The trouble is, there is not the least credible evidence to support it. As for disproving something that supposedly happened in such total secrecy we are just now finding out about it, after 40 years… well, that’s the beauty of it. Nobody can disprove such a thing, since the answer to every argument is ready-made: It was covered up.
Take a gander at the history and text of the Limited Test Ban Treaty, signed by the superpowers in 1963.
This treaty bans weapons testing in outer space. Take careful note of the fact none of the arguing over the terms of the agreement was over space testing; none of the signatories even considered the possibility that someone could hide such tests. They argued then (just as today) that underground testing might go undetected.
During the cold war, the superpower’s paranoia that the other might get a leg-up in the nuclear arms race reached epic proportions. The American (and, I assume the USSR) public’s focus on these issues reached near-hysteria, and to think that either country could have carried out such a launch and detonation without the other’s military or scientific communities catching on is quite far-fetched. I lived through the cold war, and I can tell you: it never happened because if it had, the world would be a different place for the shit-storm that would have erupted.
I’ll just wait around and see if anyone can dig up one single piece of credible evidence.
One teensy news story from a well-known, well respected source… say, The New York Times or The Chicago Tribune or other similar rag. Any date, any reference.
Until then, I’ll file this one in my “Moon landing was faked” folder.
I hope this acts as a LESSON for some who are involved in this board. As I pointed out, there is a significant difference between objectively assessing evidence put forth in favor of a supposed fact and dismissing assertions out of hand without any evidence to support the dismissal. Truth is, after all, often stranger than fiction.
“What kind of damage would an electromagnetic pulse had done in 1958? Did we have solid-state technology back then? Does EMP damage vacuum tubes?”
Well, the transistor was invented in 1947-48.
Hearing aids with transistors went on the market in '53, and radios and computers based wholly on transistors (no tubes) were available starting 1954. See: http://www.pbs.org/transistor/timeline/timeline4.html
“By the late 1950’s, the transistor became an integral part of the electronic telephone switching system, but also a key component of other important products and services, such as portable radios, computers, and radar.” http://www.lucent.com/ideas/heritage/transistor/uses.html
I checked the lat/lon coordinates given in those DOE reports. The first one was about 500 miles southwest of Cape Town, South Africa. The next two tests were much further away, practically half-way between Cape Town and Antarctica. Is it possible the South African government complained about the first test and the USA was obliged to conduct the next two tests further away?
Those who do not learn from the past are condemned to relive it. Georges Santayana
That’s an interesting question. It occured to me that in 1958, Neither the U.S. nor the Soviet Union had a global monitoring system capable of detecting a blast anywhere and everywhere. So you probably could get away with it without disturbing your adversary until well after the fact, if you picked your launch site well.
But a blast that close to Cape Town certainly could be noticed by South Africans. Nevertheless, the South Atlantic is a comparitively remote and unobserved place. Perhaps it’s not coincidental that the Israeli/South African test was conducted in roughly the same place–it’s not somewhere one would routinely watch, and it’s not someplace where a nation would feel threatened if they did notice.
