Under attack from unions, activists and squeezed suppliers, Wal-Mart is on the offensive. First, Wal-Mart announced that former United Nations ambassador and Atlanta mayor Andrew Young will be the public face for a group that defends the practices of the world's biggest retailer. Not a bad move given the spin job Young did helping improve Nike's reputation.

Now the world's most vilified retail giant has gone one step further by advertising for someone to run its global ethics operations. According to the job description, the person should be "able and willing to take a difficult or unpopular position if necessary" and have an "impeccable reputation for integrity and judgement".

Yeah right. Whoever gets the post will have their work cut out with all the the complaints levelled at the company , including a sex discrimination lawsuit and activist groups like WalMart Watch.

They will also have to deal with Wal-Mart boss H. Lee Scott Jr. who recently accused a manager of disloyalty and advised the manager to consider another job. The manager in question had raised questions about the company's medical retirement benefits. You'll find the story about that here.