I think he's just forgetting to send in his turns.
That's always a pain in the ass, when you do the turn and then forget to send it in. At least he has less riding on each individual turn than I do! His armies probably won't be obliterated if he stales a couple times. I, meanwhile, am lucky I didn't lose a fort (another fort past the ones I already have, rather). Karlito's definitely in a strong position, and will continue to be in a strong position unless he pulls a Scriptwolf and chainstales for a year.
And you forget, MentalFather, T'ien Ch'i can also mind Hunt! It's a pain in the ass to set up for sure, but two gems per turn per mindhunt is a drop in the bucket of the infinite resources of Glorious Motherland T'ien Ch'i
.