Alan Townsend

International Finance Corporation (IFC/World Bank Group); energy and development finance; personal views only. Retweet is not an endorsement.

[Andy Beshear @AndyBeshearKY]

Sorry to miss Fancy Farm today, but let me get in on the fun. Rand Paul apparently said I’d been “neutered” by my legislature. Rich coming from a guy who’s never had a pair of balls and if he did they’d be held by Trump. 1/4

[Alan Townsend @atownsend]

@PolymarketIntel Anybody know the name of the vessel?

[Alan Townsend @atownsend]

Yup https://t.co/QPTxjQfGmH

[Foreign Policy @ForeignPolicy]

A war of choice has turned into a strategic disaster for Washington. https://t.co/r1kHhENBEM

[Foreign Policy @ForeignPolicy]

A war of choice has turned into a strategic disaster for Washington. https://t.co/r1kHhENBEM

[Thomas Massie @RepThomasMassie]

The House will pass a $12 billion bailout for farmers suffering from high fuel & fertilizer prices caused by the Iran War, expensive equipment & parts caused by tariffs, and lower sales prices for commodities due to trade disputes with China.

But the GOP is fighting communism!

[Alan Townsend @atownsend]

@ed_fin Didn’t think my man-crush on John F could get stronger but now I wonder if there are any real limits

[NewsWire 🇱🇰 @NewsWireLK]

Kylian Mbappé on why he refuses to promote sports betting:

“Sports betting is destructive. It has ruined the lives of some people I know. That's why I refused to appear in sports betting advertisements. Many of us come from the suburbs, and it destroys the lives of countless people there.”

A powerful stance from one of football's biggest stars.

[Alan Townsend @atownsend]

@danielckoontz @christankerfund FWIW Claude estimates $1.20 dividend

[Mark Warner @MarkWarner]

Reports that the White House has dismissed the remaining members of the Election Assistance Commission — all of whom were unanimously confirmed by the Senate, including a commissioner appointed by President Trump himself — should concern every American, regardless of party, because the EAC was established by Congress as an independent, bipartisan body to help states administer secure and credible elections.

If these reports are accurate, removing every remaining commissioner just months before the 2026 midterm elections is an extraordinary step that demands an immediate explanation from the administration and raises profound concerns about political interference in the institutions that support our elections.

[Belgium Touch 🇧🇪 @BelgiumTouch]

Ils ont réitéré dans le vestiaire 😭😭😭😭😭😭

[Alan Townsend @atownsend]

@SportsCenter @AdamSchefter It was never magical

[Anthony Rivardo @Anthony_Rivardo]

Matt Freese deadass pulled a Younghoe Koo

[Kenneth P. Vogel @kenvogel]

Nearly 1m people who bought Trump’s memecoin have lost a total of $3.81b through the end of June.

Trump, meanwhile, made $636m from the coin last year, because he collected returns whenever anyone traded it, as he repeatedly pushed his followers to do. https://t.co/hWzMCXWiB7

[Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky_en]

A fuel crisis keeps spreading across Russia.

I ran the country's largest oil company. Let me explain what is actually happening — and why the Kremlin cannot stop it. 🧵[1/12]

[Julia Ioffe @juliaioffe]

The irony of Trump calling FIFA to overturn
a red card for Balogun because he knows the U.S. can’t win without Balogun, who only qualifies for the U.S. team because of birthright citizenship, which Trump just tried to overturn.

[Alan Townsend @atownsend]

@RichardMotzkin @ussoccer 💯 corruption

[Alan Townsend @atownsend]

@stoolpresidente Trump and FIFA so 100% corrupt

[Joueurs Belges 🇧🇪 @JoueursBE]

🔴 Communiqué officiel de la RBFA en réaction au sursis accordé par la FIFA à Folarin Balogun :

« La RBFA est stupéfaite de la décision de la FIFA de déclarer le joueur américain suspendu Folarin Balogun éligible pour jouer dans le match USA–Belgique de lundi, 6 juillet à 17 h 00 (heure de Seattle).
La FIFA fonde sa décision sur l'article 27 du Code disciplinaire de la FIFA.

Cette disposition stipule que la Commission de discipline de la FIFA peut décider de suspendre l'exécution d'une sanction disciplinaire précédemment imposée.

Cependant, l'article 66.4 du même Code disciplinaire de la FIFA prévoit clairement qu'un carton rouge (expulsion) entraîne automatiquement une suspension pour le match suivant de l'équipe, comme cela a été le cas pour tous les cartons rouges précédents prononcés lors de cette Coupe du Monde FIFA.

De plus, indépendamment de ce qui précède, cette décision est en contradiction directe avec les dispositions du Règlement de la Compétition de la Coupe du Monde FIFA 2026, telles que prévues à l'article 10.5 :

« Si un joueur ou un officiel d'équipe est expulsé en raison d'un carton rouge direct ou indirect (deuxième avertissement), il sera automatiquement suspendu du match suivant de son équipe. De plus, des sanctions supplémentaires peuvent être imposées. »

Le caractère automatique d'une telle suspension a également été réaffirmé explicitement dans la Circulaire n° 16 de la Coupe du Monde FIFA 2026, qui a été distribuée à toutes les associations membres participantes le 12 mai 2026.
La même règle est répétée à chaque Réunion de coordination des matchs de la Coupe du Monde FIFA 2026 avant chaque match et est incluse dans toutes les présentations des ateliers de la Coupe du Monde FIFA 2026.

Afin de sauvegarder les droits légitimes de toutes les équipes participantes et de protéger les principes fondamentaux du fair-play dans notre sport, tant lors de cette Coupe du Monde FIFA que lors des éditions futures du tournoi, la RBFA examine toutes les options potentielles. »

(Officiel)

[Alan Townsend @atownsend]

@TouchlineX Trump and FIFA, how could it be anything other than 100% corrupt

[Alex Veremeyenko @alex_verem]

i'm obsessed with what's happening in AI reforestation right now

this Franco-Brazilian startup called MORFO took a patch of land in Brazil that was rock-hard and compacted from years of cattle farming. they replanted it using a single drone. months later the ground was covered in grass, bushes, and small trees. the land came back to life.

here's how the whole thing works.

1. drones scan the terrain with high-resolution cameras and sensors
2. AI analyzes the imagery alongside soil samples, moisture levels, slope, and surrounding vegetation
3. the system picks from a catalog of 300+ native species, deciding exactly which plants will thrive in which specific spot
4. the drone fires biodegradable seed pods packed with seeds, nutrients, and moisture at 180 capsules per minute
5. satellite and drone imagery monitors regrowth over time, with AI tracking vegetation cover and biodiversity
6. two people and one drone cover 50 hectares a day. a person planting by hand manages about one hectare.

and MORFO isn't alone. AirSeed in Australia drops 250,000 seed pods per day into bushfire-scarred koala habitat, replanting swamp mahogany that koalas depend on to survive. Flash Forest in Canada fires 50,000 pods daily into wildfire-destroyed boreal forest, planning the replanting alongside Cree Indigenous communities. re-green won Prince William's Earthshot Prize after planting 6 million seedlings across 30,000 hectares of Amazon and Atlantic Forest.

five companies across four continents built this same approach independently. nobody coordinated. the physics of the problem demanded it.

knowing which seeds belong in which soil used to require years of ecological fieldwork, manual planting crews, and budgets that made large-scale restoration nearly impossible. now two people with a drone and an AI model trained on local soil data can replant 50 hectares before lunch.

this is the AI work that'll still matter in 50 years.