On Thursday, the Brookings Institution issued a memo to President Obama titled "Venezuela Breaks Down in Violence." As might be expected from the title, the memo (and an accompanying video) depicts an alarming situation where:

Venezuela is experiencing declining export revenues, accelerating inflation and widespread shortages of basic consumer goods. At the same time, the Maduro administration has foreclosed peaceful options for Venezuelans to bring about a change in its current policies.

But, contrary to the alarmist title, the violence is only a possibility in the future: "Economic mismanagement in Venezuela has reached such a level that it risks inciting a violent popular reaction," and further on the reader learns that actually "[t]he risk of a violent outcome may still be low..."

The possibility of such chaos is troubling to the author, Harold Trinkunas since "it is in the U.S. interest that Venezuela remain a reliable source of oil," while "[p]opular unrest in a country with multiple armed actors, including the military, the militia, organized crime and pro-government gangs, is a recipe for unwelcome chaos and risks an interruption of oil production."

READ MORE: Brookings Institution Calls on Obama to Support a Hypothetical Coup Against Venezuela's Maduro