Senjakala Adidaya dan Balada Amerika Menghadapi Serangan Virus Corona

Oleh Akhmad Zamroni

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.

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).

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. 

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).

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). 

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. 

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.

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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.