Pirates are not ordinary criminals . They are not enemy combatants .
海盗不是普通的罪犯,也并非敌方战斗人员。
To governments and combatants alike , symbols matter , and the kalashnikov can be assigned an almost infinite array of meanings .
而且由于政府和战斗人员为其赋予的符号意义不同,卡拉什尼科夫步枪也会具有无限多种含义。
That would have been a demoralising blow for their cadres , including some 23000 former combatants , languishing in makeshift camps under un supervision .
If pirates are recognized under their traditional international legal status - as neither ordinary criminals nor combatants , but enemies of the human race - states will have a much freer hand in capturing them .