By Steve Clemons

Reuters A senior White House official has confirmed that Vice President Joe Biden will take the lead on the administration’s next phase China policy.

In the latest issue of Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, former Clinton administration National Security Council staffer and Georgetown University international affairs professor Charles Kupchan has published an interesting essay titled “Grand Strategy: The Four Pillars of the Future.

Oakley the Amazing Weimaraner is done with 2011. Buddy and Annie still have a little left for the next few days. (Click image for larger version.

This is a photo I accidentally took with my new iPhone from inside a house on the Chester River on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Just struck me as beautiful and wanted to share. Click image above if you would like a larger version. Always interested in your pics as well.

Iraq surge architects Frederick and Kimberly Kagan have published an informed, provocative, yet thoughtful commentary, “Is Iraq Lost?“, in the latest Weekly Standard. The authors open with a blast at what they characterize as a self-congratulating Obama administration.

Special thanks to Marian Tupy for this great photo, though I was there too.

Something for those who think Christianity and Islam are deeply divided, a holiday card greeting I received from Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir, Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to the United States: In the name of God, Most Compassionate Most Merciful, Behold, the angels said: “O Mary, God giveth thee glad tidings of a Word from Him:…

Inspired by The Atlantic‘s 2011 Holiday Gift Guide in which our food and culture senior editor Corby Kummer curated gift idea offerings from the great and the good, I have some ideas of my own.

I’ve been reading a copy of the The Atlantic‘s Special Commemorative Issue, The Civil War, which includes an introduction by President Barack Obama.

Like my colleague and pal James Fallows, I want one too. . .