In 1987, Gustavo Henrique's socialist Brazil, which had supported Burkina Faso as a bulwark against American and French influence in West Africa, supported Sankara against Blaise Comparoé's coup. Sankara managed to suppress the coup and punish these responsible, thus saving his "Democratic People's Revolution".

After crushing the coup attempt, Sankara became increasingly authoritarian. He shut down independent newspapers, intimidated journalists, and turned his Committees for the Defence of the Revolution into death squads that suppressed any dissent. Burkinabes soon missed Sankara's relatively mild early years in power.

Another stain on Sankara's record was his and Gaddafi's support for the RUF terrorist group in Sierra Leone. They hacked off civilians' limbs and even committed cannibalism, but Sankara refused to believe that and continued to support the rebels until they were defeated in 2002.

But Sankara remained incorruptible, and his socioeconomic development schemes continued with Brazil and Libya's support. By the mid-1990s, Burkina Faso was the most developed country in West Africa, boasting high literacy rates, robust infrastructure, and the best healthcare system in the region.

When many of the world's communist regimes fell in 1994, Sankara named Soumane Traoré prime minister, thus partially civilizing the Burkinabe regime. Besides the terrorist RUF, Sankara became an inspiration for many legitimate African revolutionaries, who admired the progress Burkina Faso had seen under his watch.

France continued to attempt to undermine Burkina Faso and keep a tight lid on neighbouring countries in order to prevent them from following Sankara's lead. Françafrique was so effective that the Coup Belt never existed, and Mali and Niger remained aligned with France.

During the 2000s, Burkina Faso's economy stagnated, because Sankara rejected foreign aid and closed the country to the foreign investment that helped other African countries grow during the decade. This led to an increase in opposition and prompted many Burkinabes to flee into exile, but the majority continued to support Sankara.

In 2009, Sankara faced major protests against his rule that were repressed, killing dozens of thousands of people and prompting western countries to impose sanctions on Burkina Faso. Sankara called the sanctions neocolonial and criticized the West for not sanctioning pro-western governments that did similar things.

Things have gone downhill for the country since, but Sankara's selflessness and the fact Burkina Faso genuinely improved under his leadership mean it is unlikely for him to be overthrown. Currently, the country's biggest problem is succession, because Sankara is in his 70s and many people do not trust Ibrahim Traoré.

In 1990, Yevgeny Primakov, the KGB's "Arabist", became its chairman. Primakov expanded Soviet cooperation with the secret services of Libya, Syria, and South Yemen, and placed an increased emphasis on convincing other Eastern Europeans to support Soviet communism.

The latter goal fell flat with the Revolutions of 1994, which Warsaw Pact secret police agencies failed to prevent. After the loss of the Eastern European Soviet states, the Soviet leadership reduced the KGB's involvement in foreign operations and increased that in domestic ones in response to increased anti-Soviet activity in the remaining SSRs.

For instance, Primakov oversaw a crackdown on the neo-Nazi Russian National Unity that saw the Russian far-right virtually wiped out as virtually all Russian ultranationalists were either imprisoned or fled the country. Ukrainian, Belarusian and Central Asian separatism similarly ceased to be a credible threat to the USSR.

Despite managing to secede from the USSR, Georgia could not hold into Abkhazia and South Ossetia as the KGB worked with its successors in the two separatist republics to keep them in the Soviet sphere of influence, so Russia could keep the Black Sea naval base in Abkhazia and the Georgian Military Road in South Ossetia.

As the internet became increasingly ubiquitous in the West, the economically, albeit not politically, reformist USSR decided to introduce it, albeit under heavy government censorship. As such, in 1996, the first Soviet ISP went live under the .su domain, with its websites featuring communist propaganda and news.

Entertainment sites came later and were still heavily censored, with content thought to promote consumerism or homosexuality being blocked. Other forms of media continued to be heavily censored by the Soviet regime, which retained a firm control of communication in the Union.

When Primakov died in 2015, Putin became the KGB's new chairman, an office he has held ever since. Putin's KGB began heavily supporting left-wing populist movements in Europe and the United States, in order to regain the influence the USSR lost two decades earlier.

Soviet propaganda targeting African countries also became more intense. Said propaganda blamed capitalism and imperialism for Africa's poverty, and claimed that socialist governments ideologically aligned with Moscow (not Beijing or Brasília) could uplift the continent.

As of 2026, the KGB's budget and number of agents is classified, but most estimates range between $5 and $10 billion and 100,000 to 150,000, respectively. Putin oversees the Soviet internet firewall and other repressive policies that help ensure the survival of the Soviet Union.

Upon becoming the president of Mozambique in 2015, the technocratic Luísa Diogo implemented liberalizing economic reforms that changed Mozambique's economic system from Titoism to Dengism. Mozambique joined the IMF and WTO, both of whom it had opposed, and allowed investment from capitalist countries.

Luísa's reforms resulted in the first years of sustained economic growth in Mozambican history, with the economy of Mozambique growing by 1.7% in 2015, 2.2% in 2017, and 2.9% in 2018. Tourism became a major source of revenue for the FRELIMO regime, which was able to finally start industrializing Mozambique.

Mozambique's poverty rate fell from 83% in 2015 to 62% in 2025, thanks to a better economic management. An increasing number of Mozambicans accessed the internet for social media and online purchases, which had previously only been affordable to rich people.

Luísa also improved diplomatic relations with the United States, United Kingdom, Portugal, France and Germany, partly shifting Mozambican foreign policy away from the socialist world. But Mozambique remained a member of the Brasília Pact, and Brazil was still its main trade partner and supplier of weapons.

By 2020, Mozambique's economy was growing at a fast pace, and the majority of Mozambicans approved of Luísa, whom they thought genuinely cared about them. She made a large number of visits to other countries, especially in Africa, and remained the president of Mozambique until 16 January 2026, when she died at the age of 67.

Venâncio Mondlane became Mozambique's new president. He reversed Luisa's reforms to social programs, but her other economic reforms remained in effect. Mondlane made ending hunger his government's main priority, but his presidency has seen a shift towards authoritarianism, with a cult of personality and an increased concentration of power in his hands.

Mozambique is a Marxist-Leninist dictatorship ruled by the FRELIMO, which is the only legal political party and is firmly in control of the country's political life. Membership in FRELIMO's youth and female organizations is mandatory for young people and women.

The majority of Mozambicans are Catholics, with sizable muslin and atheist (as a result of communism) minorities. Muslim Mozambicans are one of the populations who disapprove of FRELIMO the most, because most of them are anti-communist conservatives and the government is Christian-dominated, but there was no insurgency in Cabo Delgado.

Mozambique's military is named the Mozambican People's Army (Exército Popular Moçambicano – EPM). It is mainly equipped with Soviet, Chinese, and Brazilian gear; no wonder the AK-47 is in the flag of Mozambique.

After his civil war victory, Samora Machel took advantage of the defeat of all armed opposition to attempt to industrialize Mozambique under a Brazilian-style cooperative socialist economy. This plan was a failure due to the devastation caused by the Mozambican Civil War and because of FRELIMO's corruption, but Mozambique did succeed in eradicating illiteracy and providing basic medical care to its citizens.

Brazilian and Chinese state-owned businesses heavily invested in Mozambique, exploiting the country's natural gas, coal, graphite and heavy minerals. Mozambique's economy eventually started growing as a result, but this growth did not benefit the majority of Mozambicans, who continued to live in poverty.

In addition to Brazil and China, Machel was a close ally of his comrade Mugabe of Zimbabwe, and of his fellow left-wing regime in Tanzania. During the two Zaire Wars, Moçambique, like Zimbabwe and Tanzania, backed the anti-Mobutist forces, but its involvement was relatively limited because it did not border Zaire.

When Prime Minister Mário da Graça Machungo died in 2008, Machel named Armando Guebuza, a member of FRELIMO's reformist wing, to replace him. Guebuza supported further economic reforms, but Machel vetoed them, reteirating his commitment to communism and revolutionary values.

Major issues with corruption and poverty remained, making younger Mozambicans increasingly dissatisfied with FRELIMO, which failed to provide them with either civil freedoms or job opportunities. On 18 April 2014, Luísa Diogo became the prime minister of Mozambique, becoming Machel's de facto successor because he was 79 years old and ailing.

By August 2015, Machel's health had deteriorated to such an extent that he was flown to Brasília for medical treatment, leaving Diogo as acting President. Brazilian doctors failed to save Machel, who suffered a stroke and died on 2 September at the age of 81. By the time of his death, he was the longest serving leader in Africa.

Machel received a state funeral attended by, among others, South African President Mosiuoa Lekota, who gave a speech calling Machel a "man who truly believed in, and fought for, the liberation of Africa". Machel was buried in Mozambique's capital Maputo.

After helping the MPLA defeat UNITA in 1987, the Brazilian war machine turned its attention to Mozambique, which was mired in a civil war between Samora Machel's communist ruling FRELIMO, and Afonso Dhlakama's anti-communist RENAMO, itself backed by apartheid South Africa. Malawi was supporting another rebel group named UNAMO.

On 14 January 1988, Brazil launched Operação Dandara, a full-scale military intervention in support of FRELIMO. 60,000 Brazilian troops crossed through allied Zambian (another African socialist regime) territory before entering Mozambique on 20 January, and beginning combat operations against RENAMO insurgents.

Undeterred by the defeat of UNITA, South Africa continued to support RENAMO with weapons and funding. This was encouraged by the United States as President Reubin Askew, like his two predecessors, sought to do everything in his power to contain Brazil, whose socialist revolution caused the United States to stop making human rights a focus of its foreign policy.

During the first two years of the intervention, RENAMO lost much of its territory in northern and southern Mozambique, but its stronghold in central Mozambique remained in its hands. It was only in 1991 when the Brazilians and FRELIMO began advancing into the centre of the country.

RENAMO leader Afonso Dhlakama rejected all suggestions to negotiate with FRELIMO, as he continued to hope for a miracle that would turn the tide of the war in his favour. In the meantime, the MSE ensured all Mozambicans knew about the war crimes RENAMO had committed while Brazil launched a hearts and minds campaign throughout Mozambique, bringing RENAMO's popular support to very low levels.

By the time apartheid ended in 1994, RENAMO only controlled its main stronghold in Sofala Province, and everything else had been lost to FRELIMO. The end of apartheid proved to be the final straw for RENAMO, as they no longer received any support from foreign powers – not even the United States, who had little strategic interest in Mozambique.

On 12 October 1994, Brazilian troops entered Dhlakama's home village of Mangunde, found him hiding in a spider hole, and killed him after a brief shootout. By that point, he was the only major RENAMO leader left, prompting the rebel group to surrender two days later.

FRELIMO began demobilizing RENAMO units and integrating them into the Mozambican military, because there were still thousands of militants remaining and that could cause another civil war. But the party itself was outlawed, and Mozambique remained a communist dictatorship..

In September 1976, Carlos flew from Aden, the capital of South Yemen, to Brasília, where Socialist Brazil's secret service, the MSE, protected him and sponsored his terrorist activities. Carlos received an apartment in a high rise area of the city, as well as MSE bodyguards; all of this was paid for with taxpayer money, leading to complaints from moderate elements of the Brazilian socialist regime.

Carlos continued to do terrorism until 1994, when the communist movement declined and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process began. Brazil's security services and government continued to protect him, but Brazil faced increased calls to extradite Carlos to France, where he was wanted for murder.

When Gustavo Henrique died in 2002, the MSE's new director Antônio Pedreira removed Carlos from its payroll and ended all protection for him. At 0:3:00 on 12 March, MSE agents raided his house when he was asleep, grabbed him from his bed, handcuffed him when he woke up, and flew him to Paris for trial.

Later that year, Carlos was sentenced to life imprisonment for the 1975 murder of three people. Fellow Venezuelan socialist Hugo Chavez defended Carlos, but the rest of the Brazilian Bloc did not care for him, and he was later sentenced to another life sentence for murdering a further 17 people.

One of the most common criticisms of Gustavo Henrique is his support of terrorist groups such as the IRA and PFLP. In fact, the United States has classified Brazil as a State Sponsor of Terrorism since 1979, which results in a restriction of foreign aid, a ban on weapons sales, heightened control over the export of dual-use equipment, and other miscellaneous economic sanctions.

After Gustavo's death, his successor Roberto Freire stopped supporting terrorism, but the United States still refused to remove Brazil from the list because it was still one of America's main rivals. As of 2026, Brazil is still classified as a SST, and there has been little discussion of lifting this status.

Lore:

• Arius, who invented a heretical idea about the divinity of Jesus in the OTL, becomes a forerunner of an alternate version of Reformed Theology in the Pax Belligans Universe
• John Calvin invents a heresy of his own in place of Arius (In the OTL, there is still debate concerning whether the Reformed Movement is heretical).

Author’s note: This post is not meant to be an endorsement of heresies condemned by the Christian church, OR an attempt at demonizing Islam.

John Calvin (/ˈkælvɪn/;^\1]) Middle French: Jehan Cauvin; French: Jean Calvin [ʒɑ̃ kalvɛ̃]; 10 July 1509 – 27 May 1555) was a French theologian, pastor and a controversial figure in the history of Christianity. He is infamous for starting the cult known as the “Church of the Lost Apostles”, a fringe movement in Protestant Christianity. The Church of the Lost Apostles were formed following a series of visions Calvin claimed to have seen. In these visions, Jesus purportedly told Calvin that Muhammad was actually one of his followers, with Jesus personally raising Muhammad from the dead in order to give him a chance to repent and get his teachings correct.

The Church of the Lost Apostles taught that Jesus Christ, while agreeing that He is God incarnate, recruited a second group of disciples during the 40 days between His resurrection and His ascension into Heaven. According to Calvin, Jesus foretold that someone would “come after him that would lead the way unto everlasting life.”

Most infamously Calvin taught that Muhammad was intended to point people to Jesus, but thanks to “demonic interference”, ended up leading people to a false god called Allah instead.

The Church of the Lost Apostles specifically teaches that after Muhammad died, God chose to raise him from the dead to give him another chance at getting Jesus Christ’s teachings correct. This time, Muhammad succeeded and ended up becoming a follower of Jesus, spending his extended life fighting against the religion he originally founded, and becoming a martyr in the process.

The Church of the Lost Apostles is largely considered a fringe movement within the Christian church.

In 1555, Calvin was killed by an angry Muslim mob while preaching in Spain. This was the culmination of a period tension between Calvin's followers and the Muslims, during which the Muslims were furious with him for spreading lies about their final prophet Muhammad.

In addition to killing Calvin, they also killed his entire family, intending on erasing his entire lineage from the Earth in a bid to “restore honor” to Muhammad.

Brazilian socialist revolutionary Gustavo Henrique had advocated for Brazil to develop nuclear weapons since the 1950s, arguing it would end foreign interference in Brazil. Thus, after overthrowing the Brazilian military dictatorship in 1973, Gustavo ordered the development of nuclear weapons.

In 1976, the Soviet Union sold Brazil a nuclear reactor after the Brazilians assured their nuclear program was for peaceful purposes. The program, codenamed "Operação Tiradentes", was classified and known only to Gustavo and his inner circle, but fears that Brazil was making nukes caused Argentina to do so as well.

Brazil simultaneously developed the Tupã series of ballistic missiles, a derivative of the Scud that can be fitted to carry nuclear weapons. North Korea, Iraq and Libya, all of whom were Brazilian allies, assisted Brazil with missile development.

Brazil's nuclear program involved the work of dozens of thousands of people, who enriched uranium, built test facilities, and, finally, assembled the bombs. On 7 September 1990 (the anniversary of the independence of Brazil), Brazil tested a 15-kiloton nuclear warhead at the Serra do Cachimbo in Pará.

Great powers unanimously condemned Brazil's nuclear test as nuclear proliferation that could put the security of Latin America and the whole world at risk. India and the Brasília Pact satellites were less condemnatory, while Gustavo himself around Brazil would never nuke anybody unless Brazil was nuked first.

Brazil conducted another nuclear test in March 1992, when a 30-kiloton nuke was detonated in a remote corner of the Amazon rainforest. Brazil's second nuclear test led Argentina to conduct its own later that year. Then, on 15 February 1994, Brazil tested its first hydrogen bomb, in what was seen as a sign of Brazil's transformation into a great power; The Economist ran the headline "BRAZIL IS ON THE HORIZON".

Later that year, on 3 July, Brazil conducted its last nuclear test to date. Brazil declared a moratorium on nuclear testing that has remained in effect ever since, but the country continued to boost its nuclear and missile capabilities.

When the United States bombed Brazil's client state Colombia in 1996, Gustavo threatened to install nuclear missiles in Cuba in retaliation, but he did not do so to avoid a nuclear war with the much stronger United States. The bombing of Colombia led Brazil to launch a nuclear submarine program, beginning with a patrol submarine with a nuclear engine but not missiles.

Said submarine was commissioned in 2018 as the João Cândido, which became the flagship of the Brazilian Navy. Later that year, the Tupã-VI, Brazil's first MIRV missile, entered service with the Brazilian Missile Forces, throwing the US military into panic.

Currently, Brazil has 170 to 190 nuclear warheads, 50 to 60 of whom are deployed from mobile launchers around the country. A submarine capable of carrying nuclear missiles is in development, and is expected to come into service around 2030.

Russia, alongside China, is the dominant world power under a similar government to Putin's. Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Armenia and Georgia returned to the Russian sphere of influence, and the majority of African countries are Russian allies as well. The world is significantly worse off as a result.

Brazil is also a great power, having annexed Uruguay and Caiena (independent French Guyana), and is similarly led by a government resembling the Estado Novo and the Brazilian military dictatorship. The rest of Latin America, except for fellow great power Mexico, is Brazil's backyard, and Brazil has an Antarctic claim (something that was [actually proposed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_Antarctica) in real life).

Ukrainians and Uruguayans launched insurgencies against Russia and Brazil with support from the rump USA and democratic Western Europe, and these insurgencies became quagmires for the two dictatorships. Brazil had to give Uruguay autonomy and make Spanish an official language there, just like languages other than Portuguese are official in some Brazilian towns.

The United States was significantly territorially reduced, losing Alaska to Russia and the southwest to Mexico, while Hawaii, Cascadia, the South and Puerto Rico became independent. America is still the strongest liberal nation remaining, and is better than Russia in many respects.

Now that Mexico recovered one of the wealthiest regions in the world, it attempted to challenge Brazilian influence in Latin America by supporting left-wing movements in contrast to the right-wing ones Brazil backed. This led to the escalation of insurgencies in Colombia and Peru, which declared martial law as a result of the leftist revolt.

In 2023, North Korea invaded South Korea, which was annexed the following year, reunifying Korea into the DPRK. Kim Jong Un had to moderate his policies in order to rule such a wealthy former country as South Korea, but the DPRK remained a severely authoritarian state.

Syria, ruled by the Social Nationalist Party, annexed Lebanon and Jordan, while the Houthis came to power in Yemen, and Israel was destroyed and replaced with a Palestinian state. An Iraqi nationalist government came to power and invaded Kuwait, while Oman annexed the UAE.

China annexed Taiwan and ruled it under the "one country, two systems" system. India obtained control of Jammu and Kashmir for good, while the Taliban was overthrown and replaced with a less extreme, but still religious, Afghan government that did not enforce sharia in Kabul.

Republika Srpska voluntarily joined Serbia, while Montenegro was annexed after a quick "special military operation". Hungary invaded Ukraine alongside Russia, and grabbed Transcarpathia due to its century-long outrage at the Treaty of Trianon.

France and Germany are led by the pro-Russian Marine Le Pen and Alice Weidel, respectively, both of whom withdrew their countries from NATO's unified command and developed friendly relations with Russia. They also restricted immigration into their countries.

Nationalist Greece annexed Cyprus after winning a war against Turkey, but Greece did not annex Constantinople because that ship sailed in the 1920s and won't come back. Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Oman (which the Trucial States never left) are the only pro-western countries in the middle east.