Why was shortening the distance between europe and asia (with the opening of egypt's suez canal in 1869) an important event?

It meant that:

1) The use of oil, payment of crews, etc would be considerably lower
2) more people used the suez canal, as it was 'cheaper', and tolls were payed both to the Egyptian government, but a cut was also given to the USSR. This effectively proved the USSR's power to the world.

hope this helps

Igot the answer, here you go dude. 

  consider  the  following scenario,  then describe  how  you might conduct  a  study using  ansrs,  convenience sample, and a  voluntary response sample.  you  are  interested  in  parents'  opinion  of the  war  in  iraq.  your population  is  parents  of  high school students.  your question  is, "do you  believe that the  war  in