The story was set in the coldest days of the Cold War. A large group of scientists reasoned they could prevent the extinction of mankind by giving humans a new enemy: an alien race that wanted to take over Earth. And so, the scientists arranged for the detonation of a nuclear device on a remote desert island. The scientists told a fearful world that the weapon had come from the dark side of the Moon.
The nations of the Earth banded together to attack the aliens on the Moon that had attacked Earth. A great number of nuclear tipped missiles were fired against the dark side of the Moon.
Surprise! The dark side of the Moon was inhabited by aliens with superior weapons to Earth's. In short order the aliens wiped out New York; Washington, DC; London, Tokyo; Moscow; and several other large population centers. The scientists managed to trigger the first extraterrestrial nuclear war. Oops.
some powers that be seem to know something