Can you explain the distinction as it applies to this conversation? In Israel they are considered the same thing as far as I can tell, and they make no distinction between the ethnicity and religion, only the sect of the religion. Any Israeli is required to be a Jew by religion and ethnicity from what I've read. Perhaps this perception is wrong, but it is certainly a common perception.
In fact, is it not the 'inherited religious legacy' that is the main difference between the 'Arabs' and the 'Jews' descended from the Eastern Mediterranean? They certainly look similar as ethnicities, and come from the same place, so what's the real ethnic difference? Could you not have just as easily said "...(ethnic group related to "Arabs")"?>> ^hpqp:
@newtboy and others:
There are "Jews" (ethnic group, akin to "Arabs") and there are "Jews" (religious adherents, akin to "Muslims").
It's important to keep this distinction in mind.

I really hate to Godwin (although I guess I'm not comparing a poster to Hitler so I think it avoids that rule) but does anyone else see the similarity between where America is heading and the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party in Germany..?

Seriously, use a global event:

-Nazi's, The Great Depression
-America, 9/11

link it at a certain subset of people:

-Nazi's, the Jews
-America, the Muslims

to create fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD, one of the greatest tools of the propagandist):

-Nazi's, Hitler made out that the Jew's controlled a lot of wealth and were living the high life while "aryan" German's faced starvation.
-America, lol, everyones a fucking terrorist... Make sure you check your fear-ometer before leaving the house...

Start altering laws, reducing personal freedoms, reducing the right to protest, making people feel isolated from their neighbours because of ethnic differences, extreme nationalism.

And then finally go to war:

-Nazi's, annexation of Austria and eventually the invasion of Poland.
-America, Iraq, making hungry eyes at Iran and seems to be balls deep in a plan to get the cold war started again, ironically, in Poland...

Meanwhile, to silent dissent on the home front, use policing forces for clandestine raids in the middle of the night aimed at people with a different political agenda or sympathies that don't gel with the ruling regime...

/looks at the video again, checks the box

The only difference between the two is that now the government has a much harder time controlling the media effectively. All the information is profferred for examination and what remains is for people to be righteously outraged at their liberties being stolen away, even though those liberties are supposedly enshrined in the very Constitution your country was built upon.

It remains to be seen if enough American's still remember how to stand up for themselves against what looks, smells and feels like a fascist tyranny...

"Separatists motivated only by ethnic differences are indefensible."

I'm no expert on the ULFA, but I believe that their ideology is communist. They are opposed to the capitalist mentality of modern India. They claim to represent "independent minded struggling peoples" irrespective of race, tribe, caste, religion and nationality.

Respectable rebels are authorized by the majority of the people in their territory and issue compelling declarations of their reasons for persuing independence. Where's the Assamese declaration of independence, supported by the people, to give a mandate to these terrorists?

What's so bad about India's democratic government? The only point in trying to withdraw from a democracy is to accomplish some other end that they cannot accomplish from within the democracy. Separateness is not its own reward. In a service/information/technology dominated economy, natural resources don't guarantee economic success, and this video doesn't provide any solid evidence that the Indian government is somehow "robbing" them. Separatists motivated only by ethnic differences are indefensible. Tribalistic nepotism is the most destructive force in the world. It has caused most of the wars in history. It's destroying Israel and Iraq as we speak. Many people in Iraq are voting along religious lines instead of prioritizing candidates with competence and effective governmental policy. These rebels in Assam are probably going to destroy their own economy and blame it on India.