Like many people have already said, “tankie” just means “person who opposes the West.” It has nothing to do with Marxism-Leninism or any form of socialism or being an authoritarian. Easiest sign is how Russian ultranationalists and Han chauvinists get labeled tankies while Hindutva fascists and Grey Wolves fascists don’t get labeled tankies even though all four are non-Western reactionaries. The key difference is that Russian ultranationalists and Han chauvinists oppose the West for dipshit reactionary reasons while Hindutva fascists and Grey Wolves fascists can’t even do the bare minimum of opposing the West. This is why they are almost never labeled tankies.

The only exception is the Axis of Resistance. They get labeled as “Islamist” even though members of the Axis of Resistance come from different branches of Islam with some members like the PFLP not even being Muslim at all.

At a certain point, the two terms will converge. “Tankie” will mean “non-Muslim Islamist,” and “Islamist” will mean “Muslim tankie.” Islamocommunism is the new Judeobolshevism. Hegseth has been very explicit in this.