Oleh
Akhmad Zamroni
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Presiden AS, Donald Trump, memberikan keterangan pers tentang Covid-19 (Sumber: AFP/Getty Images North America/Drew Angerer) |
NEGARA adidaya (superpower) merupakan negara yang mempunyai
kekuasaan dan pengaruh paling kuat dalam percaturan politik internasional.
Negara adidaya memiliki kemampuan yang sangat besar dalam mempengaruhi negara-negara
lain dan mengendalikan organisasi-organisasi internasional. Besarnya pengaruh
dan kendali negara adidaya umumnya dikarenakan mereka menjadi kontributor dana
terbesar bagi negara-negara lain dan lembaga-lembaga internasional serta memiliki
kekuatan militer tidak tertandingi (terutama dari segi teknologi dan kuantitas senjata)
yang sewaktu-waktu dapat mereka gunakan untuk menginvasi negara tertentu
melalui keputusan sepihak.
Dengan kekuatan dan pengaruhnya
yang sangat besar, negara adidaya seringkali mempelihatkan sikap jumawa dan seenaknya
mengkooptasi atau bahkan menyerang negara lain, tak peduli ribuan nyawa manusia
melayang serta infrastruktur di negara sasaran hancur lebur. Ibarat raksasa
lapar yang gila dan bengis, mereka merasa bebas melakukan apa saja untuk
mewujudkan ambisi dan memperjuangkan kepentingannya.
Dalam sejarah perpolitikan
global ada beberapa negara adidaya yang sepak terjangnya memicu peperangan
serta menimbulkan penindasan dan penderitaan pada banyak bangsa/negara lain. Pada
era kuno ada Persia, Makedonia,Romawi, dan Mongolia. Pada era modern, antara
lain, tercatat nama Prancis, Britania Raya, Uni Soviet, dan Amerika Serikat.
Negara adidaya muncul silih
berganti dalam pergaulan internasional. Sejarah kehidupan bangsa-bangsa dan
negara-negara di dunia yang telah berlangsung ribuan tahun menunjukkan, belum
pernah ada satu pun bangsa/negara adidaya yang terus-menerus bertahan menjadi kekuatan
hegemonial yang tak tergantikan. Persia yang perkasa dapat ditumbangkan dan
digantikan oleh Makedonia, sementara nama terakhir ini kemudian dipecundangi dan
digeser oleh Romawi. Prancis dan Britania Raya pada abad modern juga di-lengser-kan oleh Uni Soviet dan Amerika
Serikat.
Uni Soviet dan Amerika Serikat pula
yang, kelihatannya, untuk kali pertama dalam sejarah menjadi dua negara adidaya
yang muncul secara bersamaan dan bersaing sama kuat. Seusai Perang Dunia II
tahun 1945, keduanya tumbuh menjadi adidaya baru. Selama Perang Dunia II
keduanya berada di kubu yang sama (Sekutu), tetapi setelah berakhirnya perang
yang menelan korban 50-70 juta jiwa itu keduanya berbalik saling bermusuhan.
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Perang Dunia II (Sumber: https://nationalinterest.org) |
Mereka tidak lagi berkawan
akibat berbeda ideologi. Amerika menganut liberalisme/kapitalisme, adapun
Soviet berhaluan komunisme/marxisme. Keduanya memiliki negara-negara pengikut
serta membentuk pakta militer: Amerika bersama sekutunya (Inggris, Prancis,
Italia, Kanada, Jerman Barat, dan sebagainya) membentuk NATO, sedangkan Soviet
bersama sekutunya (Polandia, Jerman Timur, Rumania, Hungaria, dan sebagainya)
mendirikan Pakta Warsawa.
Selama sekitar setengah abad,
kedua kubu saling bidik, memata-matai, bersitegang, dan berebut pengaruh hampir
tanpa henti. Keduanya saling mengarahkan ribuan rudal nuklirnya ke kubu lawan dengan
keadaan siap tembak. Hal ini memicu lahirnya ketegangan tingkat tinggi yang
kemudian populer disebut sebagai “Perang Dingin”.
Perang Dingin
menyebabkan penduduk bumi dihantui kekhawatiran akan terjadinya Perang Dunia
III yang sangat mengerikan. Jika Perang Dingin menjelma menjadi perang terbuka
yang menggunakan senjata nuklir, diramalkan akan terjadi “kiamat”, tidak akan
ada pemenang perang (karena kedua kubu sama-sama hancur), serta seluruh atau
sebagian besar negara di dunia akan turut binasa. Rudal-rudal nuklir yang ditembakkan
oleh kedua kubu akan membuat kehancuran yang sangat luas di muka bumi karena
pelor-pelor raksasa canggih itu memiliki jarak tembak hingga 10.000-12.000 km
serta berdaya ledak hingga 70 megaton TNT (bandingkan dengan bom atom yang
dijatuhkan Amerika di Hiroshima dan Nagasaki yang “hanya” berkekuatan 20 kiloton
TNT).
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Rudal SS-27 milik Uni Soviet yang mampu mencapai sasaran sejauh 10,500 km dengan membawa muatan senjata nuklir seberat 1 ton (Sumber: www.wikipedia.org) |
Namun, malang dapat
ditolak dan untung dapat diraih, Perang Dingin akhirnya hanya sekadar wacana
kekhawatiran yang tidak berujung menjadi Perang Dunia III. Alih-alih terjadi
“kiamat” akibat bombardemen senjata nuklir, sebutir peluru pun tidak pernah
ditembakkan secara langsung dalam pertempuran
head to head kedua kubu. Keduanya memang sempat terlibat
dalam perang Vietnam, perang Iran-Irak, dan konflik di Afghanistan, tetapi
mereka tidak pernah beradu secara langsung face
to face.
Barangkali karena
sama-sama merasa ngeri dengan dampak ledakan senjata nuklir yang
akan membuat keduanya hancur dan punah dari muka bumi, sementara mereka masih
ingin terus menjadi superpower dan penguasa dunia, mereka akhirnya mampu
menahan diri untuk membuat provokasi yang dapat memicu pecahnya perang terbuka.
Ratusan kali atau bahkan ribuan kali terjadi psy war dan perang
kata-kata, tetapi setiap kali itu pula ketegangan dapat mereda dan berakhir
tanpa letusan senjata.
Dan syahdan, di
tengah tak kunjung terjadinya perang, tanpa tembakan pistol apalagi rudal
nuklir, Uni Soviet malah dengan cepat dan tragis mengalami kehancuran dan pembubaran
pada tahun 1991. Program pembaruan glasnost
dan perestroika
yang dicanangkan Presiden Uni Soviet
ketika itu, Mikhael Gorbachev, membuat partai komunis di Uni Soviet dan seluruh
Eropa Timur hancur dan bangkrut. Hal ini menyebabkan Uni Soviet yang ditopang
sistem politik partai tunggal yang totaliter (di bawah partai komunis) menjadi
goyah serta kemudian ambyar dan bubar.
Bangsa
dan pemerintah Amerika Serikat pun bersorak gembira karena praktis setelah tewasnya
si Beruang Merah (julukan bagi Uni Soviet) mereka menjelma menjadi satu-satunya
negara adidaya di dunia. Rusia, sebagai satu-satunya sisa kehancuran Uni Soviet
yang masih terhitung lumayan kuat, tak mampu lagi menandingi kekuatan dan
pengaruh Amerika Serikat. Maka, si Paman Sam (julukan bagi Amerika Serikat)
melenggang sendirian menjadi penguasa dan polisi dunia.
***
HAMPIR tidak ada yang
memperkirakan, Uni Soviet yang begitu kuat dan sangar, runtuh dan lenyap dari peta dunia dalam waktu relatif
singkat hanya oleh program pembaruan damai yang digulirkan oleh presidennya
sendiri yang flamboyan, murah senyum, cinta damai,
dan humanis. Tanpa polemik berkepanjangan, adu otot, dan apalagi adu tembak,
melainkan melalui kampanye yang ramah dan bersahabat, si Beruang Merah
sempoyongan, jatuh, dan mati.
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Gorbachev dan Reagan menandatangani kesepakatan pengendalian senjata (Sumber: https:// teardownthiswalldbq.weebly.com) |
Dunia kemudian
hanya mengenal satu adidaya: Amerika. Dengan statusnya sebagai adidaya tunggal,
Amerika menjadi makin arogan, represif, dan semau
gue terhadap negara-negara lain dan
lembaga-lembaga internasional. Demokrasi dan hak asasi manusia (HAM) yang
menjadi senjata propagandanya, seringkali mereka acak-acak sendiri saat mereka
tak mampu menahan diri untuk menginvasi negara lain, seperti ketika menyerang
Irak dan Afghanistan.
Kesendirian tanpa
lawan sepadan kerapkali membuat lupa diri untuk memperkuat pertahanan guna mengantisipasi
ancaman dan bahaya yang muncul dalam bentuk baru/lain, bukan lagi ekspansi ideologi
dan senjata berteknologi tinggi. Dan demikianlah, hampir 30 tahun kemudian
(sejak sang Paman Sam menjadi adidaya tunggal), bahaya dan ancaman itu
benar-benar muncul dalam bentuk yang sama sekali berbeda serta sangat sulit
dideteksi: serangan virus Corona (Covid-19).
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Penanganan pasien Covid-19 di AS (Sumber: Reuters) |
Seluruh
persenjataan, spionase, dan intelijen yang semuanya serbacanggih dan tak
tertandingi milik Amerika menjadi tiada arti karena tak mampu mendeteksi
serangan Covid-19. Sebagai soft weapon yang mereka agung-agungkan,
liberalisme/kapitalisme pun tak berarti apa-apa untuk menangkal Covid-19. Sang
presiden, Donald Trump, yang sempat menganggapnya remeh dan lelucon, akhirnya
mengakui, serangan Covid-19 ke negerinya sebagai hal yang mengerikan.
Serangan Covid-19 ke
Amerika berlangsung begitu cepat dan mematikan. Pada Maret lalu, saat banyak
negara lain mulai kewalahan mengatasi serangan sang virus, Trump bersama
rakyatnya masih terlihat tenang-tenang saja karena serangan virus ini ke negeri
mereka belum menunjukkan gejala yang mencemaskan. Namun, begitu memasuki
pertengahan April, mereka mulai gelisah serta di penghujung bulan yang sama (29
April 2020) rasa sesal dan ngeri mereka pecah dan tumpah: dalam beberapa pekan
saja, lebih dari satu juta warga Amerika terinfeksi Covid-19 dan lebih dari 50
ribu di antaranya meninggal.
Dan memasuki bulan
Mei-Juli, pecahlah fenomena horor: Amerika menjadi negara dengan jumlah kasus Covid-19
terbesar di dunia. Sampai dengan 6 Juli 2020 (saat artikel ini ditulis), jumlah
kasus Covid-19 di AS sudah mencapai 2.888.730 dan yang meninggal 129.947
orang (dilansir CSSE Johns Hopkins University).
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Jenazah warga AS korban Covid-19 (Sumber: Metro) |
Angka itu sangat jauh
melampaui jumlah korban di negara-negara lain yang sebelumnya menjadi episentrum
awal pandemi Covid-19, seperti Tiongkok, Italia, dan Iran. Angka statistik AS
itu juga masih jauh melewati jumlah korban di negara-negara episentrum baru
yang kini menduduki peringkat atas, seperti Brasil (peringkat kedua: 1.603.055 kasus; 64.867 meninggal), India (peringkat
ketiga: 697.413 kasus; 19.693 meninggal), Rusia (peringkat keempat: 686.777 kasus;
10.271 meninggal), dan Peru (peringkat kelima: 302.718 kasus; 10.589 meninggal).
Serangan Covid-19 serta
merta membangkitkan memori bangsa Amerika akan jumlah korban perang atau
peristiwa tragis yang pernah mereka alami. Mereka tak menyangka, Covid-19
ternyata jauh lebih ganas dan mematikan dibandingkan serangan komunisme,
terorisme, dan bahkan senjata berteknologi tinggi. Lihat saja: serangan
Covid-19 dalam lima bulan merenggut korban tewas 129.947 orang, sedangkan
serangan teroris di WTC hanya menelan 2.996 korban jiwa, serangan Jepang
terhadap Pearl Harbor hanya membunuh 2.403 prajurit AS, serta Perang Vietnam
yang berlangsung hampir 20 tahun hanya mengakibatkan 58.315 prajurit AS tewas.
Bahkan jika jumlah korban jiwa dari ketiga peristiwa tragis ini ditotal
seluruhnya, angkanya masih jauh di bawah jumlah korban serangan Covid-19!
Keadidayaan Amerika
pun kini mulai dipertanyakan, bukan saja oleh masyarakat internasional, bahkan
juga mungkin oleh warganya sendiri. Keadidayaan Amerika dalam menghadapi
serangan intelijen, terorisme, ideologi, dan senjata dari luar mungkin sudah
teruji dan terbkti, tetapi kemampuannya menghadapi serangan virus mematikan
justru yang paling buruk dan paling lemah di dunia, setidaknya dilihat dari
data (jumlah) korban yang tercatat hingga saat ini.
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Demonstrasi warga AS menentang lockdown (Sumber: AP Photo-Jim Mone) |
Tampak cukup jelas,
Amerika kurang siap menghadapi serangan mikroorganisme yang tak terlihat oleh
mata telanjang. Sejak serangan mulai marak ke berbagai negara awal 2020 lalu,
mereka terlalu menganggap remeh dan sepele. Ketika serangan benar-benar menuju
ke negeri mereka, sikap keras dan besar kepala mereka (karena merasa sebagai
negara terkuat) menyebabkan mereka tidak bersikap disiplin dan protektif ––
ketika itu Trump malah melancarkan tuduhan ke negara lain, sementara warganya
beramai-ramai membeli senjata api untuk melindungi diri.
Serangan virus
tidak dapat dilawan dengan senjata militer yang paling canggih dan dahsyat
sekalipun. Jika Amerika masih menghadapinya dengan paradigma perang fisik yang
mengandalkan senjata perangkat keras (hard
weapon), nasibnya mungkin akan sama dengan para adidaya sebelumnya: kalah
dan tergeser. Segala sumber daya yang mereka miliki bisa habis terkuras untuk
mengatasinya, itupun jika jutaan warganya tidak tewas lebih dahulu terinfeksi
Covid-19 –– ingat, pandemi virus influenza (flu spanyol) tahun 1917/1918
menelan korban jiwa hingga 50 juta penduduk bumi.
Pengalaman Uni Soviet pada era modern menunjukkan, runtuhnya
keadidayaan tidak selalu disebabkan oleh invasi militer dan serangan senjata.
Dan Amerika yang sejauh ini masih mengandalkan dan membangga-banggakan militer dan
senjatanya, serta tak kunjung belajar dari kasus Uni Soviet, bukan tak mungkin mereka
akan “mewarisi” nasib tragis mantan seterunya.
Allaahu a’lam bissawaab.
________________________________________________
Twilight of the American
Superpower and Ballads Facing the Corona Virus Attack
By Akhmad Zamroni
COUNTRIES superpower is a country that has the most powerful power
and influence in the international political arena. Superpowers have enormous
capacity to influence other countries and control international organizations.
The magnitude of influence and control of superpowers is generally because they
are the largest financial contributor to other countries and international
institutions and have unmatched military power (especially in terms of
technology and quantity of weapons) which they can at any time use to invade
certain countries through unilateral decision.
With its enormous power and influence, superpowers often display
the attitude of Javanese and arbitrarily co-opt or even attack other countries,
no matter how many thousands of human lives are lost and infrastructure in the
target country is destroyed. Like a hungry giant who is crazy and cruel, they
feel free to do anything to realize their ambitions and fight for their
interests.
In the history of global politics there have been several
superpowers whose actions have sparked wars and have caused oppression and suffering
to many other nations/countries. In ancient times there were Persia, Macedonia,
Rome, and Mongolia. In the modern era, among others, the names of France, Great
Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States were recorded.
Superpowers appear one after another in international relations.
The history of life of nations and countries in the world that has lasted for
thousands of years shows, there has never been a single nation/superpower that
has continued to survive into an irreplaceable hegemonial power. The mighty
Persia could be overthrown and replaced by Macedon, while this last name was
then defeated and removed by the Romans. France and the United Kingdom in the
modern age were also ousted by the Soviet Union and the United States.
The Soviet Union and the United States also seemed, for the first
time in history, to become two superpowers that emerged simultaneously and
competed equally. After World War II in 1945, both grew into new superpowers.
During World War II both were in the same stronghold (Allied), but after the
end of the war which claimed 50-70 million lives the two turned hostile to each
other.
They are no longer friends due to different ideologies. America
adheres to liberalism/capitalism, while the Soviet has communism/marxism
orientation. Both had vassal countries and formed a military pact: America and
its allies (Britain, France, Italy, Canada, West Germany, etc.) formed NATO,
while the Soviets and their allies (Poland, East Germany, Romania, Hungary,
etc.) established Warsaw Pact.
For about half a century, the two camps aimed at each other,
spying, arguing, and fighting for influence almost nonstop. Both of them direct
thousands of nuclear missiles at the opposing camps in a state ready to fire.
This triggered the birth of a high level of tension which became popularly
known as the “Cold War”.
The Cold War caused the inhabitants of the earth to be haunted by
fears of a terrible World War III. If the Cold War transforms into an open war
using nuclear weapons, it is predicted that an “apocalypse” will occur, there
will be no winners of the war (because both camps are equally destroyed), and
all or most of the countries in the world will also perish. The nuclear
missiles fired by the two camps will cause extensive destruction on earth
because the giant giant bullets have a range of up to 10,000-12,000 km and are
capable of explosives up to 70 megatons of TNT (compared to the atomic bomb
dropped by the Americans on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which is “only” 20 kilotons
TNT).
However, unfortunate can be rejected and fortunately can be
achieved, the Cold War finally just a discourse of concern that did not end into
World War III. Instead of “doomsday” due to the bombardment of nuclear weapons,
a single bullet was never fired directly in the battle of the two camps head to
head. Both of them did get involved in the Vietnam war, the Iran-Iraq war, and
the conflict in Afghanistan, but they never confronted face to face.
Perhaps because they were both horrified by the impact of the explosion
of nuclear weapons that would make both destroyed and extinct from the face of
the earth, while they still wanted to continue to be superpowers and world
rulers, they were finally able to resist the provocation that could trigger an
outbreak of open war. Hundreds of times or even thousands of times there were
psy war and war of words, but each time the tension can subside and end without
a gun eruption.
And martyrs, in the midst of a war that never happened, without
gunfire let alone nuclear missiles, the Soviet Union instead quickly and
tragically experienced destruction and dissolution in 1991. The glasnost and perestroika
renewal program launched by the then
Soviet President, Mikhael Gorbachev, made the party communists in the Soviet
Union and throughout Eastern Europe were destroyed and bankrupt. This caused
the Soviet Union, which was supported by a totalitarian single-party political
system (under the communist party) to become shaky and then collapse and
dissolve.
The United States and the government of the United States also
cheered happily because practically after the death of the Red Bear (nickname
for the Soviet Union) they were transformed into the only superpower in the
world. Russia, as the only remnant of the destruction of the Soviet Union which
is still relatively strong, is no longer able to match the strength and
influence of the United States. So, the Uncle Sam (nickname for the United
States) strolled alone to become the ruler and police of the world.
***
ALMOST nobody predicted, the Soviet Union was so strong and
frightening, it collapsed and disappeared from the map of the world in a
relatively short time only by a peaceful reform program rolled out by its own
president who was flamboyant, smiling, loving, and humanist. Without prolonged
polemics, muscle fighting, and especially shooting, but through a friendly and
friendly campaign, the Red Bear staggered, fell, and died.
The world then knows only one superpower: America. With its status
as a single superpower, America has become even more arrogant, repressive, and
all I want of other countries and international institutions. Democracy and
human rights, which became the weapon of propaganda, often they messed up
themselves when they were unable to resist the invasion of other countries,
such as when attacking Iraq and Afghanistan.
Loneliness without a commensurate opponent often makes us forget
to strengthen our defenses to anticipate threats and dangers that arise in new/other
forms, no longer the expansion of ideology and high-tech weapons. And so,
almost 30 years later (since Uncle Sam became a single superpower), the danger
and threat actually appeared in a completely different form and was very
difficult to detect: the Corona virus attack (Covid-19).
All the weapons, espionage, and intelligence that were all
sophisticated and unmatched by the Americans became meaningless because they
were unable to detect the Covid-19 attack. As a soft weapon that they exalt,
liberalism/capitalism also does not mean anything to ward off Covid-19. The
president, Donald Trump, who had taken it lightly and jokingly, finally
admitted, the Covid-19 attack on his country was a terrible thing.
The Covid-19 attack on America was so fast and deadly. In March,
when many other countries began to be overwhelmed by the virus attacks, Trump
and his people still looked calm because this virus attack on their country had
not shown any worrying symptoms. However, as they entered mid-April, they began
to get nervous and at the end of the same month (April 29, 2020) their regret
and horror broke out and spilled: within a few weeks, more than one million
Americans were infected with Covid-19 and more than 50 thousand of whom died.
And entering May-July, a horror phenomenon broke out: America
became the country with the largest number of Covid-19 cases in the world. As
of July 6, 2020 (when this article was written), the number of Covid-19 cases
in the US had reached 2,888,730 and 129,947 people died (as reported by CSSE
Johns Hopkins University).
That figure is far beyond the number of victims in other countries
that were previously the initial epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic, such as
China, Italy, and Iran. The US statistics also far exceeded the number of
casualties in new epicenter countries which are now in the top ranks, such as
Brazil (second rank: 1,603,055 cases; 64,867 dead), India (third rank: 697,413
cases; 19,693 died), Russia (fourth rank: 686,777 cases; 10,271 died), and Peru
(fifth rank: 302,718 cases; 10,589 deaths).
The Covid-19 attack immediately aroused the American memory of the
number of victims of war or tragic events they have experienced. They did not
expect that Covid-19 would be far more violent and deadly than the attacks of
communism, terrorism and even high-tech weapons. Just look: the Covid-19 attack
in five months claimed 129,947 deaths, while the terrorist attack on the WTC
only killed 2,996 lives, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor only killed 2,403
US soldiers, and the Vietnam War that lasted nearly 20 years resulted in only
58,315 soldiers US killed. Even if the total number of fatalities from these
three tragic events is totaled, the figure is still far below the number of
victims of the Covid-19 attack!
The American State is now being questioned, not only by the international
community, but also by its own citizens. American justice in dealing with
intelligence attacks, terrorism, ideology, and weapons from outside may have
been tested and served, but its ability to deal with deadly virus attacks is
actually the worst and weakest in the world, at least in terms of data (number
of victims recorded to date).
Clearly enough, America is less prepared to face attacks by
microorganisms that are invisible to the naked eye. Since the attacks began to
bloom in various countries in early 2020, they have been underestimated and
trivial. When the attack really goes to their country, their stubborn and
stubborn attitude (because they feel as the strongest country) causes them to
be undisciplined and protective - when Trump instead launches accusations to
other countries, while its citizens rush to buy firearms to protect themselves.
Virus attacks cannot be resisted with even the most sophisticated
and powerful military weapons. If America still faces it with a paradigm of
physical war that relies on hard weapons, its fate might be the same as the
previous superpowers: defeat and displacement. All the resources they have can
be drained to overcome it, and even then if millions of citizens are not killed
first infected with Covid-19 - remember, the influenza virus pandemic (Spanish
flu) in 1917/1918 claimed the lives of up to 50 million inhabitants of the
earth.
The experience of the Soviet Union in the modern era showed that
the collapse of justice was not always caused by military invasions and weapons
attacks. And America, which so far still relies on and boasts its military and
weapons, and has never learned from the Soviet Union case, it is quite possible
that they will "inherit" the tragic fate of their former rivals.
Allaahu a'lam bissawaab.