Go for military size in the political decisions, and perhaps try to invade some asian countries with a lot of population perhaps? it of course isnt a easy task though, id probably recommend trying to fight India first as they can only likely join CSTO, or China because if they make a communist alliance, it's only probably laos, northkorea, vietnam and cambodia.
Trying to make a faction is also good since you can cut some slack on some micro, and africa isn't really a competition so you can have some strong contenders like Nigeria or Tanzania