geneva, the negotiations were doomed because of irreconcilable scientific data, and the inspection issue turned into a paranoic nightmare. The Russians, assuming inspection to be technically unnecessary, viewed American demands as an espionage device; at the same time, their refusal to permit on-site observation reinforced the American suspicion that Russia planned to hide something.

Throughout this country people sensed the futility of Geneva, and few are at all conversant with the scientific or political bases of the detection dispute that precluded any agreement. Thus an unwitting populace can only trust the validity of yesterday's decision to resume testing. But perhaps they can sense the self-perpetuating tragedy that cartoonists pass off as muscle-flexing.